On a Movie Set as Extra – Girltrash: All Night Long Revisited
By B&TF
I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to being an extra. It’s not because I love acting even though I’ve participated in a couple of plays and comedy shows while I was in college but because it enabled me to see how the movies are made…and be part of the movie, as well.
Day 1
When I found out that Girltrash needed lots of extras for a club scene being filmed on February 1-3, I decided to go to Los Angeles for a few days to be one of them and make another vacation out of it. I stayed about 35 miles away from downtown L.A. and it was my first time driving a car in L.A. traffic. I arrived safe and on time at a club called “Coco Bongo” where the scenes were filmed. Extras’ call was at 7:30 am but when we arrived, we had to wait while the crew finished setting up the shooting.
Okay, I have another confession to make. I don’t like waiting because it makes me feel restless and nervous. I always have to be in motion or at least do something with my hands. Maybe I have ADD…who knows…
Anyway, there was a lot of waiting and I decided to use the down time wisely: I finished a book, drained the battery of my nano iPod, learned how to knit and brushed up my French. So as you can see: je n’ai pas gaspillé le temps – non pas du tout.
Our first scene involved a conversation between Lisa Rieffel and Michelle Lombardo. My position was inside a booth, back towards the door, where the camera was placed. I looked bored and pretended to check IDs. The door to the booth was only opened for a few seconds during the shoot and it was not enough time to even get a glimpse at my butt. Exciting!!!!
Then the same scene was filmed again from a different angle and I was positioned by the pool tables, watching some guys playing pool while Lisa and Michelle did the same dialog again.
Then Gaby Christian, Mandy Musgrave, Kate French and Michelle did another scene together and this time I was with other extras crossing the floor in front of the actors to create the illusion of a bar crowd. Their conversation was filmed for the rest of the day from about four or five different angles and I had to cross in front of them several times for the same take. So you can see me going one way wearing a black jacket and then going back with a drink and no jacket. Then later I would go by with yet another drink and in a different shirt. The game of “Where is Waldo?” continues!!
The rest of the day I pretty much spent walking and while I can’t reveal the storyline and the scripts, I can tell you that the movie is going to be awesome. There’s drama, comedy, love, money, fighting, singing, dancing and much, much more.
Day 2
Who said that traffic in L.A. sucks? They were wrong. Traffic in L.A. sucks big time, especially between the hours of 6 and 9 am. With my first experience of driving in L.A., I learned a few valuable lessons.
Lesson one: don’t drink too much coffee or other liquids in the morning when you could get stuck in traffic because there are no bathrooms around, unless you drive a Winnebago or you had a very large cup of coffee and made it to a parking garage.
Lesson two: If you want to get anywhere on time you have to leave at least two hours earlier…at least.
Lesson three: if you spent the day before walking around or standing on your feet a lot, cold packs are better than the hot ones. Heat will make you feel better as soon as you put it on the aching parts of your body but you will feel bad and achy the next morning once again. The cold packs might feel uncomfortable at first but the next morning you feel like a new person.
Well, enough with the lessons because many of you probably know them already. During day two we continued filming a few club scenes but this time there were more extras and we were put on the dance floor, dancing and having a good time. After about two takes I was removed from the dance scene and placed at the corner of the bar, pretending to have a conversation with another girl.
I think the AD just didn’t like my dance style and I don’t blame him because only a few people like it, and I think they just lie to make me feel better. I can really do a great Charleston but it wasn’t useful for the scenes they were filming.
In between the takes I was a stand-in for Gabby a few times and it was kind of fun. We were just standing there with the names of the characters around our necks while the crew members prepared for the take. We were called the second team while the actual cast members were called the first team. A few times the actors would come to replace us and they always thanked us for standing in for them.
Again, without revealing the storyline or the actual dialogs, all I can tell you about day two is that one of the scenes included Gabby and Mandy singing a song. It was a pre-recorded song and they were singing and acting over and over and over again. It was also filmed from different angles and we were dancing and pretending not to notice them singing and the song got stuck in my head now. I can’t get rid of it because it was very catchy and the girls can really sing.
Day two was very exhausting because we danced a lot and my dancing style involves a lot of bodily movements, like butt shaking, jumping and rapid hand movements. Hmm…no wonder I was placed in a VIP section instead of the dance floor because from the angle they were filming, they could only see blurred bodies moving where I was standing, so nobody would be able to make out our faces.
Day 3
I was actually supposed to fly back home at 6 am but we finished filming at 10 pm the day before and by the time I got back to my friend’s house, finished checking my emails and twitter, it was already very late and not much time left to sleep. I was tired and I didn’t want to go home so I changed my flight to 6 pm in order to get some rest and spend at least half a day on the set.
Day three was actually pretty exciting. They were filming some scenes with Lisa, Clementine Ford, and the Dollyrots. It began with a short conversation that turned into a fight. I was there for the conversation and the beginning of the fight, just dancing. Then Michelle and Lisa were filming another scene and again, we all were just dancing around them.
After lunch they set up a big fight scene with pretty much the whole cast, except for Rose Rollins. While the actors were fighting, the extras gathered around them in a circle and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” It was great and I think our first take was almost perfect. Unfortunately, I had to go to the airport and could only stay for two takes, so I’m not going to be in that scene.
A few unexpected things happened on day three, while we were filming. I was told by some guy that I look like Ellen DeGeneres. Hah…he probably had too much of the fake beer they kept shoving into our hands because I do not look like Ellen at all. My reply was that the resemblance probably lies in the way I dance and in my short hair because I just got a new haircut a few weeks ago. I wish I looked like Ellen though because maybe then I’d get my Portia too.
And again, since they filmed a few scenes, I can be seen drinking at the bar, talking at the bar, and then walking by the bar with different drinks and in different t-shirts. I could also be seen in three different areas of the bar dancing during the same scene. If some meticulous fan will point out all these inconsistencies, I’m going to claim that I have at least five twin sisters who came with me to be extras.
All good things come to an end and finally my time was up. I had to go back to the real world and to my real job that pays the bills and lets me travel and have fun. The only thing that comforted me was the thought of the real drinks I would soon have because I was upgraded to first class on my flight home. I needed them as much as I needed rest. Why is it that I always need a vacation after my vacation?
Well, this was the end of my career as an extra. I have a feeling that Girltrash: All Night Long will be a very entertaining and fun movie and I’m glad to be a part of it. The crew was great, the actors were nice, the filming was fun and I could totally keep up with all the young 20-year old extras, which made me really feel proud of myself. Cold and hot packs helped, too.
