Life as an extra : Day Three
Feb. 17th, 2007 05:03 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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elijah_findsCall time was 7.30 this morning, and because there are fewer of us we were given the same food as the cast and crew and our base was a converted bus like last Thursday. As it was raining, one of the coaches transported us to the set. It took just as long as walking, but at least we were dry.
Elijah and John Hurt arrived without fanfare today and Elijah treated us to a glimpse of milk-white calf as he pulled on what appeared to be a tubular bandage under the leg of his jeans. My first thought was that he had an injury but then I noticed the other leg was similarly attired. Maybe he wore them as legwarmers. (EDIT It seems that he was miked up and the bandage was to hold the microphone wires in place.)
We shot Elijah’s close-ups and the shots of the stage from the audience POV. Two of the hero extras did not turn up, one of them quite crucial as he was sitting close to Elijah but Alex was not too perturbed. “We’ll just make the shot tighter.” After the first take of filming Elijah’s reactions to what John was saying, Alex began to slowly recap the start of the scene. He had only spoken a few words before Elijah knew exactly what he wanted his character to do and finished off the sentence for him. "Yep. Yep. We'll do it like that." Didn’t Alex say somewhere in his blog that Elijah could read his mind?
The change of scene to shoot towards the stage was going to take some time and one of the crew went up to Elijah and said something. Elijah ran down across the floor, bounded up onto the stage, leaned in to the turn (think Casey Connor without the skid) wove his way through the crew on stage and out of the door, an wonderful display of agility and grace. A few minutes later I almost walked into him, lurking in the shelter of the doorway outside with a cigarette. “I guess they’re letting everybody go to the loo now,” he said.
For the shots towards John Hurt on the stage I think many of the extras, myself included, believed that we could relax as we were not going to be on camera. Poor John not only had a nearly empty hall to lecture to but also a weak audience and was struggling. Of course, because there were fewer of us we needed to be more responsive, if anything and it would have helped if Alex had explained that to us at the beginning. But perhaps he had not realised how difficult John would find it. Once John got into his stride I think it was OK because we were moved right over to the side so that the cameras could be set up where we had been.
The seats behind the stage were occupied by a random selection from our group, dressed slightly differently (jacket/no jacket, scarf/no scarf, different cardigan etc), leaving the auditorium very sparsely populated. With Elijah sitting doing the crossword just across the gangway from me I was more than content just to watch and do my sudoku . At one point he was having problems with the French for “God” and I was ridiculously pleased to be able to help him out. “Perfect.” I love the way he says that.
Five professional extras had been engaged to play the part of senior academics sitting at the back of the stage. Watching them react was a revelation. Their actions were far slower and more deliberate than ours and it was clear that they will come across on camera far better.
I came back early after lunch and took some photos of the room. As they are slightly spoilery, I am linking them only.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/Firiel50/IMG_2672.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/Firiel50/IMG_2670.jpg
Much of the afternoon was spent watching the rehearsals and filming as the camera moved in through a group of people, backs to the camera, which had to break apart to allow the camera to move forward. It took a few rehearsals to perfect and was finally done with the AD very quietly saying “First row break…..second……third. Then our final scene with Elijah, his gait as he exited showing exactly his character’s feelings and mood.
I wish I had been in a position where I could have seen more of his acting, but one cannot have everything. I am hoping someone with a better view will have done that.
To think that just over a month ago all this was beyond my wildest imaginings.
Elijah and John Hurt arrived without fanfare today and Elijah treated us to a glimpse of milk-white calf as he pulled on what appeared to be a tubular bandage under the leg of his jeans. My first thought was that he had an injury but then I noticed the other leg was similarly attired. Maybe he wore them as legwarmers. (EDIT It seems that he was miked up and the bandage was to hold the microphone wires in place.)
We shot Elijah’s close-ups and the shots of the stage from the audience POV. Two of the hero extras did not turn up, one of them quite crucial as he was sitting close to Elijah but Alex was not too perturbed. “We’ll just make the shot tighter.” After the first take of filming Elijah’s reactions to what John was saying, Alex began to slowly recap the start of the scene. He had only spoken a few words before Elijah knew exactly what he wanted his character to do and finished off the sentence for him. "Yep. Yep. We'll do it like that." Didn’t Alex say somewhere in his blog that Elijah could read his mind?
The change of scene to shoot towards the stage was going to take some time and one of the crew went up to Elijah and said something. Elijah ran down across the floor, bounded up onto the stage, leaned in to the turn (think Casey Connor without the skid) wove his way through the crew on stage and out of the door, an wonderful display of agility and grace. A few minutes later I almost walked into him, lurking in the shelter of the doorway outside with a cigarette. “I guess they’re letting everybody go to the loo now,” he said.
For the shots towards John Hurt on the stage I think many of the extras, myself included, believed that we could relax as we were not going to be on camera. Poor John not only had a nearly empty hall to lecture to but also a weak audience and was struggling. Of course, because there were fewer of us we needed to be more responsive, if anything and it would have helped if Alex had explained that to us at the beginning. But perhaps he had not realised how difficult John would find it. Once John got into his stride I think it was OK because we were moved right over to the side so that the cameras could be set up where we had been.
The seats behind the stage were occupied by a random selection from our group, dressed slightly differently (jacket/no jacket, scarf/no scarf, different cardigan etc), leaving the auditorium very sparsely populated. With Elijah sitting doing the crossword just across the gangway from me I was more than content just to watch and do my sudoku . At one point he was having problems with the French for “God” and I was ridiculously pleased to be able to help him out. “Perfect.” I love the way he says that.
Five professional extras had been engaged to play the part of senior academics sitting at the back of the stage. Watching them react was a revelation. Their actions were far slower and more deliberate than ours and it was clear that they will come across on camera far better.
I came back early after lunch and took some photos of the room. As they are slightly spoilery, I am linking them only.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/Firiel50/IMG_2672.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/Firiel50/IMG_2670.jpg
Much of the afternoon was spent watching the rehearsals and filming as the camera moved in through a group of people, backs to the camera, which had to break apart to allow the camera to move forward. It took a few rehearsals to perfect and was finally done with the AD very quietly saying “First row break…..second……third. Then our final scene with Elijah, his gait as he exited showing exactly his character’s feelings and mood.
I wish I had been in a position where I could have seen more of his acting, but one cannot have everything. I am hoping someone with a better view will have done that.
To think that just over a month ago all this was beyond my wildest imaginings.