Chance's Corner: On Set

Remember that movie they're filming around here? You know Spirit Riders that has C. Thomas Howell in it? Well, somehow I ended up in it too!

It all started when I heard that extras were needed for a mock football game Saturday night in Winnsboro. I shrugged it off. I knew that I'd just be some random person mixed in the crowd. I went on with my life. Little did I know that the acting bug had bitten my mother and she contacted the casting director. They called her back on Friday wanting her to be an extra in a courtroom scene at the Winnsboro City Hall. I knew I couldn't let her go by herself! She needed acting tips, right? Sure!

We arrived at the Winnsboro City Hall at 1 PM, and signed a lot of paper work giving our consent to be in the movie and other legal mumbo-jumbo. We were ushered to an upstairs recreation room where the other extras and crew members were milling about. We pretty much just sat there for three hours while they set up the lights, cameras and such before filming some preliminary scenes.

When we finally got called down into the courtroom, the place was buzzing with light, sound, and camera crew members. The camera crew moved the camera over here... then over there... then back over there. The light crew was attempting to get the best light options for each take by putting up diffusers, black cardboard, and black sheets. The sound crew was checking the sounds, checking mics, and asked for complete silence as they "listened to the tone of the room." There was even a makeup girl running around doing touchups on the face of the actors. My face was perfect, so I needed no makeup (ha!).

The magic of movie editing.

Setting up the scene.



Actor Craig Nigh, seen in Breaking Bad and Frasier, getting a touch up.

 

Actress Alexandria "Allie" DeBerry, seen in Disney Channel's A.N.T. Farm.

 

Quiet on the set! Lock it up! Action!

Kim Jackson Wheeler (the one in the black) prepping for her upcoming scene.

Taking a break.

 

I'll be in my trailer, dah-ling.

 

It truly was an interesting process to witness. There's certainly a lot of work involved! If you ever get to see the movie, maybe you'll catch a glimpse of my shoulder or something. As for the mock football game on Saturday, my mother and I both decided to sit that one out (didn't want to be overexposed), but my sister and her kids went. They took their autograph books they bought at Walt Disney World for Allie to sign.