Project X/Superbad, wolf of wallstreet, etc…
When there’s several hundred people at a party scene, and all of them are doing different things, like dancing, drinking, doing drugs, things that seem entirely unscripted, make out scenes, sexual scenes, jumping into pools, crowd diving, spraying beer everywhere, swinging from chandeliers, fights, getting sick, etc. how are these scenes coordinated? Is everyone at the party given free reign to be as chaotic as possible and the cameraman just takes random shots of everything or is every single shot laid out in the script perfectly? How does it all seem so natural? How long does it take to film a chaotic houseparty scene like this? How do the extras get the job? Do they need acting experience or can anyone just be in it if they’re in the right place and the right time? How do extras and actors get roles for films without knowledge of the film’s recording getting out?
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My high school was used for a film once. Though it wasn’t a party scene, it was supposed to be a normal school day, full of kids. Students were invited to come be extras.
We all waited in the cafeteria and were hand picked to be in the shot. I don’t know what the criteria was, whether they wanted people who stood out or people who blended in. Me and my friends waited all day and were only called for the very last shot.
Every single extra was individually placed exactly where the filmmakers wanted them, including which direction they faced and whether they were supposed to talk (or more accurately, appeared to be talking). Any movement was also choreographed so that if they had to edit different takes together, the extras would always be doing the same thing in the background.
It was eerily quiet and I found out that the only people who were actually supposed to talk were the main characters that have dialogue. The rest of us were silent even if our mouths were moving. They would add sound effects in post to make it sound normal.
This was just a small indie film so it’s probably not exactly like big studio film. But I have seen clips of shows and films while shooting and the extras-being-quiet thing seems to be pretty standard.
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