I arrived at Vinci’s Caffe that Sunday afternoon in late May with two goals in mind: to get a glimpse into the world of indie filmmaking, and to avoid making an ass of myself.
That weekend, the Mount Pleasant café was serving as a film set for Becoming Sophie, a short film about a young photographer wrestling with a major life decision.
Becoming Sophie marks the directorial debut of Crystal Lowe, the star of Hallmark Channel’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Lowe – along with Becoming Sophie’s producer Sandy Sidhu – graced the cover of our DIY Film issue last year.
I was there to observe the action from the vantage point of a background performer (AKA an extra or, as one of my fellow extras put it, a “prop with a pulse”). It was a job I’d never tackled before, and I was a bundle of nerves.
I checked in with the affable extras wrangler and was directed to a group of chairs outside the café that had been designated as an extras holding pen.
The first thing I learned about life for a background performer is that the bulk of your time is spent waiting for something to happen (although it took nearly three hours for this to truly sink in). So we passed the time like cowboys around a campfire: sharing horror stories and snacking on cookies and toast from craft services.
I learned that extras often judge productions by the quality of the food. On Becoming Sophie, the extras were enthusiastic about the abundance of options, including greens (which don’t appear too often, I was told).
Besides food, early call-times, itchy costumes, and strange props (including a goat) were their biggest headaches (and favourite stories).
While we reminisced like old cowboys, the crew bustled around, setting up for the first shot. Eventually the third assistant director appeared to lead us into the café for our scene.
The back of the café had been transformed into a hipster art gallery. I was positioned in front a large colour photograph of the Vancouver skyline, just behind Becoming Sophie’s star and co-writer, Ashley Alexander.
For this scene, I would mime a discussion with the extra beside me while Alexander (as Sophie) shared emotional dialogue with a couple of other actors just over my shoulder.
As they set up for the shot, I realized I didn’t know how to mime a conversation without looking like I was playing charades.
But soon the camera was rolling, an intense scene started to play out behind me, and there was no more time to be nervous.
They re-shot the scene a half-dozen times; the room grew hot from the lights, and I grew more confident with each take. The trick to being an extra is to be present without drawing any attention to yourself; you’ve done your job when no one’s noticed that you’re there.
We were sent to a new holding area a stone’s throw from where they were filming. The need for silence was paramount. This was where I earned my own background performer horror story: I felt a cough building up in my chest. I fought it as long as I could.
Finally, I couldn’t handle it anymore, and while cameras rolled on an emotional moment, I coughed into a prop pillow.
My bugged-out eyes met those of the third assistant director, who made a drinking motion. Quickly I picked up a water bottle and chugged until I heard, “cut!”
After one more go miming a conversation in front of the photo, I was officially wrapped; I collapsed into bed just after midnight.
Whether or not I make the cut is up to Lowe and her editor, Leo Award winner Juan Riedinger. But regardless, I send my props to the background performers. You are hardly props with a pulse.
Becoming Sophie will begin its film festival journey later this year.
BECOMING SOPHIE STATS
-Becoming Sophie was filmed over four days in May 2014 and utilized the talents of more than 70 individuals. It was financed in part by a crowdfunding campaign that raised $13,000 earlier this spring.
-Becoming Sophie could just as easily be called Becoming Ashley. The short is the cinematic brainchild of emerging actress Ashley Alexander, who first met director Crystal Lowe in Shea Hampton’s acting class. Alexander went on to manage Hyde, the Main Street bar that Lowe and her husband owned until late last year.
-Filming on that particular Sunday coincided with a live broadcast of a new episode of Signed, Sealed, Delivered, the Hallmark Channel original series in which Lowe portrays an employee in a lost letters office. A master multi-tasker, Lowe tweeted with fans and prepped for the evening’s shoot at the same time.
-Becoming Sophie was filmed on a RED Dragon — the same model of camera that was used to film the upcoming Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. This particular RED Dragon was a loaner from camera operator Dan Dumouchel, who also shot Afterparty.
