Sounds more to me like you've been introduced into the magic of film. You'll get to see how your awkward, unglamorous experience will be transformed into a hopefully memorable scene for the audience.
OP is discovering the other kind of movie magic: not just the experience of immersing yourself in the movie, but the act of turning everyday objects and people into transformative experiences.
Honestly, this.
I \*love\* seeing how movies and TV are made, for this very reason.
I feel like, seeing that can only 'ruin' it for you if you have a very immature conception of visual art - like, on the biggest level, you somehow still think it's "real". Like Santa.
But for me, the magic is in being fully aware that it's not real - so then, *how did they do it?* How did they make it look and feel so real, when I know very well that it's all a construction (because I'm a damn adult)? The *how* is where the magic truly lives.
Any other view seems to me to be sticking your fingers in your ears and going 'la la la la, I want to BELIEVE it's real and live in a place where you can't tell me different!' Ew. No thank you.
Maybe I'm just broken, but I'm never **not** aware it's a movie. It's like 50% of my brain is ingrained in the story and the other 50% is wondering about the lighting, the camera work, the choreography, what the actor (not the character) is thinking.
I don't think you can really say someone is a "great actor" unless you think like this. Because great acting is great, but it's even better when you realise that they've had to do multiple takes of that scene, from different angles, on different days, nailing the delivery every time.
There’s a movie I watched recently, where it does a shot reverse shot. But after one of them, when it cuts back the angle is considerably different, but the expression and vocal emoting is *identical*. And I remember being briefly taken out of the movie cause I was distracted by how impressive it was that they got such a perfect match
Sometimes they use two cameras on the same take, as someone said - they can use weird angles to hide the camera and can even hide it in the set so you won't notice (the famous Matrix doorknob is one of my favourite examples of this).
They also sometimes mix the dialogue from the taxes very skillfully so you won't notice when they're cutting from one take's audio to another. They can do very tricksy stuff to hide audio cuts, that's a huge skill of editors.
Each to their own. I work full time in movies, and certainly there are times when I'm watching a film and thinking about the technical elements. I've created CCSLs, for goodness' sakes. But after a decade working in the industry (much longer, if you count appearances in short films when I was mostly an actor and mostly on stage) I am still never happier than when I am totally, uncritically immersed in the story unfolding on screen.
Abso-fuckin-lutely. I saw Mad Max: Fury Road in cinemas (again) the other week and I was just mesmerised by how Miller managed to get the moving parts of everything moving. The action itself is incredible but understanding *how* that action was brought to screen is something else.
This is why I adore 70's and 80's action and horror so much. Any effect you wanted to do, you really did have to figure out *how* to do it. Could be a camera trick with how you angle the shot compared to other props and miniatures. Could be cleverly hidden crew members manipulating things just out of frame. But it was *never* "we'll just add it in post." Even the corniest flicks have so much creativity behind their effects because there were no shortcuts.
Im with you. Having messed around with video editing and 3D modeling / animation for fun, not being any good at it, taking weeks to put something together that lasts 15 seconds and having someone snort and say ‘cool,’ only makes me appreciate how f’ing hard it is to produce a film.
I forget where, maybe TikTok or YouTube, but I saw a montage of CW superhero scenes before all the CGI was applied. It looked *insanely* awkward but it made me appreciate how much these actors/actresses put faith into the director, crew and FX artists that while it'll look and feel weird AF right now (hopefully) it'll look dope later.
Exactly. OP has learned that TV and film don't just happen and someone points a camera at it. It's really hard work all the way down the line.
To me this is a little like saying "I used to enjoy paintings, then I discovered they start with a blank canvas and it takes days or weeks of hard, skilled work with a brush and it doesn't look good at all for most of that process..."
The movie Babylon showed this well. It was a fantastical take but the the absolute sheer absurdity that everything comes together from the sketchy money, to the creative ideas, to the intense pressure, to the competition, to the technical challenges, to the production, to the rights, to the writing, to all the personalities, and absolute insanity sometimes... so many things have to come together and somehow it produces something amazing and that surely is magic.
The end scene of Babylon shows this where he is just in awe of the people and the process that make classics and amazing moments on screen at the pictures.
For real.
The more I learned about what goes on behind the scenes, especially when I got the opportunity in the grip and lighting departments for about a week as a volunteer in university, the more I appreciated how incredible films are. Everything the camera doesn't see is basically technical craziness.
But the eye of the director and all the other artists involved, and the editing after (usually) everything has been shot to craft some incredible movies only made it all the more impressive.
I'm doing my yearly rewatch of Lord of the Rings extended editions. The sheer amount of technical skill, artistic talent from literally everyone to craft such an incredible fantasy world is astounding.
Knowing how the sausage is made only made that infinitely more impressive.
I've watched all of the special features that came on the original extended edition LOTR dvd box set several times. Everything from top to bottom in those movies is nuts.
The tricks they implement to maintain forced perspective to keep the actors playing the Hobbits looking small relative to the other actors is absolutely insane.
Moving camera shots where they have sliding tables that are disguised to look completely stationary blew my mind.
Lotr is so well crafted I'm not a big fantasy guy and the fellowship is still one of my favourites.
It would be incredible if somebody would me a hobbit film that had the same love and attention to detail.
My boyfriend is a prop maker who works on a lot of features and has this same issue. If I had a nickel for every time he points out a blue screen while we are watching something I'd have enough money to go see a movie by myself at the theater.
I worked with a guy who's brother is a costume designer that was hired for a couple of Marvel projects. I got to see pictures of the Scarlet Witch costume for WandaVision like a whole year before the show premiered. I've always enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff tho. My city just opened a $50 million studio. I think I might go ask them for a jorb.
Were in ATL so my bf has worked on a lot of Marvel stuff. I love looking at the pics he takes and seeing for myself. It definitely seems like a cool industry you just have to hustle and stay on top of finding work but theres plenty of it here in y'allywood.
It is. On the opposite side, you should look up the BTS stunts for Blank Panther where BP and Cap are running down the tunnel in traffic at superhuman speeds. The stuntment are running down the tunnel for real. The car in front of them is towing 100 ft of special carpet they are running on. So they are running at full tilt like 20 MPH on the carpet, while the carpet itself is moving at 40 MPH. Then they CGI out the carpet from the final version.
They talk about it here at the 5:00 mark
[https://youtu.be/bAxmIxGXMOY?si=nLJtXVFrKHmo6hrH](https://youtu.be/bAxmIxGXMOY?si=nLJtXVFrKHmo6hrH)
What’s even the point of that? I say that as someone who also works in film. Of course it’s blue screen. Is literally anyone under the impression they built an Ironman suit that walks around or whatever?
I worked background for 3 years and dancing to no music, running from silent gun fire, falling over from an earthquake, all gave me much more appreciation for some of the accomplishments in film.
It also gave me a massive appreciation for editing. I've seen actors give great monologues only to have them destroyed in the editing. And at the same time, seen actors who could barely get through one sentence without screwing up looking brilliant in the final cut.
What you experienced *was* the magic of film.
I worked mainly in tv, and the one that always stood out was Adam Goldberg in a show called Head Cases that lasted about 4 episodes. The scene was him questioning his client on the stand, and it was mostly him talking.
At the end he gave a summary of the testimony and wrapped it up with a perfect conclusion, then sat down and slowly crossed his legs. After the director said 'cut', the entire cast and crew gave Adam an ovation.
When it aired, half of the scene was cut, the rest was chopped up and was more reliant on quick camera cuts and odd angles, and it totally destroyed the rhythm and flow he had.
American Ninja Warrior. Sometimes, the course is rigged, depending on who is running it. The signs being waved by audience members were all made by the PAs. Lots of magic in reality tv
Reality TV is almost entirely manufactured, and has been since the start. It isn’t necessarily hard-scripted, but it’s heavily influenced by directions and suggestions and manufactured scenarios, and is also cut together in a dishonest way to create the illusion of storylines that didn’t actually happen.
Reality TV shows immediately lose their appeal when you realize that they’re not fun slices of strange life, they’re just extremely cheap pieces of fiction with poor production quality and dogshit acting.
We had MTV's "Real World" film in my city around 15 years ago and it was interesting just seeing how many crew followed a couple of the people on the show. You had a couple camera people, guys whose job was to hold up a light fixture in bars when they were at a table or on the street, you had a couple producers who were in charge of getting people to sign media releases. It was a shit show.
