This is where I spent most of Thursday. These are various background performers having a break before heading in to mime being restaurant patrons in the movie Cloudburst. Just regular people, extras are supposed to blend in to the background and not distract from the main action. Each person is checked for what they are wearing and general “look”. When working as an extra you are advised to bring some extra changes of clothing so the wardrobe people can mix and match everybody according to colour and mood of scene.

Working on sets is a lot of hurry up and wait. Lighting is meticulous and every shot has to be lit separately. Every shadow is examined. Sound is checked and things like fridges and fans are scrutinized. It is all about the details.
The extras are put into place before the main actors are brought in. Often rearranged according to how the shot looks.
I was placed back to back with Olympia Dukakis. We were sharing the same booth bench but her table was behind mine:) We kept bumping elbows (she had her arm along the top of the seat). When the camera starts rolling, as background performers, we have to mime conversations with our fellow extras. No sound at all. The ambient noise is all put in during the picture editing.
This is what the food stylist/props person brought to place in front of me. I was very hungry and quite disappointed when I saw the remains of “my” meal. We did break for a lovely lunch shortly after. Food is one of the highlights of being on set, it breaks the tedium.

In this scene, we are supposed to be in a Salt Lake City diner. One of the extras was reading a prop newspaper from there! Olympia and her partner are on the lam and stop in for a quick bite here with a hitchhiker they have picked up to throw off the people looking for them. It was a very funny scene with some memorable lines.
Sitting right next to the lead actors was very interesting because I could eavesdrop on their banter and listen to the director and actors work out how the scene was to be played. Thom Fitzgerald is the director and I was very impressed with his calm manner and clear vision.

If you are interested in extra work in Nova Scotia, Hennessy at Large is the local company that casted this film. Filmworks is another casting agency that is looking for talent.

PS. I am trying out larger pictures on my blog. What do you think? Are they too big?