Saturday, October 8, 2011

CSI: NY; My Experience

Monday was the day that Autumn decided to prove that she could be briskly cold.  It was also the day I was out fr-reez-ing all. day. long.


One of the background actors I met was a stay-at-home-mom like me (Yay, SAHMs!).  Being an extra is her outlet and time to let someone else take the kids for the day so she could earn holiday moo-lah (which I pretty much thought was awesome).  She was in the ballroom scene in Enchanted.  She said they had to react to a Chinese dragon instead of the CGI dragon.  She had to go to fittings . . . I'm adding that to my bucket list. Be an extra on a show where I need to get fitted for some very modest outfit and kid-appropo show.

They had tables sitting out at holding and all the background artists were directed to sit at the tables closer to the wall (apparently interaction with the crew is . . . discouraged). The rest of the tables were for the crew when they came to refresh themselves with nutrient rich catered food.

After waiting for a couple of hours for the main people to finish up some filming we headed out to the Criminal Court House. We were directed to the prop truck for props---MY FIRST PROP-- which was . . . . a coffee cup?!

Just to set the record straight, I do not drink coffee. So if you see that cup do not think--Melanie?! What is going on with you?!  Just realize that if it were real life and you saw me with such a cup there is a 100% chance it would not be coffee, so I told every one that I was drinking cocoa (which I adore).  I had to hand over my license for that paper coffee cup--so I had to treat it well.

Now that I think of it, I would have put a note inside for future cocoa cup-bearing background artists that would have said, "It's your lucky day!  Remember to floss!" or something life-changing like that.

For the first part I was set on the side to wait with two hilarious people that kept me laughing a lot the whole time we waited. One of them was a union stage manager (the first union one I have met, I think) and a guy who works with the people from the NY equivalent of Alcatraz (I think). People are so interesting.

Then they had us walk up and down the side walk in front of the Criminal Court House.  I walked with a person named LaVar.

I decided that my character's name was . . . Betty Lou from Schnectady.  Of course, after talking with the people for five minutes they came to the conclusion I was not originally from New York.

It was a really great day. At one point I was surrounded by the camera people and standing within two feet of  Sela Ward and was close enough to almost hear what the actors were saying during their scene (I had to walk right behind them at one point, so you may see me or my very stylish bag in the background---I'm wearing black).  When they were organizing everything I felt so happy just sitting there shivering and watching.

The director eventually made me move, but I was so happy that I moved right when they implied that I should but mostly I was just so happy to be watching so close.  The gaffer asked if I was cold (my lips must have been turning blue), and I honestly answered, "Not as cold as I was before."

They asked us to move up ten feet from the last take, which would have finished my walking across the screen. But once they asked us to move back to the take, but unclear what type of take it would be.  I got to watch them at work and the actors are so amazing to watch in person, it is no wonder we like watching them on the screen. Their focus was amazing and I just sat there in awe.  No matter how many people were around them they were utterly in the zone and no ambulance siren or random pedestrian that walked exactly into the middle of the shot would stymie their focus.


I told Ms. Ward that I really enjoyed her performances on the show, when it looked like no one was looking, and she mouthed the words back "Thank you."

Then they moved us to the top of the stairs of the Criminal Court House.  It was raining pretty hard for a little while so were were grateful for any cover.

The P.A.s were really friendly and jovial.  It was refreshing to see them joking with instead of hollering in an annoyed fashion at all of the extras.  Guess what, one of them was the guy that I featured in a previous post as the "fly in the doughnut" guy.  Let's just say he seems like the fly was removed and he is a nice guy. It seems they are more friendly to people they've hired than to interfering interlopers attempting to get a look of the inside workings of the film/tv industry from the outside.  But I did not interview him--that guy was so busy and I get the feeling he will probably not be a P.A. much longer because he did not stop moving for the tv people for a second (really).

Afterward I went and dropped off my prop, the paper cup for which I exchanged my license.  I was so glad to have my license in tact. Then I walked back, checked out, hopped on the train and came home exhausted.

What a great experience--even if I was nearly-hypothermic the entire time and we ended up wet.  So many people were really nice to share their umbrellas. I wore my scarf stylishly over my head (okay, so it wasn't stylish, but it kept my hair dry-er).


At/near my table were several seasoned background artists, and Eric and Bob let me interview them. Look for those interviews shortly!

Look for me in episode eight.

2 comments:

  1. This is all so cool. You are so cool.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I got home I discovered that my face was really red under my make-up. Which means my face looked extremely blotchy and scary-looking. Maybe that's why many people were concerned with my weather protection level. They were so nice.

    ReplyDelete