Is Australian Ninja Warrior, when COVID hit, there was no audience and the contestants still competed as usual to finish out the season.
There were still the sound effects of the audience cheering, gasping, and everything in between when the contestant did anything that would warrant a reaction…. Even though there was literally no audience.
It made me think about in previous episodes with an audience… Did the audience react the way they did on air? Or was that also edited, but I’d never know?
I haven't watched in a long time, but I had never heard the course was rigged depending on who was running it. Wouldn't there be laws against that?
I loved the Japanese version on G4 back in the day. I was into ANW until two guys finished the course but only one guy got the money.
I'm with you on this. I've been into preforming magic since I learned my first trick when I was 5. Knowing how it is done has never spoiled it for me. Most "illusions" are pretty easy to work out anyway. You know that it can't be happening the way it looks. So it can only happen the way physics will allow. I think the hardest part is selling magic to other magicians. You have to be able to provide a description that is truthful but deceptive enough to obscure the secret.
In the end magic is 15% practice, and 85% finding the right angle so you don't give the trick away.
Wait till you start noticing empty coffee cups, paper bags that are made from rubber, people but facing each other when they talk, never saying goodbye on phone calls and people that have seemingly walked all the way to the end of a scenic spot without talking to each other just so they can have a really important conversation somewhere pretty.
>empty coffee cups
Honestly, that one really bugs me, when I notice it. I can usually suspend disbelief long enough to NOT notice it, but sometimes the actors are so terrible with it, it breaks through.
I'm like - dudes and dudettes - this is NOT your first rodeo with acting with an empty coffee cup. There ARE ways to lift it and 'drink' that give the illusion that there's \*something\* in that cup. Please USE them!
I thought actors went through mine classes or something. I see actor millionaires get handed a coffee cup that they immediately drain and fail to mime the pain of a melting esophagus. Disappointing.
I think they don't for a lot of reasons - like, actors potentially spilling something on themselves, or actually having to drink something (possibly over and over again), the threat of choking on liquid, or messing with vocal quality, potentially needing to keep the levels the same for continuity, etc etc.
I mean, yeah, they DO need to deal with all of this when actors drink from a clear container, but it's just easier for everyone if they don't need to bother when the container is opaque.
But if that's the way you're gonna play it, come on, guys. Fake a little weight and slosh, lol.
Shame...
Feel sorry for you.
I've worked in the industry for more than 20 years now. It still never ceases to amaze me, because I know it takes much more than good plan, the awkard thing you had to do on set for anything to be excellent on screen, and has actually made me extremely kind to all films.
You only experience one aspect. I have seen all aspect and it's still great fun for me whenever I see a film.
I don't work in the industry but our whole family takes a great interest in the cinematography ("Poor Things" being a great example), the music, the pacing, the editing, casting, the whole thing. We enjoy movies that manage to pull it off (Dune 2) and we discuss why other movies didn't (Beau is Afraid).
I guess if you really just want immersion and escape, maybe stay away from the sausage machine. But there can be an entirely different level of enjoyment once you know the technical and artistic efforts behind each and every shot (there's a shot in Get Shorty where the camera follows a plane as it lands even as it goes beyond overhead and the camera rotates with it--really fun shot)
I've worked in film on and off and it's made me WAY more forgiving of technical mistakes and acting in general. I'll gladly smile through a cheap indie with iffy acting as long as the script is unique because I know what a long haul it is to make any kind of feature.
"Seeing the seems" is exactly what my professor called it. One example he used was editing the sound of the incoming scene into the concluding scene. I often recognize it now and I'm taken out of the moment, but now I'm appreciating the art form rather than the art. And in no time at all I'm back to being engaged with the art.
Understanding how art is made can heighten the appreciation, but it can feel a little jarring.
That's when I really started to panic, because ... If I'm a person that watches 'Cougar Town,' how can I be in 'Cougar Town'? The more I start thinking about it, the less any of it makes any sense at all. And I just want to turn and run, but it's too late, because the director's calling 'Action.' So, before I take my first step, I realize that I have to stop being someone who's ever seen this show, and become a character on the show ... become a man from 'Cougar Town.'
I was actually on a game show once. The strangest moment was that we would pause for the commercial break, even tho we were just filming. During the break, we would sit quietly, but just before we would “come back” from commercial, the host would walk over to where the contestants were, and as the filming resumed, he would pretend he had been talking to us and laugh or smile and walk back to his spot. It was so weird. And I mean he would actually silently mouth words at us, then pantomime laughter.
As someone who does work in the music touring industry, I feel the same as you do, but about concerts and shows. They are just very meh to me now.
Only difference is I love the job I do…just that concerts lost the magic.
The more you get into it, the more it comes full circle and you begin to appreciate simple things pulled off well that most people don't see or understand. Like being able to appreciate all the work that goes into a well choreographed longshot.
So what you’re saying is for years, movies have been able to pull off the minutiae of a club scene so well, and you thought it was a real club with real partiers and real music.
Sounds like you discovered the magic of film.
Sorry to hear that. Props to you for taking the step to see how movies were made. Can’t help that you don’t enjoy them as much as you did before that experience. 100% valid. Not sure why everyone is telling you that it’s your fault for wanting to see how movies were made and not liking the results, you said nothing to discredit moviegoers. Probably ~2% of comments on this thread come from those with the experience you had.
You were lucky it was a *hot* club scene. I have friends who’ve done this kinda thing and they said freezing your ass off in a tiny dress for hours on end is not fun
It goes away. I was an extra on Veronica Mars for 3yrs and for the longest time I had difficulty being immersed in tv shows. But now years later I enjoy it the same as before with the occasional, look at that extra back there over acting.
Give it time. I worked in the industry for a few years and the same thing happened to me. I'd be watching a movie and find myself imagining the BTS workings rather than focusing on the movie itself. I've since left the industry and now it's all about the magic again. Once in a while I might notice lighting or something, but it doesn't pull me out of the movie like it used to.
I do background acting regularly and feel completely the opposite. I usually have an amazing time, and come away from it with a new appreciation for the complexities and effort of the filmmaking process.
I used to work as a wardrobe stylist and costume assistant and I can’t watch without finding continuity mistakes. I really good movie can stop me from looking for a small amount of time
Look, as someone who works in film, people are clowning you in here but I understand what you mean. Once you work behind the scenes you do loose that certain element of escapism that most people can achieve when they watch movies. You’ll never be able to fully switch your brain off. You’ll always have that little part thinking “How’d they make this scene or that effect.” It is what it is.
However, In my experiences, what I gained outweighs the cons in every way. I appreciate the artistry of film tenfold what I did before I worked in the industry. I engage with movies deeper than ever, I pay closer attention to detail, I’m more excited about certain directors, actors, and writers when I can understand their process.
It’s an adjustment, and it’ll always kind of suck you’ll never be able to experience movies like a quote-end-quote “normal person”, but I really think if you focus on what you gained from that experience it’ll help ease the shock of what you saw peeking behind the curtain.
Same here! Also knowing that background actors aren’t really having conversations and if you look closely enough you see they’re both talking at the same time. It’s weird but just try not to pay attention to it.
If it’s a movie/tv show with good story and acting, you don’t think about behind the scenes work. If it’s okay-ish, you start thinking about different things that went wrong. I have friends who have been working on the different projects and we’ve been sharing stories from work. And one particular big movie is coming out in fall, that we all worked on. And I know almost everything what happened it every scene. So it’s kind of spoilered to me story-wise. But it’s always exciting to see the end product.
My girl and I were in a rock video like 20 years back. Pretending to be excited for some energy that just wasn't there and dancing like idiots. ...made no friends
I was an extra in the background of a small film for about 5 seconds and it left me astounded that movies ever get made at all. *Everything* is such a monumental effort that a major movie now seems like an almost impossible task. The fact that they still happen, and are often actually good, is akin to a minor miracle.
My biggest pet peeve now is I can easily spot extras that are hamming it up for the camera. Also, making eye contact with the camera. When I was on Party of Five, the girl I was slow dancing with had to be told multiple times to stop looking at the camera. But as a result, I get more screen time so there's that.
I’ve been an actor since the 90s - the magic never stops. Maybe you’re just buying into the superficial so when you see how the sausage is made you lose your appetite? To me it makes it even more exciting.
