Expectations

We expected that the “Extras” community was a place of last resort for people careerwise because of popular perceptions that background actors do not need to have much talent to find work.

Conclusion

Unlike the “lazy” stereotype, Background Actors are industrious people whose time is constantly occupied by either working on-set or else working elsewhere in order to survive until the next job on-set. Their love of the on-set experience and desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves trumps all manners of economic and psychological hardship.

Outcomes

Based on gathered insights, we found design opportunities to assist background actors with their daily lives and achieving their goals.

Who are Background Actors?

Individually unseen, yet as a group omnipresent, background actors, or BG, or “extras” are the people who create the scene for the main actors to act in. Without background actors, there would be no ambiance.

The Base and the Heart of Hollywood

Background acting is the beginning stage for many in the film industry. To gain insight into what makes the film industry tick, we thought we’d start with the people who make up the basic building blocks of creating the world of film.

B

• Veteran BG Actor

• College major in theater production, stage acting

K

• Veteran BG actor

• college major in film

• multi-coast experience in both NYC and LA

• multi-crew experience in both BG and camera crew

• Experience hosting

S

• Veteran BG actor

• Veteran actor

• insights on the POC experience in auditioning

A

• Veteran BG actor

• Veteran Stand-in

• College major in screenwriting

M

• Veteran BG actor

• Veteran stand-in

• Insights on the POC experience in auditioning

Jeff Olan

Casting Director

over 20 years of experience in the industry

owner of Jeff Olan Casting

casts BG actors according to assistant director’s specifications

Dave Goldfarb

2nd Assistant Director

Working in the Director’s Guild for over 20 years

Works with BG actors on set every day

Directs BG actors

We asked participants to describe to us in pictures the daily process of getting ready for the job, and place the pictures higher or lower in the chart depending on how they felt about it during that time.

• Understand process and a day in the life

• Understand motivation, the emotional variations throughout the actors process of responding to a cattle call.

Journey maps revealed not only the process of living day to day, but the variations of the process depending on the mode of the Background Actor.

When working on-set, the day is very regimented, but emotions are more likely to be affected by others. When not on-set, the day is extremely random, but emotional state is more stable.

We made a visual deck comparing values based on money, fame, being part of a community, the art of acting, and others. We had them choose which of these they prioritized over others.

• We chose this technique to understand motivation - the personal values and motivating factors for continuing in such a difficult field.

The trade-off exercise revealed that participants were in the profession out of a sense of personal integrity - to do what they could to live and work as an artist or be true to their own selves.

The sense of having freedom was the commonly cited reason for starting in background acting, as well as continuing. Fame and fortune was very low on the ranking.

We prepared cards that relate to self image, using Dixit cards as a base. We asked each participant to choose two to represent themselves as a person, and one to represent themselves when working, then lastly, one to represent their selves as they aspire to be.

• We chose this exercise to understand participants sense of self-perception, how they think of themselves.

The trade off exercise revealed that participants were in the profession out of a sense of personal integrity to do what they could to live and work as an artist.

Commonly cited themes:

• building a career

• rebelling / escaping the regular world

• discovering a true self

We asked participants to document their way of life over the course of one week as it pertained to their job seeking and job performance. We used the camera diary before the interview as a way to generate further discussion about participants personal lives and priorities, and how they spent their free time.

• We chose this study to see how participants see the world, by understanding trends and places and activities amongst the cattle call community members.

• Downtime

• Miscommunication

• Odd Jobs

• The Big Break

• Time Management

• Introspection

• Neverland Effect

• Industry Serf

Team Project Members

This study was conducted as a part of undergraduate studies in the product design department at ArtCenter College of Design. Members selected for this team:

• Nicole Eng

• Rachel Choung

• Benji Kuroda

My roles:

• Interviewer

• Recruiter

• Documentarian (Note taking, Video recording)

• Video Editing

• Analysis Filters, Synthesis