In movies and fictional TV shows, we often see extras in the background of various scenes apparently talking.
Now, I know that microphones can be very directional and are able to discriminate against sounds not directly in it’s path, but I’m wondering if the extras have to simply mime so as not to throw the main actors off their lines or cause unwanted extra sounds.
If they do talk, I wonder what they talk about. If you didn’t know the other extra (quite likely I’d guess) then perhaps they just say crap like “Viscous Harvey vacuum cleaner pints a squirrel’s nudge bar up the tofu pillow.”
A good lip reader might spot some juicy gossip about what the stars are like off camera.
I’ve been a bit part extra on a couple of TV shows. Yes, we talk, quietly.
In my limited experience, it’s often bitching about something or someone on set. Sometimes people will just mutter nonsense. A lip-reader would be unlikely to get anything of much interest to anyone.
Another background extra here. We often talk quietly–since you often do not know the other person, the topics are fairly innocuous: the weather, sports, current events, and other safe topics.
But not always. One time, on a Western, we were shooting in a saloon set. One of the stars was supposed to be chatting quietly with another extra and I; and his buddy was to walk in, spot him, and call him over. Well, the three of us started to chat, and the other extra told a joke. I told one back, the star joined in with a joke of his own; and soon, the three of us were cracking up. Shooting had to be delayed for a few minutes while we all regained our composure. For the next take, the director suggested we just discuss the weather.
I once saw some behind-the-scenes shots from a show set in the middle ages. The girls were dressed in medieval costumes and while waiting for the crew to set things up, they were dancing to some funky electronic dance music from a CD player off set. It just seemed so weird to see girls looking like they’d be one of King Henry the Eighths wives dancing in the style of some chick at your local night club.
Well, when I was in high school (in the late stone age) and we did a play, there were occasions when the play called for some background chatter that would quiet down when the main dialogue started. Our teacher told us to say “peas and carrots” over and over, across each other. I always thought “rhubarb” was the British equivalent (based on a single Goon Show gag).
Roddy
Ken Levine, TV writer and director (and other things less relevant to the question), has written a few times about extras on his blog and says that they don’t talk for various reasons. Here’s one of those times.
Don’t know how much it varies between movies and TV and from show to show.