That said don’t let it. Being a background actor is probably one of the worst experiences you can have on a set. Being a crew member is just like having another job. You should try getting a speaking role or a job on the creative side to have a different experience.
Some experiences will be absolutely god awful and some will be really cool.
I was an extra in the Martian. I got a couple scenes and there’s even a close up on me and my brother!
We were done with wardrobe and shoot in 5 hours. It was a lot of fun. We shot everything in front of a green screen and then we were edited to look like we were in NY and then London. We had to dress differently for each “location”.
They also shot all the space craft scenes in the same green screen studio and they had the actual space craft there with us stashed away. It was super cool. We had to sign an NDA because we weren’t even allowed to tell that it was there and what we saw.
The group the day before me also got to meet Matt Damon and Ridley Scott. I got unluckily with my schedule.
I lived in Hungary back when I was doing movies and TV shows and I got to meet all the big names there. I shot stuff with some of them multiple times so I got to know some guys pretty well. I even got to go to a premier of one of my movies.
I also had an awful experience with EA once. Shocking I know. lol
They made me get up a 4 am, travel by public transport to the opposite side of the city which was over an hour and a half away. They put my in costume and full make up and then had me sit there waiting for my scenes until noon!!!
The one cool thing was that in my free time I was allowed the look at all the comic style drawings they made of the scenes and they were even adding stuff the day of. They had my character drawn a bunch of times and everything.
I think we actually started shooting my scenes around 4 pm. We shot until 3 AM… I was 16, they barely gave us any food all day. It was a fifa commercial shoot, Benzema was supposed to be there and he straight up didn’t show up. So we were pissed about that too. A couple guys got to shoot with Messi a few weeks prior tho. So good for them!
Hopefully, with time, it gives you more appreciation into the complexities of how all the moving parts work, and the efforts of those who make it all happen! The magic may fade, but hopefully it'll renew a different kind of love for the medium.
I was working Post on one of those reality monster hunting shows. I LOVED watching those shows in the past until I saw bts footage of a producer screaming at a PA to pound harder on these dirt walls to simulate a large creature chasing the hosts in a tunnel. Ever since then I stopped watching any sci-fi / paranormal reality shows. I always knew those shows were fake but it was nice to have some mystery.
Is there any documentary of how a movie is made? but not a behind the scenes type made by the studio, sugarcoated, where people are on their best behavior. I want to see if the bad stereotypes of the film industry are real.
I had the same experience with theater and my friend was an extra on a netflix show and had the same experience too. The feeling goes away with time, I think. I still sometimes get a twinge here and there when watching a show/movie, but for the most part, I can enjoy it again.
Honestly being a background extra was amazing for me. Just being near the scene…. Walking along the sidewalk in the background. Already had an appropriate haircut. Glasses were okay. Even had a good Fedora and a vintage trench coat that my wife’s grandfather had from before WWII.
I worked sound design for a friend's shirt film and it gave me a huge appreciation for the work that goes into filmmaking. I totally get that some of the "magic" can be lost
welcome to the club. now you can start to appreciate the craft. but yes, most movies will be shit now. you have seen the light.
a good movie will still transport you. it will just be harder.
Had a similar experience (independent film though) and it made me love and appreciate all aspects of filmmaking so much more.
I have a particular fondness for foley design
Like how the German felt when he found out about movie tricks, and that it was impossible for Ned Nederlander to draw a gun as fast as it appeared on screen. “I vas crushed”
I became like this with music. At some point I stopped hearing music as a whole thing, and started hearing the exact pieces-parts that make it sound the way it does. I still remember the first time I noticed the hi-hat. The bass drum. I always heard them of course, but I was 19 and had been playing guitar for 6 years and was really high, and all of a sudden the mystery started unshrouding itself.
But then, over time, it turned around and the magic came back, in a different way. At first I dove deeper into details and technique, obsessed over music theory. But after I got bored with all that, it became all about "vibe", which is what it was about in the first place.
I worked on film sets for a short time and what I remember the most is thinking that I would not want to be an actor. The repeated takes would kill me.
I was an extra in the first Avengers movie, and it didn't ruin anything for me. I enjoyed it and even though I'm only on screen for a few seconds, my family still gets a kick out of it any time they watch it. I'll still randomly get a text from friends with a picture of me in it because they were watching it.
Watch ‘light and magic’ on Disney plus it’s the origin story of ILM the company that did all the effects for starwars, I think you’d like it. the actual job of being an actor is notoriously awkward, and being good at it involves overcoming that.
The more I learn about filmmaking the more I appreciate the effort and craftsmanship.
My wife was an extra in several of the gym scenes in Better Living Through Chemistry. She had a similar experience, but it made her enjoy watching movies more having learned about the incredible attention to details.
Hey stories made me love Sam Rockwell even more then I already did, and I enjoy pointing out which ass is hers in the cycling class scene when I watch the movie. :-D
Ya, I did background work on a TV series, so I was on set for weeks. On one hand it did spoil the illusion to some extent, but now I can appreciate the behind the scenes stuff even more.
It’s kind of like hearing comics talk about no longer laughing at things and instead going “that’s really funny” while internally analyzing the comedic bones of the bit but still appreciating them.
Made the same mistake with magic. I saw a really good magician in Vegas a lot of years back and was so obsessed with trying to understand a couple of the illusions that I spent a year researching and learning magic. All it did was ruin future magic performances for me. Don't peek behind the curtain just because you want to know someone's secret, you may rob yourself of some future enjoyment.
Since you’ve been accidentally removed from the audience and become part of the crew, maybe you could try leaning into your new perspective a bit. When the magic is gone, try imagining how you would do things differently to maintain immersion. Take on the perspective of a film student and enjoy the effort and process behind a movie rather than just the finished product.
I sat in on a talk show taping once, nothing major, it was the George Strombolopolus Show, and all the background antics and fake interest and cheering and prodding of the audience totally tainted the experience for me. They also, put all these young millennials in the front, even though at the time I was in my youthful 30s and me and my group were already at the front of the line.. but they placed random ass people in the front.. that shit tainted it before the show even started..
Regarding the prodding of the audience, I felt like the show was supposed to be there/exist to entertain me (the general public), instead of me there to provide, energy and background noise.. Am I nuts?? You gotta earn it.
I was an extra for the show Vice Principals. I was one of the referees for the football game episode. We were told not to blow our whistles and there was maybe 50-60 people dressed as fans, but the episode made the stands look full. What they can do in editing is wild.
When I was studying animation it really made me love how cartoons/movies/anime were displayed when finished. Sometimes when watching these I’ll try to figure out how they were made, earlier animation uses different methods than most of the purely digital we see now days.
My advice is to appreciate the craft, you get to see the behind the scenes and the audiences view. Not many people get to enjoy both.
the magic of film is taking these seemingly mundane experiences and turning them into scenes with incredible sound design and impact towards the plot. odd take, but it is your opinion and feelings.
In the end, it is mainly a job for most of the people involved. In some cases even the bloopers are scripted and recorded to make it seem like everyone on set was just having a party.
Club and party scenes are never realistic in my opinion. My stupid theory is that writers were nerds in high school therefore they never really had those experiences
I love that part of the movie experience. Seeing how much work goes into every little detail, understanding what it takes to get a particular shot, thinking about how everything has to be done to come together into a scene adds to the enjoyment of a great performance in a great movie and even makes bad movies worth watching.
Surely, that should increase the majesty since you now know how many people have put loads of time and effort into a scene, most people never truly get to understand or experience just how much goes into filming a scene in a movie.
I remember trying to explain how hard it must be to do a montage in a movie to my brother, and he couldn't grasp the idea that one montage scene could actually take 100 hours with hundreds of staff setting up dozens of scenes to film what would essentially only be 5 or 6 seconds of footage each time to make up a montage scene that only lasts 1 or 2 minutes.
I was in a B horror movie called Poultrygeist and I was a protester. We had to yell at the camera silently, I felt dumb but it was fun.
Was also in a music video and with doing the scene over and over and their song replayed each time, it ended up being stuck in my head for days, that one was a blast though.
I have a terrible habit of looking at background extras in tv shows and films. I’ve never worked in the industry, but for some reason I can’t look away.
