life & style // no. 16

theotherpress.ca

Life on set as a background performer

> What to know if you want to be an extra for TV or film

Clive Ramroop Contributor

Wee like “booming” and “sprawling” have been used to describe BC’s film industry. It’s easy to

see why, when you can find clusters of white trucks and trailers materializing

in seemingly random spots like a park

in Surrey or near a mall in Langley. As productions like The Flash, Riverdale, and numerous movies-of-the-week keep the industry rolling, casting directors for these productions require “nameless” players in the background to fill space or add realism to some scenes. Though these extras—also known as background performers—don't receive the publicity of the A-list stars, they can make some good money in the process.

Curious about how to be an extra for film and/or TV? It’s not terribly difficult. For one, previous acting experience isn’t necessary, but the ability to take direction is. An easy way to get started is to find an agent that deals with background players. There are quite a few such agencies all over Metro Vancouver. Signing with an agent does not guarantee steady work, however—it’s an on-call job, and getting a gig depends on what casting directors are looking for, regarding “character types” or certain “looks,” and of course, who is available on which shooting dates.

When you are booked on a filming

Get good: Deathmatch

date, you have to be at the location by your call time. It could be obscenely early like 5 a.m., or quite a bit later like 7 p.m. Due to the unsteady, unpredictable nature of this line of work, someone with a regular nine- to-five weekday job might not be suitable if they're unable to take a day off fora booked shoot. No-shows not only make the agency representing that absentee look bad, it’s grounds for immediate dismissal from the roster. You'd be advised to wear something appropriately comfortable for the weather—given this

is Vancouver, your waiting area might just be a big tent with a power heater to shield you from a torrential downpour, if the crew is filming outdoors.

You may be asked in an advance email to bring some articles of your own clothing to match a certain character look. The purpose is to further help the costume departments, whose otherwise large wardrobes may still be limited to account for a crowd of more than 75 extras. Once you're in costume and your hair and makeup are ready, the day is a lot of “hurry up and wait” in the holding area, usually not far from the film set itself. You may experience long stretches of wait times before you and other extras are called on set, so bring something to do. Once you're called, be prepared for the film crew to capture multiple takes of the same scene, especially if it’s a fast-action scene with rapid-fire editing for the show’s final cut.

> lvl duels and free-for-alls

Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor

s I said in previous editions of Get

Good, teaming up is always a sound strategy for people new to PC gaming. Unfortunately, that’s sometimes not an option. Yep, I’m talking about the dreaded Deathmatch, or duel. A Deathmatch is a free-for-all where you need to kill as many people as possible, whereas a duel is just a single player facing off against another single player. Though they differ in function, they’re actually pretty similar in how you should approach them.

Deathmatch win conditions vary. Most of the time the win goes to the last man standing, but sometimes it’s reliant on how many people you've killed—it all depends on the game. Duel win conditions are always the same, whether you're doing a random quick-match in Overwatch—they call it 1v1, and it’s only available during certain seasonal events— or you've taken personal offence to someone in World of Warcraft; the winner of the duel is the person who doesn‘ die.

Being successful at either of these modes is a bit tricky. You run the risk of facing off against people a lot more experienced than you—without having anyone to back you up. But there are a few options you may have at your disposal to help you out.

If you're playing a game where you have a hero or champion select, your automatic instinct will be to go for someone powerful—this is a trap, don’t

fall for it. The same idea applies to players with custom characters. Your first instinct will be to load your ability bar with high damage spells or attacks—this is also a trap. High damage is nice, but it’s not worth anything if you can’t survive. In

a Deathmatch surviving is important because it may win you the game, and if it doesn’t—if you are in a position where you have to kill the most players—you cart kill anyone if you're already dead!

Whether you choose your character from a set, or it’s a custom one you've developed out of playing an MMO, before you enter a Deathmatch ora duel make sure you have a healing ability or at least something that will make you impervious so you can chug a potion or get a health-pack.

Next you should remember “ABA’— Always Be Attacking! Make sure the majority of your abilities have low cooldowns, so youre never in a position where you can't do anything. Having a couple of higher cooldown abilities is fine, as they usually tend to be more powerful, but they shouldn’t make up the majority of your skill set. As an add-on to that, use abilities or pick a character you're familiar with. You want to be able to know the cooldown times and your skill rotation—the order in which you activate your skills or spells to capitalize on cooldown timers and ABA.

Next—and really this is just more of a personal preference that I found useful—get control. What I mean by this is if you have some way of incapacitating

It’s possible for various angles and takes of the same scene to be repeatedly shot for hours!

If any of that seems boring to you, don't worry; there are some perks to being an extra. For starters, free food! And of course, there’s the pay. You're guaranteed a minimum four hours’ pay even if a shoot goes less than that; if a day goes past eight hours, you get overtime—but be aware

your opponent, such as a knockback, a grab, a sleeping spell—anything that will make it impossible for them to attack you—use it! You want to dictate the pace of the fight. Having that ability in your back pocket will allow you to escape to find heath, freely whittle away at their HP bar, or even kill them if you can get off a headshot. You're basically making winning easier. You can also use this as an

Illustration by Ed Appleby

that your hours on set will take about two to three weeks of processing by financial departments. Under some circumstances, you can even apply to join the Union of BC Performers as a “Background Member.” Being a background performer may not lead to hitting stardom of your own, but you can still say you've been on a show with certain celebrities—after the non- disclosure agreement has expired, that is.

Screenshot from ‘Overwatch’ animated short ‘Infiltration’

interrupt. If you know that they’re going

to hit you with an ability that does a lot

of damage, incapacitate them! Not only

will it will save you, but they will still have

the cooldown timer so they’ll have to wait

to use that high damage ability again. Other than that, just try your best

and hope the players youre up against

are just as new to this as you are.