Learn about the different kinds of Extra work, and why movies can't get made without them!
By Wyatt Elling
Every major blockbuster movie relies on extras to make the world of the movie believable. Would you have felt any suspense if Tom Cruise was running down an empty street from the Martian invaders in War of the Worlds, or if Matt Damon was trying to evade capture in a deserted train station in The Bourne Supremacy? Extras make the world of movies live and breathe. And unlike starring roles, studios cast extras of all types and ages.
The purpose of an extra, or "background actor," is to appear in the same frame as the featured actors, alone, within a group or a crowd, but be completely unnoticeable. If an extra draws the attention away from the main action for even a second, an entire take can be ruined. If an extra either isn't doing anything, or is trying to hard to "act natural," they aren't doing their jobs. Some shots and set pieces on major movies require days of preparation and can cost millions of dollars for a single take. These kinds of scenes, like the storming of the beach at Normandy in Saving Private Ryan, typically employ hundreds of extras, and if any one of them messes up in front of the camera a huge amount of money and time goes straight down the drain.
Extras are extremely important, and even though their main skill involves completely blending into the background, one glance toward the camera can bring a production to a halt. That said, there are different categories within the extra world with different levels of responsibility. The lowest rank in the extra army is the Day Extra. The Day Extra is what you usually think of when you talk about background actors. They walk in crowds, they hang out in parks, they eat in restaurants, they march in armies, they hang out in bars, and any other regular activity that is taking place in the background of a movie scene.
The next step up from a Day Extra is a Special Extras. Special Extras have a particular, non-dangerous skill or talent that needs to show up in the background. They naturally call more attention to themselves, because whatever function they are performing is more critical to the setting than a random passerby or patron. Special Extras do things like play an instrument in the background of a club, drive a car in the background of a street scene, ride a horse in the background of a ranch, ballroom dance at a gala event, and so forth. People looking for work as an extra should keep in mind any skills like these they have, no matter how mundane, because casting directors need specialized background actors all the time and it's very important that they perform naturally to keep up the realism of the scene.
The highest rank of Extra is the Silent Bit Extra, which has the most opportunity for personal exposure. Unlike Day or Special Extras, you're supposed to notice a Silent Bit Extra, if only for a few seconds. These are non-speaking roles, and thus not-credited, where the Silent Bit Extra interacts briefly with a featured character. This could be a waiter who takes an order or delivers a meal partway through a conversation. It could be a doorman at a building who smiles at the main character and opens the door for him. They serve a minor role in the narrative of the film, and their faces are usually featured clearly for a few moments. Silent Bit Extra roles don't pay more than regular extra roles, but you can add the spots to your demo reel, appear prominently in a feature film, and interact with big-name actors.
There are as many ways to be an extra as there are types of people and kinds of movies!
Have a question? Ask our experts!
