I'm In A Movie
You probably don't know it, but you are basically in the presence of greatness. Well, maybe not greatness just yet, but soon-to-be greatness anyway. And I guess you are not technically in my presence as much as you are at my blog, but, meh. A matter of semantics, I say.
The story goes like this: I got a Facebook request from a friend inviting me to be an extra in a movie. At first I was like, ahahaha, no way. Then I told my sister about it and she was like, Do It!!! It will be funny!!! You can blog about it!!! Only probably with fewer exclamation points, because she is not really prone to excessive punctuation the way some people are.
With that encouragement and the thought that if nothing else it would make a good story, I decided to attend the filming. I made a few friends promise to come too, though, because while I may be all about trying new things, I am not all about making a fool of myself on my own.
The scene we'd be extras (background actors, for those in the biz) for was a party scene. So we had to dress up in party clothes, like what you'd wear "to an upscale house party in the Foothills". Um, yeah. This is where I started feeling like maybe I was miscast- I am definitely not a party girl and the only house parties I've ever been to did not include a dress code other than...well, we won't get into that, as my parents may read this blog.
Cut to last Friday, when it was time to film the party scene. My cohorts and I showed up at the house- NOT in the Foothills, actually kind of in the ghetto, but never mind that. We lurked around outside in our party clothes, feeling uncomfortable and wondering just what kind of movie we'd agreed to be in, until someone opened the door and was like, why are you lurking out there? Come inside! Once we got inside it wasn't shady at all, and our friend the director set us up with snacks and we commenced chilling until it was time for the big scene.
Being in a movie is a pretty easy and fun. It consists of a lot of sitting around, waiting for your scene. Then you have to get into position (for me, that was leaning casually against a bookshelf, holding a drink, and fake-talking to a guy that smelled like cigarettes) and then they mess with the lights and the cameras and the director goes, mark, take 4, or whatever, then ACTION! And there really is one of those clapboard things, which I wanted to clap, but I didn't know if we were good enough friends for me to ask, so I did not. When you're being an extra, excuse me, I mean, a background actor, you have to be quiet. So you have to look like you're partying, but silently. This is a little difficult, because, do you know how stupid it is to fake talk to someone? Like, move your mouth, but not make noise? It's pretty stupid. So I kept laughing (silently), but I think that's OK since it was a party and that makes it look like the party is really fun.
Anyway we did our party scene in probably like 8 takes (not my fault, my partying was spot-on in every take) and that was it. More sitting around until the director told us he wouldn't have time to get to our other scene, at which point we were sent home. All in all it took probably 1.5 hours to set up and film the 2 minute scene, plus some extra POV shots and stuff. We were there for like 7 hours though- crazy!
I don't have any pictures of my big debut at the moment. I saw one on Facebook but it's on the page of a friend's acquaintance and I am fairly certain that internet etiquette precludes me from taking that picture to post on my blog. Even though he'd never see it. Ever. It'd be wrong. So, no pictures, sorry. But I will be sure to alert you when the movie comes out, so that you may all enjoy it, and reminisce about how you knew me way back when.
The story goes like this: I got a Facebook request from a friend inviting me to be an extra in a movie. At first I was like, ahahaha, no way. Then I told my sister about it and she was like, Do It!!! It will be funny!!! You can blog about it!!! Only probably with fewer exclamation points, because she is not really prone to excessive punctuation the way some people are.
With that encouragement and the thought that if nothing else it would make a good story, I decided to attend the filming. I made a few friends promise to come too, though, because while I may be all about trying new things, I am not all about making a fool of myself on my own.
The scene we'd be extras (background actors, for those in the biz) for was a party scene. So we had to dress up in party clothes, like what you'd wear "to an upscale house party in the Foothills". Um, yeah. This is where I started feeling like maybe I was miscast- I am definitely not a party girl and the only house parties I've ever been to did not include a dress code other than...well, we won't get into that, as my parents may read this blog.
Cut to last Friday, when it was time to film the party scene. My cohorts and I showed up at the house- NOT in the Foothills, actually kind of in the ghetto, but never mind that. We lurked around outside in our party clothes, feeling uncomfortable and wondering just what kind of movie we'd agreed to be in, until someone opened the door and was like, why are you lurking out there? Come inside! Once we got inside it wasn't shady at all, and our friend the director set us up with snacks and we commenced chilling until it was time for the big scene.
Being in a movie is a pretty easy and fun. It consists of a lot of sitting around, waiting for your scene. Then you have to get into position (for me, that was leaning casually against a bookshelf, holding a drink, and fake-talking to a guy that smelled like cigarettes) and then they mess with the lights and the cameras and the director goes, mark, take 4, or whatever, then ACTION! And there really is one of those clapboard things, which I wanted to clap, but I didn't know if we were good enough friends for me to ask, so I did not. When you're being an extra, excuse me, I mean, a background actor, you have to be quiet. So you have to look like you're partying, but silently. This is a little difficult, because, do you know how stupid it is to fake talk to someone? Like, move your mouth, but not make noise? It's pretty stupid. So I kept laughing (silently), but I think that's OK since it was a party and that makes it look like the party is really fun.
Anyway we did our party scene in probably like 8 takes (not my fault, my partying was spot-on in every take) and that was it. More sitting around until the director told us he wouldn't have time to get to our other scene, at which point we were sent home. All in all it took probably 1.5 hours to set up and film the 2 minute scene, plus some extra POV shots and stuff. We were there for like 7 hours though- crazy!
I don't have any pictures of my big debut at the moment. I saw one on Facebook but it's on the page of a friend's acquaintance and I am fairly certain that internet etiquette precludes me from taking that picture to post on my blog. Even though he'd never see it. Ever. It'd be wrong. So, no pictures, sorry. But I will be sure to alert you when the movie comes out, so that you may all enjoy it, and reminisce about how you knew me way back when.
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