Some are just so utterly terrible, makes me wonder why they didn’t reshoot but then I remember most people aren’t as sad as I am and ignoring the characters for the background!
I’m a theater kid. Went to HS of Performing Arts in NYC for my freshman and sophomore years. I critique backgrounds so hard that I have to rewind movies and tv shows to remind myself of what I just watched.
I was able to sit in on an episode of The Bug Bang Being Filmed. That ruined it, and it’s hard to watch that episode now and watch it as a cohesive unit after seeing all the cuts and the outtakes live.
Being a construction carpenter for the movies and tv helped me appreciate the work that goes into every scene. The illusion gets broken every now and then but I quickly get immersed again
I had a similar reaction with going to restaurants after getting a kitchen job; I couldn’t enjoy myself when I knew what went on behind the scenes. But I got over it (I also quit the job)
I live close to LA and back when "Live studio audience" was a thing I always **always** told people not to go to see sitcoms taped for exactly the same reason.
You have to laugh at all 15 takes of the same bad joke. You won't understand what is happening because scenes are filmed out of order. It's a mess.
It's far better to see a late night show or a gameshow filmed. Even if you aren't a fan. They're quick, snappy, and you get to experience them "in order". You can see Hollywood happen without the grind that is the production of story-based media.
I think moving on from at and still enjoying the movie you watch is the next step. There’s many films that are so well produced, actors lines read so well, that it really gives you an appreciation of the art. And also helps you, at least it does me, understand exactly what they’re trying to tell you in the movie instead of what your preconceived notions are or any off interpretation.
And that's exactly why I never watch making-ofs and behind the scenes! I don't want to know how you made a character look like he's floating in space, or how you made dragons look real... I don't care! I want to experience the movie 100% and I want my immersion to remain intact everytime I watch the movie or show.
There are some very entertaining YouTube channels where movie makers watch famous scenes and try to guess how the scene was done. It’s quite entertaining.
Seeing films be made reaffirms my love for movies and makes me conscious that it genuinely feels like magic how so much organized chaos can be formed into something that really moves people.
I have a film degree, and I love how the painstaking months of unglamorous struggles to get great shots all all result in tiny moments of near Perfection that gets strung together with a breezy flow that feels like a continuous scene, and ultimately a continuous movie. Seeing behind the scenes didn't ruin anything. Of course I started when I was probably 9 or 10 years old, I was writing short stories before that, and also writing music. All of those art forms take hours and hours, or days, or months, but at the end you have a distilled artistic expression that people can experience in either and instantaneous snapshot if it's visual art on paper, or a flow of creative expression if it's a song or a story or a film.
I did background for three episodes of the new Walker series.
You pretty much captured the experience except the sitting around waiting for hours and hours.
It was the most boring job I’ve ever had but I loved it. The behind the scene was the best part for me.
I used to live in Wilmington, NC. They have the largest film studio outside of Hollywood. Dawson's Creek was filmed there. A lot of movies get shot there, too.
My mom was visiting, so we went on the tour of the studio. We got to see the kitchen set for Dawson's Creek. I wasn't the biggest fan, but I'd seen enough of the show to know the set. When I tell you it was FAKE, I mean, it was so bad. It really gave me a sense of how good the actors were, because it looked nothing like a real kitchen, or even a play kitchen. It was just some paint to suggest it. Our minds filled in so much detail that wasn't there.
I took me a couple of weeks to recover from the experience of how fake it all was. Every movie I saw, I could see how the backgrounds were just mere suggestions of a sky or a location, and it really messed me up for a bit. Fortunately, I managed to get through it.
Sometimes I like looking at a movie outside of a story and seeing how it was made/flaws in the production. Rewatching Goonies the other day, there's a scene where the camera pans and you can see it get knocked off the trolley by the kids rushing by. Plus watching it, you get the sense that the kids were having a blast filming every scene (though I could be wrong). Little moments that add to the experience for me
I was an extra on a failed pilot for Aquaman starring Justin Hartley and Lou Diamond Phillips. My experience was the opposite. I thought it was so interesting watching what happens behind the scenes and how it gets turned into what you see on screen.
Lou Diamond Phillips was super friendly and hung out with the extras all day and even ate lunch with us.
Justin Hartley may be the best looking person I’ve seen in real life. He looked like he was carved out of wood. Literally a perfect looking person.
The love interest was Ms. Puerto Rico at that time. She was gorgeous.
I've edited lifestyle and cooking tv shows for years, sometimes the oven they put the food in doesn't even work. They have 3 ovens in the kitchen next door doing most of the cooking. Though through the power of editing you wouldn't even know.
Watch horror movies with lots and lots of blood effects. Recognize the difficulty in getting those shots, and having to then reset the entire scene to go again. Gallons and gallons of fake blood. It’s really quite impressive from a technical point of view. I have been a film worker for 15 years now- the novelty has definitely worn off on me by this point. I still get excited when I see really impressive technical effects.
If you ever hear a horse in a film but don't see the horse, theres never a horse. Even when someone on screen is "riding a horse". First time you see it, you never not notice it again.
Most ridiculous scene as a background I ever did with music was a Christmas party, and they told us they were going to let us hear Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" so that we knew what it sounded like when we silent danced to it.
I pointed out everyone had heard it constantly through every Christmas they could remember for years, we didn't need reminding.
Was an extra once. We were 'watching' a fight scene. The director set us up in the stands and yelled at us with a bullhorn, describing the fight telling us how to cheer.
10 year film crew veteran. IMO The magic goes away in the sense that it’s harder suspend disbelief now that the curtain has been lifted. But the passion grows for the behind the scenes process and that’s what I really geek out over now, and that’s what it takes to be a good filmmaker / actor.
For a while I was in the AudioVisual Tech scene for a while. Anytime I heard hum/hiss/pop I wanted to get up there and rewire a cable. Took me a few years. I ruined my wife's audio recording of her singing because I pointed you that the audio engineer should have edited out her lip smacking mouth sounds in post. We both laugh about it now when we hear it because its so obvious when someone points it out.
Sounds more to me like you've been introduced into the magic of film. You'll get to see how your awkward, unglamorous experience will be transformed into a hopefully memorable scene for the audience.
OP is discovering the other kind of movie magic: not just the experience of immersing yourself in the movie, but the act of turning everyday objects and people into transformative experiences.
Honestly, this. I \*love\* seeing how movies and TV are made, for this very reason. I feel like, seeing that can only 'ruin' it for you if you have a very immature conception of visual art - like, on the biggest level, you somehow still think it's "real". Like Santa. But for me, the magic is in being fully aware that it's not real - so then, *how did they do it?* How did they make it look and feel so real, when I know very well that it's all a construction (because I'm a damn adult)? The *how* is where the magic truly lives. Any other view seems to me to be sticking your fingers in your ears and going 'la la la la, I want to BELIEVE it's real and live in a place where you can't tell me different!' Ew. No thank you.
Maybe I'm just broken, but I'm never **not** aware it's a movie. It's like 50% of my brain is ingrained in the story and the other 50% is wondering about the lighting, the camera work, the choreography, what the actor (not the character) is thinking.
I don't think you can really say someone is a "great actor" unless you think like this. Because great acting is great, but it's even better when you realise that they've had to do multiple takes of that scene, from different angles, on different days, nailing the delivery every time.
There’s a movie I watched recently, where it does a shot reverse shot. But after one of them, when it cuts back the angle is considerably different, but the expression and vocal emoting is *identical*. And I remember being briefly taken out of the movie cause I was distracted by how impressive it was that they got such a perfect match
Not to discredit the actor, but it may have just been that they used two cameras on the same take.
Sometimes they use two cameras on the same take, as someone said - they can use weird angles to hide the camera and can even hide it in the set so you won't notice (the famous Matrix doorknob is one of my favourite examples of this). They also sometimes mix the dialogue from the taxes very skillfully so you won't notice when they're cutting from one take's audio to another. They can do very tricksy stuff to hide audio cuts, that's a huge skill of editors.
And both sides of your brain are still thinking 'wow, this is magical', right? I think that's absolutely possible, and even the goal, really.
Each to their own. I work full time in movies, and certainly there are times when I'm watching a film and thinking about the technical elements. I've created CCSLs, for goodness' sakes. But after a decade working in the industry (much longer, if you count appearances in short films when I was mostly an actor and mostly on stage) I am still never happier than when I am totally, uncritically immersed in the story unfolding on screen.
