I am not an actor but a musician. For most of my life I’ve lived in various small towns in Northern California. It goes without saying that throughout most of my life I’ve had limited exposure to the Hollywood film industry. I’ve never officially been an extra on a movie but I have been filmed for a DVD special on a major Hollywood movie.
During my college years I would visit my uncle Jeff who works as a musician in the film industry. Most of Jeff’s income comes from recording movie soundtracks at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Since I was a music major in college I would often assist him on his recording jobs during the summer months. My duties would include turning pages during the recording and, most importantly, helping him set up his large percussion instruments. Surprisingly the musicians and the directors of the studio never seemed to mind that I was working there in an unofficial capacity; in fact, the studio directors often gave me a tour or let me play the studio’s instruments at will.
I vividly remember the last time I helped Jeff. Generally it was no different than the other recording sessions I had assisted with. The particular movie we were working on was “The Day the Earth Stood Still” starring Keanu Reeves. Although I’ve never been the star struck type, I admit it was exiting to see Keanu Reeves come into the recording studio and talk with director Scott Derrickson.
Those who are closely involved in the film industry know recording the soundtrack is one of the last parts of the production. All the filming had already been shot long before. The recording process is long and tedious even though there’s much pressure to get the score recorded as quickly as possible. Like actors, musicians working in the film industry often must perform a musical passage many times before they get it right. One of the musicians close to where I was working would jokingly refer to the many takes as “the day the recording session stood still,” or something to that effect.
As the recording session was wrapping up I noticed a cameraman walking around interviewing the conductor and the different instrumentalists in the orchestra. I overheard one of the instrumentalists say it was for a documentary that may be included in the DVD extras. Secretly I was hoping the cameraman wouldn’t come over to me or my uncle. I really didn’t want to be on camera and have to explain I’m just here primarily for educational purposes.
Unfortunately the cameraman did come over to the percussion section where I was. He didn’t want to interview my uncle or myself; instead he asked us to play for about a minute to use as a montage. I became increasingly nervous because, unlike my uncle, I was not a percussionist. (I’m a pianist which is technically a percussion instrument.) The marimba, which was close by, was the only instrument that I could play a recognizable melody on. I poorly sight read the music left on the music stand while being filmed.
A couple of months later I my uncle and I watched the footage of the rehearsal. When I got to my scene in the extras I noticed the music was different than the music I played that day. Of course I didn’t remember exactly what I played but I knew I was overdubbed because I couldn’t play the marimba that well. At the time I was glad to be saved from an embarrassing moment but I now I often wish my actual playing would have been recorded. It would have made a more interesting story.