The end of the warrior...

What is the worst thing that can happen to a warrior?
To start loving his enemies...

Right person in the right place? Yes, exactly...

The context, or what being an ”extra” means...

 

Lately, since I quit my classic job in the budgetary field, I started to participate more often, as a figurant (or “extra” in the specialized language), in various film acts. Be it chocolate, beer or phone company commercials, or movies, candid camera shows, these events gave me beside the minimal financial reward, also the possibility to observe people in their diversity and to draw some conclusions about their behavior.

For those who don’t know, the work of a figurant (how strange it sounds!) means, most of the times, being present for 12 to 14 hours a day “on the set”, be it a special made one, like Media Pro Studios from Buftea or some natural place like a football stadium or a coffee bar. In general, most of the time you stay and wait, the real filming time with you as a participant in the background is maybe less than a half of the total time spent there.

When you’re not in front of the camera, you can listen to music on your mobile phone, for example (if it’s advanced enough), you can write Facebook messages on your Iphone, or you can talk and socialize with the other girls and guys around there. And when you get really involved in the shootings, as a figurant, you must pay attention to what the director or the „set chief” says, just like in an orchestra each player must know his partiture but also WHEN he should enter with his playing part. This thing is very important, although it doesn’t seem like, because if a single person desinchronises or is doing something out of the big picture (like holding a plastic bag on a high class boxing game), then everything must be repeated.

Photo credits: http://www.sxc.hu/

So, what they ask from a figurant is: to be on time and to respect his commitments, to cooperate with the shooting team, meaning to do what he is told to without too much side commentaries or negotiations, and finally, some trained feet, as you will stand a lot on a vertical position.

Ok, let’s move on to the subject of this article. What did I observed during my participation on the shootings?

The extra-complainer...

That no matter how much it lasts, no matter what the filming conditions are, or the money they get, there will always, but always be, people, and not few, who will mumble and will want to finish it as soon as possible, to take their money and go home. For me it was a very good exercise to see the multiple faces of arrogance, making a show in the back of the cameras. To see how people consider themselves so important, so special, so capable, that the situation they are facing appears to be nothing but an unjust act, something that the shooting stuff is responsible for, because they don’t see all these things and they put them in the humiliating posture of a simple figurant.

How ironic, one could say! To be so good, so intelligent, and still, as a matter of fact, to lose one day of your life being a simple passing by person in a crowd, for one or two seconds, in a advertising that lasts about thirty.

Emotionally intelligent and not so emotionally intelligent people...

 

This leads me to the second important point I checked in the notebook of my mind, as a consequence of my participation to these events. I got to this point after I’ve participated in an ad for a car, in which no car was seen (at least in the real shootings) but two real boxing guys from the US, who had an almost real match fight. Somewhere around 1500 people took part in this ad, as figurants, which meant some few hours lost only with signing in the contracts, taking costumes and simply admin stuff.

I’ve noticed during those 2 days of filming on this commercial that there are some people who know how to relate with people, in a way that respects them and makes them act in the desired way without using force or pure authority. I remember for example of Kelly, the man who was some sort of executive director, and who in the beginning of the first day of shootings, after he explained what we should do and what the scenario will be like, he raised the spirits a little bit (he woke up the energy, in fact), encouraging people to shout “ROMANIA!”, as if we were on a football game. It was a skillful maneuvering of the energy in the hall, and of the people there, after all, but very inspired I must admit.

Another interesting character, from the shooting crew, was Horatiu, a guy who was giving instructions on how and where to move on the set. Different in temper from Kelly, who is more of a sanguine temper, Horatiu was kindly asking us to do this or that, and he would almost give us a chocolate for that.

But, obviously not everyone was like this. I will tell you about a more tensed episode, just to understand what I mean.

In the second day of filming, when we were getting close to the end, after some more than three hours of waiting rather than actually filming, in a hall with very hot air and with the water being outside the shooting set, the people had become very nervous because they didn’t gave us no lunch break. To stay for three hours without water, without going to the toilet, while playing the excited fan who shouts and makes gestures from time to time, it’s not easy for a young man, what to say about a retired 60 years old guy.

At some point I become aware of the fact that the people around me are very negative, impatient, gossiping: “What the fuck takes them so long to prepare the set?! Yeah, more energy, where to get so much energy?” I also notice that I don’t have, still, this internal dialog. By the by, I tried continuously to remember myself and to be present 100% there. At some point, though, I got thirsty, in fact I think I became aware of the s thirst sensation I had for some time, and I decided to go and ask Alex, the guy from the casting agency who had called me there, to bring me a glass of water. The water pets of 10 litres were nearby the exit from the improvised Romexpo arena, so it was just one minute job.

Photo credits: http://www.sxc.hu/

So I go towards him, the man sees me and tells me from 3 metres before I get to him that it is not the break yet and I can’t get out of there. He was guarding the exit, together with a few security boys and one more person. I say to him that I don’t want to go out, but I kindly ask him to bring me a glass of water from the pets behind, because I’m very thirsty. He replies there are no more glasses. I say, „You will find one there, for sure.” The man refuses any request from my side. One of the security boys helps him to take me away, saying something like, „C’mon, beat it, we’re sick and tired to wait after you!” In translation:”Because of you (all of you), we are standing here, in this hot air, so late, because you ask for breaks and you don’t do what you are told to.” Something absolutely false, from MY point of view.

Although I was angry and I would have slapped Alex,  because he just couldn’t be human for two minutes, the coward in me won this time and I got back in my place without saying anything, like the man who shuts up and swallows, because he has no choice (or at least this is what his mind tells him..)

After I came back to my place, I said to Horatiu, the guy I was speaking about few lines above, to bring us some water, because we are on dry land for 3 hours now. He said they don’t have small pets, of 2l, to bring them in the shooting area. I believed him.

But I felt something very interesting then. There was such energy of anger there, and if somebody, maybe me, or someone else, would have wanted, he could have directed that energy very easily against those who were supposed to run the activities there, mainly the film crew. The image that came to my mind was of a room full of gas, in which only one spark is enough to trigger the explosion.

Well, the explosion didn’t took place, but a little revolution still happened, because after a few more minutes people started going out of the set, without bothering about those who were telling them that it’s not the break yet and they should stay where they are. Some 2-3-10 people went out of the set, than more others, in a sheep-like movement. The coordinators from the filming stuff didn’t have anything else to do but accept the situation as it was and to announce a little break for drinking water and going to the toilet.

And finally, the conclusion...

Well, pondering on all that happened then, and in the light of what I said above about hierarchy, arrogance and humbleness, I realized after these why some people are directors or bosses over some many people, while others are just figurant’s coordinators and simple executors. It sis because this is how much they can handle (in translation: this is their capacity of consciously controlling the emotions, but about this in another article). I understood then that every human being has exactly the place he’s deserving, and basically, there is no injustice in this world, but just, maybe, a refuse of seeing things as they truly are. White, black, pink-turquoise…