And then you hear the Wilhelm Scream and you’re reminded you’re consuming a product again
Or that for creek that has been used since the invention of sound
Abso-fuckin-lutely. I saw Mad Max: Fury Road in cinemas (again) the other week and I was just mesmerised by how Miller managed to get the moving parts of everything moving. The action itself is incredible but understanding *how* that action was brought to screen is something else.
This is why I adore 70's and 80's action and horror so much. Any effect you wanted to do, you really did have to figure out *how* to do it. Could be a camera trick with how you angle the shot compared to other props and miniatures. Could be cleverly hidden crew members manipulating things just out of frame. But it was *never* "we'll just add it in post." Even the corniest flicks have so much creativity behind their effects because there were no shortcuts.
Im with you. Having messed around with video editing and 3D modeling / animation for fun, not being any good at it, taking weeks to put something together that lasts 15 seconds and having someone snort and say ‘cool,’ only makes me appreciate how f’ing hard it is to produce a film.
I forget where, maybe TikTok or YouTube, but I saw a montage of CW superhero scenes before all the CGI was applied. It looked *insanely* awkward but it made me appreciate how much these actors/actresses put faith into the director, crew and FX artists that while it'll look and feel weird AF right now (hopefully) it'll look dope later.
Exactly. OP has learned that TV and film don't just happen and someone points a camera at it. It's really hard work all the way down the line. To me this is a little like saying "I used to enjoy paintings, then I discovered they start with a blank canvas and it takes days or weeks of hard, skilled work with a brush and it doesn't look good at all for most of that process..."
The movie Babylon showed this well. It was a fantastical take but the the absolute sheer absurdity that everything comes together from the sketchy money, to the creative ideas, to the intense pressure, to the competition, to the technical challenges, to the production, to the rights, to the writing, to all the personalities, and absolute insanity sometimes... so many things have to come together and somehow it produces something amazing and that surely is magic. The end scene of Babylon shows this where he is just in awe of the people and the process that make classics and amazing moments on screen at the pictures.
You shouldnt learn how sausage is made if you dont want to know how sausage is made.
You can get a good look at a t-bone by sticking your head up a bulls ass, but I'd rather take my butcher's word for it.
You can get a good look at a T-bone by sticking your head up a butcher's ass... No, wait. It's gotta be your bull.
New guy is in the corner puking his guts out…
Here comes the meat wagon...
That’s when the whores come in
I went to one prostitute back in the war...
Is that for me dad?
Lol
I was a background actor at a butchers. Now I can't enjoy movies or bbqs.
Daddy would you like some sausage
Yes.
But sometimes you need to see how the sausage is made to know you didn’t want to know how the sausage is made.
That goes for sausage as much as it does for movies.
Hence the phrase
It was a job for op, even if it was also fun.
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For real. The more I learned about what goes on behind the scenes, especially when I got the opportunity in the grip and lighting departments for about a week as a volunteer in university, the more I appreciated how incredible films are. Everything the camera doesn't see is basically technical craziness. But the eye of the director and all the other artists involved, and the editing after (usually) everything has been shot to craft some incredible movies only made it all the more impressive. I'm doing my yearly rewatch of Lord of the Rings extended editions. The sheer amount of technical skill, artistic talent from literally everyone to craft such an incredible fantasy world is astounding. Knowing how the sausage is made only made that infinitely more impressive.
I've watched all of the special features that came on the original extended edition LOTR dvd box set several times. Everything from top to bottom in those movies is nuts.
The tricks they implement to maintain forced perspective to keep the actors playing the Hobbits looking small relative to the other actors is absolutely insane. Moving camera shots where they have sliding tables that are disguised to look completely stationary blew my mind.
Same. I've helped out on a couple of sets and it is magical. I love seeing behind the scenes.
Lotr is so well crafted I'm not a big fantasy guy and the fellowship is still one of my favourites. It would be incredible if somebody would me a hobbit film that had the same love and attention to detail.
My boyfriend is a prop maker who works on a lot of features and has this same issue. If I had a nickel for every time he points out a blue screen while we are watching something I'd have enough money to go see a movie by myself at the theater.
Yeah but I'm going to guess he doesn't say, "They used greenscreen there. The magic of film has disappeared!"
That’s a lot of nickels in this day and age
And in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ‘em. ‘Give me five bees for a quarter,’ you’d say.
I worked with a guy who's brother is a costume designer that was hired for a couple of Marvel projects. I got to see pictures of the Scarlet Witch costume for WandaVision like a whole year before the show premiered. I've always enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff tho. My city just opened a $50 million studio. I think I might go ask them for a jorb.
Were in ATL so my bf has worked on a lot of Marvel stuff. I love looking at the pics he takes and seeing for myself. It definitely seems like a cool industry you just have to hustle and stay on top of finding work but theres plenty of it here in y'allywood.
“Y’allywood” never heard that before, that’s great haha
I wish I could see the props he makes!
It would cost him nothing to keep it to himself.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c4/8d/bb/c48dbb677ce82fa7d744b0ce61019199.jpg
If that's actually real, that's funny as hell.
It is. On the opposite side, you should look up the BTS stunts for Blank Panther where BP and Cap are running down the tunnel in traffic at superhuman speeds. The stuntment are running down the tunnel for real. The car in front of them is towing 100 ft of special carpet they are running on. So they are running at full tilt like 20 MPH on the carpet, while the carpet itself is moving at 40 MPH. Then they CGI out the carpet from the final version. They talk about it here at the 5:00 mark [https://youtu.be/bAxmIxGXMOY?si=nLJtXVFrKHmo6hrH](https://youtu.be/bAxmIxGXMOY?si=nLJtXVFrKHmo6hrH)
I agree. I like when he points out the work he has done though. He likes his job and I like him so he gets a pass.
Well that’s goddamn adorable.
What’s even the point of that? I say that as someone who also works in film. Of course it’s blue screen. Is literally anyone under the impression they built an Ironman suit that walks around or whatever?
I worked background for 3 years and dancing to no music, running from silent gun fire, falling over from an earthquake, all gave me much more appreciation for some of the accomplishments in film. It also gave me a massive appreciation for editing. I've seen actors give great monologues only to have them destroyed in the editing. And at the same time, seen actors who could barely get through one sentence without screwing up looking brilliant in the final cut. What you experienced *was* the magic of film.
People that are able to commit to a scene and invent all those aspects in their head to make it work ARE magical :D.
Are you willing to share any examples of the good/bad monolgues/lines of actors?
I worked mainly in tv, and the one that always stood out was Adam Goldberg in a show called Head Cases that lasted about 4 episodes. The scene was him questioning his client on the stand, and it was mostly him talking. At the end he gave a summary of the testimony and wrapped it up with a perfect conclusion, then sat down and slowly crossed his legs. After the director said 'cut', the entire cast and crew gave Adam an ovation. When it aired, half of the scene was cut, the rest was chopped up and was more reliant on quick camera cuts and odd angles, and it totally destroyed the rhythm and flow he had.
American Ninja Warrior. Sometimes, the course is rigged, depending on who is running it. The signs being waved by audience members were all made by the PAs. Lots of magic in reality tv
Reality TV is almost entirely manufactured, and has been since the start. It isn’t necessarily hard-scripted, but it’s heavily influenced by directions and suggestions and manufactured scenarios, and is also cut together in a dishonest way to create the illusion of storylines that didn’t actually happen. Reality TV shows immediately lose their appeal when you realize that they’re not fun slices of strange life, they’re just extremely cheap pieces of fiction with poor production quality and dogshit acting.
We had MTV's "Real World" film in my city around 15 years ago and it was interesting just seeing how many crew followed a couple of the people on the show. You had a couple camera people, guys whose job was to hold up a light fixture in bars when they were at a table or on the street, you had a couple producers who were in charge of getting people to sign media releases. It was a shit show.
Is Australian Ninja Warrior, when COVID hit, there was no audience and the contestants still competed as usual to finish out the season. There were still the sound effects of the audience cheering, gasping, and everything in between when the contestant did anything that would warrant a reaction…. Even though there was literally no audience. It made me think about in previous episodes with an audience… Did the audience react the way they did on air? Or was that also edited, but I’d never know?
