(no subject)
Now that Zach and Miri is in theaters and I've seen it, I can confirm that I'm visible 2, maybe 3 times.
The first time is the easiest to find. Near the beginning of the movie Zach is dropping Miri off at the mall. The shot starts with the camera looking straight down at the car as it drives up to the entrance. I'm in the background on the left walking into the mall. I'm the only one there, so it's easy to find me.
The second time is later when Zach is talking to Delaney in the mall. Eventually, they're on an escalator. When Delaney is on screen, I'm in the background on the second floor.
The possible third time is when they reach the top of the escalator, there is a shot of both of them with the escalator behind them. I was in the crowd in the background on the second floor. I'm not sure if I'm visible because I was in different places during different takes and it was only on screen for a brief moment.
There was another scene that was filmed inside a store and I would have been outside walking around. This was cut.
I was supposed to write down notes back in February, but of course I didn't. So here is what I remember from that day.
We were told to report to Monroeville Mall at 7:30. I woke up spontaneously sometime around 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, I also couldn't get online. When the fire alarm went off at 4am, I was already awake. When they let us back in, I decided to give up on sleep and head out to the mall a little early.
I remember listening to the radio. The story of the morning was about Britney Spears being arrested or having that intervention.
I knew where I was supposed to go, but there were understated signs on telephone poles that just said 'Z&M ->'. Useful if you were lost, and simple enough to not catch attention if you weren't involved.
Extras were supposed to report to the food court, but the first doors I tried were locked. There was a large second of the parking lot blocked off and they were putting down fake frost and snow. I walked over to a tent and asked some guy which door we were supposed to use to get to the food court. He kind of stared at me for a minute like I wasn't speaking English, then pulled out some papers (a call sheet?) and said that extras were supposed to go to the food court. Thanks. :-P
After checking in, signing forms, and getting my $10 for lunch, Amsie, the second second director I think, came and took some of us outside to film the first scene I mentioned above. They had me stand next to someone's car. I was with another extra who was in the driver's seat. You can see her for a second before the scene cuts. They only filmed one take with us, and I thought they were going to film it again without extras because they changed their mind.
Back to the food court to wait for the next scene.
A while later they took a bunch of us up to the second floor to fill the walkways and make it look more like Black Friday than a random Thursday in January. This was the scene that was cut. You would have only seen my back at best. During these takes, we were talking about the Britney situation. Some of the people from my table at the food court were inside the store during these takes.
Back to the food court to wait for the next scene.
Last was the escalator scene. I found out that they film those types of scenes three times. Once with both sets of stairs going up, Zach on one side giving his lines and the camera and Delaney on the other. Next, they switch sides and film Delaney's side of the conversation. Finally, they set the stairs to normal and film the conversation from the top of the escalator.
Eight hours of work for about 5 minutes of screen time.
After filming, the extras from the board went over to the Raddison. At some point during the day, we started talking about Dave Attell's bit about how "It's always 10 minutes after you leave when the all fun shows up". To test this, I left Raddison to give someone a ride back to his hotel. Returning to the Raddison after at least 10 minutes did not prove the Attell Theorem to be true.
I also found that the tiny glow sticks I bought in the food court bathroom don't last very long.
I don't remember exactly when I got back to my hotel, but I do remember that the fire alarm went off for the second night in a row around 4am.
The first time is the easiest to find. Near the beginning of the movie Zach is dropping Miri off at the mall. The shot starts with the camera looking straight down at the car as it drives up to the entrance. I'm in the background on the left walking into the mall. I'm the only one there, so it's easy to find me.
The second time is later when Zach is talking to Delaney in the mall. Eventually, they're on an escalator. When Delaney is on screen, I'm in the background on the second floor.
The possible third time is when they reach the top of the escalator, there is a shot of both of them with the escalator behind them. I was in the crowd in the background on the second floor. I'm not sure if I'm visible because I was in different places during different takes and it was only on screen for a brief moment.
There was another scene that was filmed inside a store and I would have been outside walking around. This was cut.
I was supposed to write down notes back in February, but of course I didn't. So here is what I remember from that day.
We were told to report to Monroeville Mall at 7:30. I woke up spontaneously sometime around 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, I also couldn't get online. When the fire alarm went off at 4am, I was already awake. When they let us back in, I decided to give up on sleep and head out to the mall a little early.
I remember listening to the radio. The story of the morning was about Britney Spears being arrested or having that intervention.
I knew where I was supposed to go, but there were understated signs on telephone poles that just said 'Z&M ->'. Useful if you were lost, and simple enough to not catch attention if you weren't involved.
Extras were supposed to report to the food court, but the first doors I tried were locked. There was a large second of the parking lot blocked off and they were putting down fake frost and snow. I walked over to a tent and asked some guy which door we were supposed to use to get to the food court. He kind of stared at me for a minute like I wasn't speaking English, then pulled out some papers (a call sheet?) and said that extras were supposed to go to the food court. Thanks. :-P
After checking in, signing forms, and getting my $10 for lunch, Amsie, the second second director I think, came and took some of us outside to film the first scene I mentioned above. They had me stand next to someone's car. I was with another extra who was in the driver's seat. You can see her for a second before the scene cuts. They only filmed one take with us, and I thought they were going to film it again without extras because they changed their mind.
Back to the food court to wait for the next scene.
A while later they took a bunch of us up to the second floor to fill the walkways and make it look more like Black Friday than a random Thursday in January. This was the scene that was cut. You would have only seen my back at best. During these takes, we were talking about the Britney situation. Some of the people from my table at the food court were inside the store during these takes.
Back to the food court to wait for the next scene.
Last was the escalator scene. I found out that they film those types of scenes three times. Once with both sets of stairs going up, Zach on one side giving his lines and the camera and Delaney on the other. Next, they switch sides and film Delaney's side of the conversation. Finally, they set the stairs to normal and film the conversation from the top of the escalator.
Eight hours of work for about 5 minutes of screen time.
After filming, the extras from the board went over to the Raddison. At some point during the day, we started talking about Dave Attell's bit about how "It's always 10 minutes after you leave when the all fun shows up". To test this, I left Raddison to give someone a ride back to his hotel. Returning to the Raddison after at least 10 minutes did not prove the Attell Theorem to be true.
I also found that the tiny glow sticks I bought in the food court bathroom don't last very long.
I don't remember exactly when I got back to my hotel, but I do remember that the fire alarm went off for the second night in a row around 4am.