The Aum's Law - Gettin' EXTRA Crazy!

So my most recent project turns out to be being an extra (for the first time, baby!) for a great film called The Aum's Law. Which means this past Labor day weekend went by a little too fast (definitely did not get as much homework as I intended to done) but instead I got to have one of my first experiences with a professional SAG film. DEFINITELY worth it.

In fact, when I started (met them outside Hayden Library for a fight scene between a couple leads) I had no idea what the film was about, just seemed like a lot of fun. I finally ended up asking later and found out that it's a modern adaptation of Lord Krishna's life using a young Indian college student and the experiences/challenges of him and those around him. I was thrilled, 'cause it fits in perfectly with my world religions class not to mention is centering around ASU campus as its university (finally ASU gets some recognition!).

Anyway, the first day was a lot of fun--a lot of fast walking trying to fill empty spaces so the camera has a good sense of the energy and feel of a college campus (we were given the bounds of the camera, and literally told once we passed them, to turn around and go straight back, you should see if you can tell :))--and really interesting for me in learning about the equipment used and where it's placed relative to the scene (surprisingly close). It even captured the feel of a college campus so realistically it had a background drunk! Okay, so maybe this guy just really wanted to be on camera, so much so he even put his brown bag off to the side, but never fear, dir. Kalki Khaira was there! And after using the dude for a shot or two, Khaira skillfully directed the man away (trick for drunks? use a nice tone, but words that leave no confusion as to your meaning, straight up rejection).

But the second day was a whole new world. It was a debate scene in a war history classroom about the Iraq war. Heavy stuff right off the bat. And they wanted extras to add in! Give it a real class discussion feel, add stuff that was relevant but potentially jarring. Remember, this has to lead to the fight scene we filmed the day before. . . So it got a little heated. And not just 'cause it was in a classroom in Arizona. I'm pretty sure a couple curse words were used, both in English and in Spanish. It was actually pretty exhausting. But I had a great opportunity to talk which I wasn't expecting as an extra. And they fed us pizza. Did I mention I got to write on the board? So now you totally have to watch this movie, right? Please? :)

Anyways, it was really great watching them do close-ups with some of the leads (it seems hard, to keep the realistic intonation of your lines while a camera's all up in your bidness . . .) and to see some of the tricks they worked with the light to get the feel they wanted.

I really hope I get to stay involved.

Oh! Check 'em out on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/groups/theaumslaw/ is their group, and I think they're gonna have a page (and/or webpage) pretty soon to keep everyone updated (whether you want to be on camera or not :)) So stay in touch if you want to learn more! They definitely wanted more extras, so if you want 15 seconds of fame this seems like a great place to get it :)

Later!