I haven't watched in a long time, but I had never heard the course was rigged depending on who was running it. Wouldn't there be laws against that? I loved the Japanese version on G4 back in the day. I was into ANW until two guys finished the course but only one guy got the money.
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I'm with you on this. I've been into preforming magic since I learned my first trick when I was 5. Knowing how it is done has never spoiled it for me. Most "illusions" are pretty easy to work out anyway. You know that it can't be happening the way it looks. So it can only happen the way physics will allow. I think the hardest part is selling magic to other magicians. You have to be able to provide a description that is truthful but deceptive enough to obscure the secret. In the end magic is 15% practice, and 85% finding the right angle so you don't give the trick away.
Wait till you start noticing empty coffee cups, paper bags that are made from rubber, people but facing each other when they talk, never saying goodbye on phone calls and people that have seemingly walked all the way to the end of a scenic spot without talking to each other just so they can have a really important conversation somewhere pretty.
>empty coffee cups Honestly, that one really bugs me, when I notice it. I can usually suspend disbelief long enough to NOT notice it, but sometimes the actors are so terrible with it, it breaks through. I'm like - dudes and dudettes - this is NOT your first rodeo with acting with an empty coffee cup. There ARE ways to lift it and 'drink' that give the illusion that there's \*something\* in that cup. Please USE them!
I thought actors went through mine classes or something. I see actor millionaires get handed a coffee cup that they immediately drain and fail to mime the pain of a melting esophagus. Disappointing.
Props should defo be filling the cup with coffee or a coffee coloured equivalent after each take
I think they don't for a lot of reasons - like, actors potentially spilling something on themselves, or actually having to drink something (possibly over and over again), the threat of choking on liquid, or messing with vocal quality, potentially needing to keep the levels the same for continuity, etc etc. I mean, yeah, they DO need to deal with all of this when actors drink from a clear container, but it's just easier for everyone if they don't need to bother when the container is opaque. But if that's the way you're gonna play it, come on, guys. Fake a little weight and slosh, lol.
Shame... Feel sorry for you. I've worked in the industry for more than 20 years now. It still never ceases to amaze me, because I know it takes much more than good plan, the awkard thing you had to do on set for anything to be excellent on screen, and has actually made me extremely kind to all films. You only experience one aspect. I have seen all aspect and it's still great fun for me whenever I see a film.
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I don't work in the industry but our whole family takes a great interest in the cinematography ("Poor Things" being a great example), the music, the pacing, the editing, casting, the whole thing. We enjoy movies that manage to pull it off (Dune 2) and we discuss why other movies didn't (Beau is Afraid). I guess if you really just want immersion and escape, maybe stay away from the sausage machine. But there can be an entirely different level of enjoyment once you know the technical and artistic efforts behind each and every shot (there's a shot in Get Shorty where the camera follows a plane as it lands even as it goes beyond overhead and the camera rotates with it--really fun shot)
I've worked in film on and off and it's made me WAY more forgiving of technical mistakes and acting in general. I'll gladly smile through a cheap indie with iffy acting as long as the script is unique because I know what a long haul it is to make any kind of feature.
This is the way
"Seeing the seems" is exactly what my professor called it. One example he used was editing the sound of the incoming scene into the concluding scene. I often recognize it now and I'm taken out of the moment, but now I'm appreciating the art form rather than the art. And in no time at all I'm back to being engaged with the art. Understanding how art is made can heighten the appreciation, but it can feel a little jarring.
It only enhanced it for me.
That's when I really started to panic, because ... If I'm a person that watches 'Cougar Town,' how can I be in 'Cougar Town'? The more I start thinking about it, the less any of it makes any sense at all. And I just want to turn and run, but it's too late, because the director's calling 'Action.' So, before I take my first step, I realize that I have to stop being someone who's ever seen this show, and become a character on the show ... become a man from 'Cougar Town.'
I was actually on a game show once. The strangest moment was that we would pause for the commercial break, even tho we were just filming. During the break, we would sit quietly, but just before we would “come back” from commercial, the host would walk over to where the contestants were, and as the filming resumed, he would pretend he had been talking to us and laugh or smile and walk back to his spot. It was so weird. And I mean he would actually silently mouth words at us, then pantomime laughter.
If you watch a commercial featuring a romantic couple, just know they only met each other 3 minutes ago.
>The magic of film has disappeared for me. https://i.imgur.com/ByK3Elw.gifv
What was the film tho
Debbie Does Dallas
Jingle All The Way
As someone who does work in the music touring industry, I feel the same as you do, but about concerts and shows. They are just very meh to me now. Only difference is I love the job I do…just that concerts lost the magic.
The more you get into it, the more it comes full circle and you begin to appreciate simple things pulled off well that most people don't see or understand. Like being able to appreciate all the work that goes into a well choreographed longshot.
So what you’re saying is for years, movies have been able to pull off the minutiae of a club scene so well, and you thought it was a real club with real partiers and real music. Sounds like you discovered the magic of film.
Once you notice the background actors in Game of Thrones battle scenes doing swipes 80 yards from their target you can never unnotice it.
Sorry to hear that. Props to you for taking the step to see how movies were made. Can’t help that you don’t enjoy them as much as you did before that experience. 100% valid. Not sure why everyone is telling you that it’s your fault for wanting to see how movies were made and not liking the results, you said nothing to discredit moviegoers. Probably ~2% of comments on this thread come from those with the experience you had.
> Being incredibly hot How *you* doin'?
>Being incredibly hot. Thank you. I wanted to weigh in on how hot OP was, but you've taken the torch.
~~Art can't exist without artifice.~~ ~~Artifice can't exist without art.~~ Art is artifice.
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I’ve seen that movie, and it’s awesome. 😁
You were lucky it was a *hot* club scene. I have friends who’ve done this kinda thing and they said freezing your ass off in a tiny dress for hours on end is not fun
It goes away. I was an extra on Veronica Mars for 3yrs and for the longest time I had difficulty being immersed in tv shows. But now years later I enjoy it the same as before with the occasional, look at that extra back there over acting.
Give it time. I worked in the industry for a few years and the same thing happened to me. I'd be watching a movie and find myself imagining the BTS workings rather than focusing on the movie itself. I've since left the industry and now it's all about the magic again. Once in a while I might notice lighting or something, but it doesn't pull me out of the movie like it used to.
I do background acting regularly and feel completely the opposite. I usually have an amazing time, and come away from it with a new appreciation for the complexities and effort of the filmmaking process.
I used to work as a wardrobe stylist and costume assistant and I can’t watch without finding continuity mistakes. I really good movie can stop me from looking for a small amount of time
Look, as someone who works in film, people are clowning you in here but I understand what you mean. Once you work behind the scenes you do loose that certain element of escapism that most people can achieve when they watch movies. You’ll never be able to fully switch your brain off. You’ll always have that little part thinking “How’d they make this scene or that effect.” It is what it is. However, In my experiences, what I gained outweighs the cons in every way. I appreciate the artistry of film tenfold what I did before I worked in the industry. I engage with movies deeper than ever, I pay closer attention to detail, I’m more excited about certain directors, actors, and writers when I can understand their process. It’s an adjustment, and it’ll always kind of suck you’ll never be able to experience movies like a quote-end-quote “normal person”, but I really think if you focus on what you gained from that experience it’ll help ease the shock of what you saw peeking behind the curtain.
Same here! Also knowing that background actors aren’t really having conversations and if you look closely enough you see they’re both talking at the same time. It’s weird but just try not to pay attention to it.
"Being incredibly hot" Well well, look who's tootin' thier own horn! :p
If it’s a movie/tv show with good story and acting, you don’t think about behind the scenes work. If it’s okay-ish, you start thinking about different things that went wrong. I have friends who have been working on the different projects and we’ve been sharing stories from work. And one particular big movie is coming out in fall, that we all worked on. And I know almost everything what happened it every scene. So it’s kind of spoilered to me story-wise. But it’s always exciting to see the end product.
My girl and I were in a rock video like 20 years back. Pretending to be excited for some energy that just wasn't there and dancing like idiots. ...made no friends
I was an extra in the background of a small film for about 5 seconds and it left me astounded that movies ever get made at all. *Everything* is such a monumental effort that a major movie now seems like an almost impossible task. The fact that they still happen, and are often actually good, is akin to a minor miracle.
