Review - Being an extra for Skins
I got picked to be an extra on Skins, just got home and thought I'd do a little write up about it if anyone's interested...
I wasn't told much except dress like you're going shopping, you can wear the brightly coloured thing you wore to the audition and bring a change of clothes. Woke up late, just had time to put some clothes on, rush my makeup and have a smoke... luckily the pub was only 10mins down the road!
There were about 20 people there, mostly studenty types. A woman came and waved her arms at me and said "I love this, it's fabulous" but the costume department had to ask me to take off my jacket(the one with all the badges) because one of the main characters wears a jacket with badges XD Got given a black hoodie instead.
A minibus drove us to Castle Park where we got onto an old double-decker bus with tables inside which was our 'trailer'. It took ages for the rest of the vans, the catering, the toilets, the crew and the cast to turn up.. we pretty much sat on and around the bus drinking free coffee(chocolate, juice, tea, water etc.), eating free biscuits and chatting from 11-3pm! When they finally decided to film it seemed to take a long time to get everyone ready - not the extras, but everyone else. I thought it would be a lot more organised.
The scene was filmed in St. Nick's market, it wasn't blocked off or anything, we were just there to 'busy' it up, all the extras seemed to be in most of the shots. We were given positions and cues and had to act like we were walking/browsing normally - but without getting in the way of the actress or walking into a camera. We took the scene about 7(?) times from different angles, there were a lot of crew making sure we were doing the right thing, not changing appearance(unzipping jackets etc.). I ran into Hannah halfway through, didn't tell her what I was doing becuase she surprised me and went back to my position! Had to text her 'I'm in Skins right now' XD
The scene was just with the girl who plays Naomi on her own... I'd better not give it away XD probably something in the contract about that?
Of course spending that long on a bus with other extras you end up chatting, some of them recongised me from The Crown and I also talked to the costume girl who was really friendly, she had just graduated and this was her first job. We all got back to the bus area and there was a huge spread of food and a full home cooked menu with loads of options, I had sweet potato and roasted red pepper gratin with veg and chips. Seriously I can't belive how many different types of food there were and I wish I could have fitted more in! Couldn't even manage pudding ¬_¬;;
There was some confusion over weather or not we were going to get paid - no one had been told we would, I wasn't actually bothered or expecting anything but in the end we all signed a contract and got £40. Score!
I walked halfway home with a guy called Sam who had been an extra the year before, he said they'll probably call us back again which would be great :D Definitely want to do that again, it was the easiest £40 ever.
I kept the hoodie.
I wasn't told much except dress like you're going shopping, you can wear the brightly coloured thing you wore to the audition and bring a change of clothes. Woke up late, just had time to put some clothes on, rush my makeup and have a smoke... luckily the pub was only 10mins down the road!
There were about 20 people there, mostly studenty types. A woman came and waved her arms at me and said "I love this, it's fabulous" but the costume department had to ask me to take off my jacket(the one with all the badges) because one of the main characters wears a jacket with badges XD Got given a black hoodie instead.
A minibus drove us to Castle Park where we got onto an old double-decker bus with tables inside which was our 'trailer'. It took ages for the rest of the vans, the catering, the toilets, the crew and the cast to turn up.. we pretty much sat on and around the bus drinking free coffee(chocolate, juice, tea, water etc.), eating free biscuits and chatting from 11-3pm! When they finally decided to film it seemed to take a long time to get everyone ready - not the extras, but everyone else. I thought it would be a lot more organised.
The scene was filmed in St. Nick's market, it wasn't blocked off or anything, we were just there to 'busy' it up, all the extras seemed to be in most of the shots. We were given positions and cues and had to act like we were walking/browsing normally - but without getting in the way of the actress or walking into a camera. We took the scene about 7(?) times from different angles, there were a lot of crew making sure we were doing the right thing, not changing appearance(unzipping jackets etc.). I ran into Hannah halfway through, didn't tell her what I was doing becuase she surprised me and went back to my position! Had to text her 'I'm in Skins right now' XD
The scene was just with the girl who plays Naomi on her own... I'd better not give it away XD probably something in the contract about that?
Of course spending that long on a bus with other extras you end up chatting, some of them recongised me from The Crown and I also talked to the costume girl who was really friendly, she had just graduated and this was her first job. We all got back to the bus area and there was a huge spread of food and a full home cooked menu with loads of options, I had sweet potato and roasted red pepper gratin with veg and chips. Seriously I can't belive how many different types of food there were and I wish I could have fitted more in! Couldn't even manage pudding ¬_¬;;
There was some confusion over weather or not we were going to get paid - no one had been told we would, I wasn't actually bothered or expecting anything but in the end we all signed a contract and got £40. Score!
I walked halfway home with a guy called Sam who had been an extra the year before, he said they'll probably call us back again which would be great :D Definitely want to do that again, it was the easiest £40 ever.
I kept the hoodie.