’Extra, Extra!’

Plenty of crazy and unexpected things have happened on this trip so far, but I’m pretty sure this takes the cake.

It was a day like any other in Guilin – I was having my ten minute break in the middle of my first Chinese lesson of the day, when I was approached by another student at CLI – a very tall, blonde American called Ben. We had exchanged some friendly conversation at lunchtime once or twice, but I didn’t know him well.

He was clearly very excited about something, and stumbled over his explanation as he told me what had happened.

Apparently, a few days ago, he and his teacher had been walking in the park when they came across a film set. They had watched for a while and asked if they could take photos but were told they couldn’t – they respectfully stepped back but Ben’s teacher got the WeChat contact from the director. Then, this morning, she had received a text from that very same  director saying they wanted two foreign extras for one of the scenes – a boy and a girl – and asked if there was anyone from CLI who might fit the roles. They had asked for Ben, and now he was asking me if I was at all interested in the other role? If I was and they decided I looked the part, then we might end up going onto set later the same day.

Of COURSE I was interested. No matter how small my part was, it was  possibly a once in a lifetime experience. Naturally I told him yes…then I had to go back into my lesson.

Of all the things I had imagined might happen on this trip, being an extra in a Chinese TV show had NOT been one of them.

There was a lot of excitement that lunchtime as we found out more. I had officially been chosen as the other ‘foreign extra’, but we wouldn’t be going onto set today after all. They wanted us tomorrow (which was a Saturday – good, at least I wouldn’t miss any lessons).

They needed our heights and sizes, and then it was just a matter of waiting in anticipation until the next day. They would be sending a car to pick us up some time around lunchtime. We had no clue what our roles would actually be, what scene we would be in, what we would be doing, nothing. All we knew was that it was some kind of spy thriller/historical TV show set in 1940’s China, and we would be… doing something. Somewhere in Guilin.

I felt restless the next morning, filled with excitement, but also not having any clue what I was going to be doing later. My mum and dad (obviously) wanted to come with me, so we headed down to the lobby at midday to wait.

Ben’s teacher, who was the one in contact with the director, was coming as a translator, and Cynthia – a friend of Ben’s was coming along for moral support (as well as just wanting to see it all). We waited tensely for a while, chatting about what could happen today and who the actors in the show were. It was nice to know that Ben felt just as out of his depth as I did, and that he was also equally excited.

After what felt like hours but was actually just 20 minutes, we got a call telling us that the car was on its way.

The next ten or so minutes were spent with us spying on every car that passed outside, making comments like, “does that car look swanky enough?” Or, “does that person look like a private driver?”

Eventually, the car itself arrived. It was a seven seater, exactly big enough for all of us to get inside – as if they had anticipated that we would want to bring people along.

Off we went – we were told we were going to Prince’s Park in the centre of the city to do the filming, but first we were being taken to a hotel to do our hair and makeup.

Hair and makeup! Like real movie stars!

We arrived at the hotel and were taken to a private room round the back where the stylists took a good look at us. After deciding we wouldn’t need makeup, they took us inside to do our hair. On the sheet they had for us, we were named as “foreign reporters,” so, we had a name for our roles now at least! My hair was curled and carefully positioned, and it made me feel like I really was a journalist from the 1940’s, but the man styling my hair was a bit skimpy on the hairspray. I knew my hair, and I got worried that it wouldn’t take long for it to fall out of its perfect shape, so I stood very stiffly and tried not to move my neck trying to jeep the style in place. Ben’s hair had been combed up into a similarly time-accurate style, and we both reckoned, even without our costumes, we already looked the part.

We didn’t have much time to admire ourselves however, as we were all quickly whisked away into another car, this time taking us to Prince’s Park.

Usually there was an entrance fee of 100¥ (£11) to get into the park because it was an historical area, but as ~VIPs~ we got in for free. We were led to an area just outside the central hall which seemed like the extras holding area, but we had barely sat down before another person took us away and walked us all the way OUT of the park again to get our costumes.

The huge trucks containing costumes and props had taken up a whole street outside the park. We were warmly welcomed by the costume department who all shook our hands and then handed us our costumes. Thick, woolen costumes. We were going to BAKE.

Ben went into the changing area first to get into his three-piece brown suit and trench coat, and he emerged looking like he had just stepped out of the 1940’s. Excited, I quickly went into the area myself and shimmied into my own clothes – a white blouse, paired with a pale green woollen skirt and blazer. From the reactions I got when I came out in my outfit, I knew I looked equally as cool as Ben did. Despite already feeling like I was overheating, I was too excited about wearing a cool costume to care.