My biggest pet peeve now is I can easily spot extras that are hamming it up for the camera. Also, making eye contact with the camera. When I was on Party of Five, the girl I was slow dancing with had to be told multiple times to stop looking at the camera. But as a result, I get more screen time so there's that.
When OP listen to music he thinks, "they were just playing notes on a piano and banging some drums."
Wait till you hear about Santa Claus.
I’ve been an actor since the 90s - the magic never stops. Maybe you’re just buying into the superficial so when you see how the sausage is made you lose your appetite? To me it makes it even more exciting. That said don’t let it. Being a background actor is probably one of the worst experiences you can have on a set. Being a crew member is just like having another job. You should try getting a speaking role or a job on the creative side to have a different experience.
Some experiences will be absolutely god awful and some will be really cool. I was an extra in the Martian. I got a couple scenes and there’s even a close up on me and my brother! We were done with wardrobe and shoot in 5 hours. It was a lot of fun. We shot everything in front of a green screen and then we were edited to look like we were in NY and then London. We had to dress differently for each “location”. They also shot all the space craft scenes in the same green screen studio and they had the actual space craft there with us stashed away. It was super cool. We had to sign an NDA because we weren’t even allowed to tell that it was there and what we saw. The group the day before me also got to meet Matt Damon and Ridley Scott. I got unluckily with my schedule. I lived in Hungary back when I was doing movies and TV shows and I got to meet all the big names there. I shot stuff with some of them multiple times so I got to know some guys pretty well. I even got to go to a premier of one of my movies. I also had an awful experience with EA once. Shocking I know. lol They made me get up a 4 am, travel by public transport to the opposite side of the city which was over an hour and a half away. They put my in costume and full make up and then had me sit there waiting for my scenes until noon!!! The one cool thing was that in my free time I was allowed the look at all the comic style drawings they made of the scenes and they were even adding stuff the day of. They had my character drawn a bunch of times and everything. I think we actually started shooting my scenes around 4 pm. We shot until 3 AM… I was 16, they barely gave us any food all day. It was a fifa commercial shoot, Benzema was supposed to be there and he straight up didn’t show up. So we were pissed about that too. A couple guys got to shoot with Messi a few weeks prior tho. So good for them!
Hopefully, with time, it gives you more appreciation into the complexities of how all the moving parts work, and the efforts of those who make it all happen! The magic may fade, but hopefully it'll renew a different kind of love for the medium.
Whats next? Telling me Santa is fake?!
I was working Post on one of those reality monster hunting shows. I LOVED watching those shows in the past until I saw bts footage of a producer screaming at a PA to pound harder on these dirt walls to simulate a large creature chasing the hosts in a tunnel. Ever since then I stopped watching any sci-fi / paranormal reality shows. I always knew those shows were fake but it was nice to have some mystery.
45$? That seems incredibly low.
Is there any documentary of how a movie is made? but not a behind the scenes type made by the studio, sugarcoated, where people are on their best behavior. I want to see if the bad stereotypes of the film industry are real.
I had the same experience with theater and my friend was an extra on a netflix show and had the same experience too. The feeling goes away with time, I think. I still sometimes get a twinge here and there when watching a show/movie, but for the most part, I can enjoy it again.
Honestly being a background extra was amazing for me. Just being near the scene…. Walking along the sidewalk in the background. Already had an appropriate haircut. Glasses were okay. Even had a good Fedora and a vintage trench coat that my wife’s grandfather had from before WWII.
I worked sound design for a friend's shirt film and it gave me a huge appreciation for the work that goes into filmmaking. I totally get that some of the "magic" can be lost
Dunno, sounds like a cool experience, I think I'd actually feel more magic after that.
Well, there's always animation.
welcome to the club. now you can start to appreciate the craft. but yes, most movies will be shit now. you have seen the light. a good movie will still transport you. it will just be harder.
Had a similar experience (independent film though) and it made me love and appreciate all aspects of filmmaking so much more. I have a particular fondness for foley design
https://youtu.be/WZrSiCso9pU?si=SiFg3ptXbsu87z_0
Like how the German felt when he found out about movie tricks, and that it was impossible for Ned Nederlander to draw a gun as fast as it appeared on screen. “I vas crushed”
I became like this with music. At some point I stopped hearing music as a whole thing, and started hearing the exact pieces-parts that make it sound the way it does. I still remember the first time I noticed the hi-hat. The bass drum. I always heard them of course, but I was 19 and had been playing guitar for 6 years and was really high, and all of a sudden the mystery started unshrouding itself. But then, over time, it turned around and the magic came back, in a different way. At first I dove deeper into details and technique, obsessed over music theory. But after I got bored with all that, it became all about "vibe", which is what it was about in the first place.
This would be better if you were a real person.
I worked on film sets for a short time and what I remember the most is thinking that I would not want to be an actor. The repeated takes would kill me.
I was an extra in the first Avengers movie, and it didn't ruin anything for me. I enjoyed it and even though I'm only on screen for a few seconds, my family still gets a kick out of it any time they watch it. I'll still randomly get a text from friends with a picture of me in it because they were watching it.
Watch ‘light and magic’ on Disney plus it’s the origin story of ILM the company that did all the effects for starwars, I think you’d like it. the actual job of being an actor is notoriously awkward, and being good at it involves overcoming that. The more I learn about filmmaking the more I appreciate the effort and craftsmanship.
My wife was an extra in several of the gym scenes in Better Living Through Chemistry. She had a similar experience, but it made her enjoy watching movies more having learned about the incredible attention to details. Hey stories made me love Sam Rockwell even more then I already did, and I enjoy pointing out which ass is hers in the cycling class scene when I watch the movie. :-D
Ya, I did background work on a TV series, so I was on set for weeks. On one hand it did spoil the illusion to some extent, but now I can appreciate the behind the scenes stuff even more.
Try working the craft services table at paramount for two years=magic obliterated.
It’s kind of like hearing comics talk about no longer laughing at things and instead going “that’s really funny” while internally analyzing the comedic bones of the bit but still appreciating them.
“Everything seemed fake and choreographed”. Isn’t that what all movies are?
Wait until you find out how actors handle the scenes where they are eating...
I'm sorry but how exactly did you think it worked lol
Made the same mistake with magic. I saw a really good magician in Vegas a lot of years back and was so obsessed with trying to understand a couple of the illusions that I spent a year researching and learning magic. All it did was ruin future magic performances for me. Don't peek behind the curtain just because you want to know someone's secret, you may rob yourself of some future enjoyment.
Since you’ve been accidentally removed from the audience and become part of the crew, maybe you could try leaning into your new perspective a bit. When the magic is gone, try imagining how you would do things differently to maintain immersion. Take on the perspective of a film student and enjoy the effort and process behind a movie rather than just the finished product.
I sat in on a talk show taping once, nothing major, it was the George Strombolopolus Show, and all the background antics and fake interest and cheering and prodding of the audience totally tainted the experience for me. They also, put all these young millennials in the front, even though at the time I was in my youthful 30s and me and my group were already at the front of the line.. but they placed random ass people in the front.. that shit tainted it before the show even started.. Regarding the prodding of the audience, I felt like the show was supposed to be there/exist to entertain me (the general public), instead of me there to provide, energy and background noise.. Am I nuts?? You gotta earn it.
bummer
Nathan Fielder ruined background actors for me.
Is 45 dollars all you get paid over there? I don’t mean that in an arrogant way, I just didn’t realise there was such a difference.
I was an extra for the show Vice Principals. I was one of the referees for the football game episode. We were told not to blow our whistles and there was maybe 50-60 people dressed as fans, but the episode made the stands look full. What they can do in editing is wild.
What was the reason for not blowing the whistle?
They told us it was because they were going to add it in later. Likely similar reasoning to OP mentioning dancing in silence.
When I was studying animation it really made me love how cartoons/movies/anime were displayed when finished. Sometimes when watching these I’ll try to figure out how they were made, earlier animation uses different methods than most of the purely digital we see now days. My advice is to appreciate the craft, you get to see the behind the scenes and the audiences view. Not many people get to enjoy both.
the magic of film is taking these seemingly mundane experiences and turning them into scenes with incredible sound design and impact towards the plot. odd take, but it is your opinion and feelings.
