21.2.27
I came back to the same production for today’s filming! However, today’s film was a bit different from last time. As always, I went to the large truck that had all the costumes in it, and asked for my usual size. After changing, I realized today’s scene was mostly in the classroom. This is where the main actors play and fight with each other. I was in the classroom for about five hours, and I extremely wanted to get close to the main actors. I made a plan: to speak English with the person next to me and gain their attention. The most important rule I had to follow was being careless; I had to act as if the actors were just human beings, like any extras. So, when the camera and lighting were moving, I started speaking English to my friend next to me. Sometimes, looking back to see whether they are paying attention. The second time I looked back, they were talking to each other and pointing a finger at me. OF COURSE, I was nervous. I was almost sweaty in this cold weather. This is the most important part: I cannot act like I acknowledge that they are talking about me. Finally, FINALLY, one of the actors tapped my shoulder and said, “Are you a foreigner?” to which I replied, “Oh, yeah! Actually, I am Russian and Canadian. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!” They were all staring at me, surprised by the way I displayed a “foreigner” reaction. It was time to shoot the same scene but from a different angle, which is the same thing as me shushing up and hoping they would talk to me first. I, the extra, cannot talk to the actors. It’s just an unspoken rule. SO, I make THEM talk to ME. The camera was, again, moved to another spot, which means that it is when they may talk to me. Unfortunately, they didn’t. Honestly, I already thought so. Here is the most important part: just because they didn’t talk to me, I cannot talk to them first. If I did, they would never ever talk to me again. So, it is just me being patient. Before we went to get lunch, the actor who first tapped me said bye. This is called improvement. During all of this, I also got close to this staff member who was just an assistant. Without any direct role, he went around and helped everyone. We got extremely close since my stomach would not stop grumpling. It was the quietest moment where the main actor would act as if he was saying something in his head, but I was just there, unable to resist my stomach rumbling and dumpling. Yes, everyone heard it, and that staff member was the one who smirked at me. That’s how we got close.
