An Extra Special Experience

Wow, I don’t even know where to start on the last two days.  I would start at the beginning and barrel through with each and every detail but for one, that would be a small book and two, I can’t give away spoilers for the show.  So you don’t get all the juicy details now.  But I’ll do what I can to talk about the process itself.

Call time was Wednesday morning at 7:30.  We had to park in some grassy (MUDDY) area and then were taken in vans to a club location called TRIC they regularly film at.  Earlier this year when Heather and I went that is where we watched filming.  It was a little surreal being on the other side of the street!

So when you first get there you go in a big white tent.  It just has tables and chairs and then a large buffet style breakfast.  Great food!  We filled out tax forms and Wardrobe came to pick out our outfits.  We waited there until they took us to a holding area in the bottom floor of the TRIC building.  It was simply a concrete floor room with plastic chairs and a small snack table.  The crew’s catering was also set up in there but we weren’t allowed to go in that area.  We were escorted back to the white tent during lunch, which didn’t happen until very late in the day…3:30 on Wednesday!

Most of the day is spent either waiting in the holding room or filming.  Mostly waiting in that room.  There were 175 extras on Wed and I think 80 or so on Thursday.  Only a few times did we all film at once.  Usually they were doing a shot from a specific angle and they would randomly number people off to go in smaller groups.  Remaining people would do the background of the other angles.

So what did we actually do during filming?  Basically we were props.  Just bodies to fill in a space.  Our main job was to either talk or pretend like we were talking with one another.  The crazy part was when we had to pantomime our conversations.  Not even a whisper.  The MOST awkward part was having to dance and clap without music.   They would start it so we could get the beat and then we all had to hope we stayed together.  If I don’t come out looking like a complete idiot, my job as an extra is complete.

So will I be on TV?  I don’t know.  Many people I talked to said they had done it and they were just off-screen in the shot or their scene got cut.  However, I think over the two days we did about15- 20 scenes and I was placed (or placed myself) in a few decent spots.  In one scene in particular, I was chosen (randomly as far as I can tell) to walk directly behind Julian across the camera by myself.  As long as that scene doesn’t get cut and they are not too close in on his face, I *should* make at least 1/2 a second on TV.  LOL

Would I do this again?  Well, as of Wednesday night, I was on the verge of not even going back Thursday night.  We were on set from 7:30am and were not released until 9pm.  It is a LONG process.  And while the hardest thing we did was clap, it is just exhausting waiting, waiting, waiting.  And standing for an hour at a time, multiple times a day is not really that fun.  Not to mention trudging through a few inches of mud to end your day didn’t help.  However, on Thursday I met some friends and pantomiming with people you have had an actual conversation with outside of filming is so much easier and the scenes were better and the weather was better and I don’t know, somewhere on Thursday I think I caught the bug.  I would definitely go back.

Just talk about the stars already!  OK, well, not to burst anyone’s bubble, but I didn’t talk to any of them.  Or get my picture with them.  They specifically said you couldn’t and with so many people on set, it was impossible for them to interact much.  BUT I did see Brooke ( who was directing ), Nathan, Clay, Quinn, Miranda, Haley, Dan, Rachel, Julian, Chase and Mike Grubbs from Wakey!Wakey!  and I have to mention Mark was there!

Some other random observations:

• The entire process is the definition of organized chaos.  People FLY around that room making things happen and weaving in and out of people.  Every person is doing a different job yet somehow they all work together to make it happen.
• I was amazed at the number of people that had never even watched the show.  So many of them were just doing it because they needed money, were a struggling/beginning actor or simply because they were bored.
• All the actors look 20 lbs, not 10lbs, skinnier in person and not as tall.  Except for Dan, Rachel and Julian.  They really are tall. I mean, seriously the girl that plays Miranda (trying not to mention actor names, sorry) is like 2″ skinny.  Paper thin.  And Rachel is even more hot in person than on screen.  Wow, she has some serious legs.
• TRIC is not laid out anyway like you think.  Or at least I thought.  Or maybe I hadn’t really thought about how it was laid out.  I was just surprised when we went up there.
• They had it FREEZING on set at the beginning of the day because they can’t run the air while they are filming for sound purposes.
• You can’t make ANY sound while there is dialogue.  They had to put foam on the bottom of your heels so there would be no sound while you walked.  One time they came over and said “Ok, who’s having the problem with their shoes?”  And it had just been a little bit of sand two of us had walked over.  Another time, they asked people to quit shaking your glass that had fake, plastic ice cubes in them.  It’s crazy what the mics pick up.
• The characters have stand ins most of the time.  The main characters come in last minute and leave just as soon as they wrap the scene.
• It KILLED me that we couldn’t take pictures on set.  So many beautiful people and gorgeous lighting.  It was all I could do not to whip out my camera.

I do have a few pictures to share so you’re not completely without a visual.

For those not familiar that is the building where TRIC is.

This is a picture that was taken by Mark yesterday.  I was sitting on the other side of the bar directly behind the guy with the tape measure.  You can’t see me at all but at least you get an idea of what the room looked like.

Also, here are some pics of me so you know what to look for and you know what outfit they picked.  I have to give props to Scott for buying this shirt all by himself last year for my birthday.  In the pic on the right, I’m in the holding room in TRIC.

This is a pic inside the tent.  Not great but you can kind of get a feel for it.  The buffet is right in the middle there.

Ok, this is the only pic of the cast I got.  We were walking back from lunch I believe.  That is Haley in the purple hat!

So that’s it, except for the juicy spoilers, of course.  I have no idea when the episode will air.  At minimum it is 7 weeks away and depending on breaks, it may be in January.

In the meantime, go watch a few eps of OTH and really pay attention to the extras!  It’s amazing to rewatch and see all that goes in to just one scene!