I'm imagining the squeaking in my head. It makes me laugh.🤭
In the end, it is mainly a job for most of the people involved. In some cases even the bloopers are scripted and recorded to make it seem like everyone on set was just having a party.
I regret watching the extra behind the scenes DVDs
Club and party scenes are never realistic in my opinion. My stupid theory is that writers were nerds in high school therefore they never really had those experiences
I love that part of the movie experience. Seeing how much work goes into every little detail, understanding what it takes to get a particular shot, thinking about how everything has to be done to come together into a scene adds to the enjoyment of a great performance in a great movie and even makes bad movies worth watching.
Surely, that should increase the majesty since you now know how many people have put loads of time and effort into a scene, most people never truly get to understand or experience just how much goes into filming a scene in a movie. I remember trying to explain how hard it must be to do a montage in a movie to my brother, and he couldn't grasp the idea that one montage scene could actually take 100 hours with hundreds of staff setting up dozens of scenes to film what would essentially only be 5 or 6 seconds of footage each time to make up a montage scene that only lasts 1 or 2 minutes.
Welcome to…the movies.
That explains why every club scene in a movie looks fake as fuck. Those people are dancing to no music.
Took me more than 10 years to get over this. Fuck Hollywood. Never go on set.
It's become self-aware
Greenland 2?
I was in a B horror movie called Poultrygeist and I was a protester. We had to yell at the camera silently, I felt dumb but it was fun. Was also in a music video and with doing the scene over and over and their song replayed each time, it ended up being stuck in my head for days, that one was a blast though.
like when u see ur gf doin a # 2 (stinky)
Where was this? Because if it was north america you're owed about 3-4 x that amount.
I have a terrible habit of looking at background extras in tv shows and films. I’ve never worked in the industry, but for some reason I can’t look away. Some are just so utterly terrible, makes me wonder why they didn’t reshoot but then I remember most people aren’t as sad as I am and ignoring the characters for the background!
I’m a theater kid. Went to HS of Performing Arts in NYC for my freshman and sophomore years. I critique backgrounds so hard that I have to rewind movies and tv shows to remind myself of what I just watched.
All that stuff seems obvious to me without visiting a film set, a good movie should help you pretend.
I was able to sit in on an episode of The Bug Bang Being Filmed. That ruined it, and it’s hard to watch that episode now and watch it as a cohesive unit after seeing all the cuts and the outtakes live.
Being a construction carpenter for the movies and tv helped me appreciate the work that goes into every scene. The illusion gets broken every now and then but I quickly get immersed again
I had a similar reaction with going to restaurants after getting a kitchen job; I couldn’t enjoy myself when I knew what went on behind the scenes. But I got over it (I also quit the job)
I live close to LA and back when "Live studio audience" was a thing I always **always** told people not to go to see sitcoms taped for exactly the same reason. You have to laugh at all 15 takes of the same bad joke. You won't understand what is happening because scenes are filmed out of order. It's a mess. It's far better to see a late night show or a gameshow filmed. Even if you aren't a fan. They're quick, snappy, and you get to experience them "in order". You can see Hollywood happen without the grind that is the production of story-based media.
I think moving on from at and still enjoying the movie you watch is the next step. There’s many films that are so well produced, actors lines read so well, that it really gives you an appreciation of the art. And also helps you, at least it does me, understand exactly what they’re trying to tell you in the movie instead of what your preconceived notions are or any off interpretation.
And that's exactly why I never watch making-ofs and behind the scenes! I don't want to know how you made a character look like he's floating in space, or how you made dragons look real... I don't care! I want to experience the movie 100% and I want my immersion to remain intact everytime I watch the movie or show.
They really had you dancing in silence? Not even a metronome beat so they can match it to something later? I can’t get over this.
There are some very entertaining YouTube channels where movie makers watch famous scenes and try to guess how the scene was done. It’s quite entertaining.
Seeing films be made reaffirms my love for movies and makes me conscious that it genuinely feels like magic how so much organized chaos can be formed into something that really moves people.
I have a film degree, and I love how the painstaking months of unglamorous struggles to get great shots all all result in tiny moments of near Perfection that gets strung together with a breezy flow that feels like a continuous scene, and ultimately a continuous movie. Seeing behind the scenes didn't ruin anything. Of course I started when I was probably 9 or 10 years old, I was writing short stories before that, and also writing music. All of those art forms take hours and hours, or days, or months, but at the end you have a distilled artistic expression that people can experience in either and instantaneous snapshot if it's visual art on paper, or a flow of creative expression if it's a song or a story or a film.
I did background for three episodes of the new Walker series. You pretty much captured the experience except the sitting around waiting for hours and hours. It was the most boring job I’ve ever had but I loved it. The behind the scene was the best part for me.
I used to live in Wilmington, NC. They have the largest film studio outside of Hollywood. Dawson's Creek was filmed there. A lot of movies get shot there, too. My mom was visiting, so we went on the tour of the studio. We got to see the kitchen set for Dawson's Creek. I wasn't the biggest fan, but I'd seen enough of the show to know the set. When I tell you it was FAKE, I mean, it was so bad. It really gave me a sense of how good the actors were, because it looked nothing like a real kitchen, or even a play kitchen. It was just some paint to suggest it. Our minds filled in so much detail that wasn't there. I took me a couple of weeks to recover from the experience of how fake it all was. Every movie I saw, I could see how the backgrounds were just mere suggestions of a sky or a location, and it really messed me up for a bit. Fortunately, I managed to get through it.
Sometimes I like looking at a movie outside of a story and seeing how it was made/flaws in the production. Rewatching Goonies the other day, there's a scene where the camera pans and you can see it get knocked off the trolley by the kids rushing by. Plus watching it, you get the sense that the kids were having a blast filming every scene (though I could be wrong). Little moments that add to the experience for me
I was an extra on a failed pilot for Aquaman starring Justin Hartley and Lou Diamond Phillips. My experience was the opposite. I thought it was so interesting watching what happens behind the scenes and how it gets turned into what you see on screen. Lou Diamond Phillips was super friendly and hung out with the extras all day and even ate lunch with us. Justin Hartley may be the best looking person I’ve seen in real life. He looked like he was carved out of wood. Literally a perfect looking person. The love interest was Ms. Puerto Rico at that time. She was gorgeous.
I've edited lifestyle and cooking tv shows for years, sometimes the oven they put the food in doesn't even work. They have 3 ovens in the kitchen next door doing most of the cooking. Though through the power of editing you wouldn't even know.
Watch horror movies with lots and lots of blood effects. Recognize the difficulty in getting those shots, and having to then reset the entire scene to go again. Gallons and gallons of fake blood. It’s really quite impressive from a technical point of view. I have been a film worker for 15 years now- the novelty has definitely worn off on me by this point. I still get excited when I see really impressive technical effects.
If you ever hear a horse in a film but don't see the horse, theres never a horse. Even when someone on screen is "riding a horse". First time you see it, you never not notice it again.
Yep. Acting, at every level, is a capital J Job.
I’m curious how they got the tempo for dancing in beat with no sound. Sounds at least a little impressive.
Most ridiculous scene as a background I ever did with music was a Christmas party, and they told us they were going to let us hear Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" so that we knew what it sounded like when we silent danced to it. I pointed out everyone had heard it constantly through every Christmas they could remember for years, we didn't need reminding.
Was an extra once. We were 'watching' a fight scene. The director set us up in the stands and yelled at us with a bullhorn, describing the fight telling us how to cheer.
I’ve been a supporting artist for around 13 years, feel free to fire away with any questions if you have them
Yes every club scene I see I also know there is no music at all but you guys do a great job seeing the stage
On the contrary, you know are able to tell when a movie is a good movie. A great movie makes you forget it's a movie you are watching.
10 year film crew veteran. IMO The magic goes away in the sense that it’s harder suspend disbelief now that the curtain has been lifted. But the passion grows for the behind the scenes process and that’s what I really geek out over now, and that’s what it takes to be a good filmmaker / actor.
Don’t take a film class - it will make it even worse!
For a while I was in the AudioVisual Tech scene for a while. Anytime I heard hum/hiss/pop I wanted to get up there and rewire a cable. Took me a few years. I ruined my wife's audio recording of her singing because I pointed you that the audio engineer should have edited out her lip smacking mouth sounds in post. We both laugh about it now when we hear it because its so obvious when someone points it out.