Marching with Torches

I had another adventure last night! This was not opera related, although, like my last post about 30 Seconds to Mars, there was a little outdoor opera action on my part.

Thirty Seconds to Mars had put out an open casting call for extras in their upcoming video for their song Hurricane. Shooting was Wed and Thursday night. Someone I know got picked. They were allowed to bring a friend. She invited me along. I didn't go Wednesday night but I went yesterday, on Thursday! It was so much fun! Here I am sitting on the top of the bench seatback, waiting for my friends to arrive:

After we entered the park, most of the time was spent waiting around, of course, not unlike supering in an opera. And in fact I did do a little singing, although not much. And we did pee in the bushes, but that was all part of the adventure. And after about 2 hours they were ready for us.

Do we look bad-ass or what?

Yeah, I know. The answer is, "what." We don't look scary, we look cute. But we were part of a black hoodie mob carrying torches and flags. I wasn't carrying anything but because I had that super-cool mask I was placed near the front of the mob. Here I am during a break while we waited for them to reset the camera:

It was really cool to experience the filming. Before we started, they called us over to tell us to listen carefully to the safety rules from the pyrotechnics experts. I was so excited - I was hoping for fireworks and explosions! But it was nothing like that - it was just a little talk about how the torches worked and what to do if you were uncomfortable with your torch. I ended up not carrying one. They did give me one at first, but the guy behind me was carrying a flag, and the pyro experts said that flag behind fire was a no-no. Picky picky! So they set us up in a sort of marching mob formation and then filmed us coming up a flight of steps. Then we went back down, waited for them to reset the cameras, then they relit the torches and up we went again. We did that maybe 4 or 5 times. Then in the same formation we marched around some paths a few times, waiting in between each take for the camera to set up and the torches to relight. Then we were waiting for the next little march around. I was still in the front and my back was achy so I sat down on the ground. There I was, in my mask and hoodie with all that hair hanging down when I noticed the director on his way up the hill. He was wearing that grey jacket. He looked just like in that picture, except no sunglasses. I was the only one sitting. I caught his eye and we just watched each other as he walked up the hill. I don't think anyone else had noticed him yet. Then when he got nearer he looked at the whole bunch of us and said, "You're all a bunch of freaks." A short time later he came over and was all business, directing us with exactly how he wanted the shot to look. He cut out all the blonds, then anyone without a mask or hoodie. Then he looked at the redhead (yeah, that's me) and said, "You...you're gonna have to move over there." And off to the other group I went. Me and my red hair, too festive for the shot! He kept walking back and forth in front of all of us, trying to figure out who fit into his vision of the scene. He was nice, but business-like, very focused. Not at all like his insane stage persona. He ended up with a small, tight group of very dark scary looking people. The rest of us went back down the hill and we could see the torches moving around a little but that's pretty much it. So those of us who were sent "down the hill" hope that our scenes aren't totally cut from the final product. I'll be posting the video here once it's officially released no matter what! I made the final train and ended up getting home at 3am. *YAWN*

So there you go. My first actual interaction with Cupola Man. "You... you're gonna have to move over there." Oh yeah! Well YOU, you're going back in the Cupola. Can't wait to see the final video!!