After squeezing into a pair of slightly too small shoes, we set off back to the park. As soon as we arrived back there, we shrugged off our way too warm blazers, allowing us some semblance of comfort.

And then we waited.

At some point, some more actors arrived, with fullly done up hair and makeup and very nice costumes, and they all looked stunning, which made me think they may be famous actors of some sort, but Ben’s teacher didn’t recognise them, so they clearly weren’t the stars, maybe the ‘up and comings’. As we all waited, I made eye contact with one of the actors and we smiled at each other – if he was a famous actor after all, that would end up being a story to tell, I thought.

The day continued on.

And we waited.

Clearly whatever was being filmed was happening in the hall. But we weren’t told anything about the scenes being filmed or what scene we would (eventually) be in. We just had to wait. And wait…and wait.

Hours passed, occasionally made more interesting by the arrival of extra extras, and once or twice a very famous actor who would get swamped by crew and extras alike. But mostly we sat and waited for some mysterious time to come where we would then get to be in our mysterious scene.

I really can’t stress enough how long we had to wait, and we really were told so little. There was a woman, the one who had helped us when we’d been getting into our costumes, who came up to us to ask how we were doing, or if we needed help with things, and she was very kind and helpful to us, going to ask the director questions for us, but sadly even she couldn’t get an answer as to when we would actually be needed. Plenty of the extras who had arrived hours AFTER us got to go in before us, and by this point I was starting to get fed up of the whole process – not helped by the fact that I hadn’t really eaten since breakfast and by now it was getting into evening. I had hoped to be back that evening for our friend Pablo’s (second) birthday dinner, but that was looking less and less likely the longer we stayed. Not to mention the fact that my once gloriously done-up hair had lost its styled shape and now just looked slightly wavy – out of place with my time-appropriate clothing.

I knew the stylist should have used more hairspray!

We watched as the big crowd of extras, alongside a few people who were dressed as Chinese journalists, headed into the hall, but still we weren’t called. Then, about twenty minutes later, we were suddenly being ushered in, we needed to come quickly into the hall. It was happening!

Whatever we were about to do, it was finally actually happening!

Inside it was set up like an auditorium with a stage at the back, and an audience of over 200 extras. On the stage a man dressed in suit was making a speech. We were rushed down the side, where we were given props.

Props?!

This was the first we’d heard about props. They were cameras, and before we had really gotten to get a look at them or had been told what we were supposed to do, we were being pushed towards the space in front of the stage by another man dressed like a journalist. On the other side of the hall, there were three other ‘journalists’ with their cameras at the ready. They clearly knew what they were supposed to do. Me and Ben? Not so much.

Then the scene was rolling. We were guided by the other journalist man, as he pointed for us to go forward to ‘take pictures’ of the man on the stage during the important moments in the speech. I tried my best to look professional, but it was not an easy feat when I had no real clue what I was doing. Before I knew it, the scene was over. I didn’t think I had done too bad of a job, but I thought to myself – ‘at least they’ll do another take where we’ll get to do it properly’. Ben had been told, he had been holding his camera wrong. Of course, he hadn’t known, but he wanted to get it right in the next take. We sat down and watched them film a close up of the actor making the speech, waiting patiently for our chance to try again. But then, our cameras were taken off us and we were told we could go.

…That was it? We hadn’t even done a proper take!

Slightly put out, we were led back to our patiently waiting group to recount the news. I was feeling pretty upset at this point – we had waited for half the day for this, and they had done one messy take of us that I was sure had only been a practice, and that was it? Were we even going to be in it at all? What was the point?

Our lovely helpful woman then came back over to us, telling us the director had been happy with the first take and we could now get changed if we wanted to.

That helped with my mood – after all, they would only need a few cutaway shots of journalists taking pictures if they did use it, and we had done a good enough job for them to be able to use some of that footage maybe. The plus side was, if they did use the footage of us, we would be clearly visible as the ‘foreigners’ right in front of the stage. And that was a pretty exciting thought.

And hey, at least we were getting paid for this. Only 150¥ each, but it was still pretty cool to get any money out of it.

We quickly changed out of our stuffy costumes and back into comfortable clothes, and then it was time to head home. We would be just in time for Pablo’s birthday meal after all.

It was a tiring day, and wholly unglamorous, with LOADS of waiting …and a slightly unsatisfying conclusion, but I wouldn’t have missed it. It was still a really cool experience to be a part of, and I can now officially say I have been an extra in a Chinese TV show – something I had never even THOUGHT I would be able to say. And who knows? Maybe I’ll get to see myself in 2025 when the show releases, taking pictures at the front of the stage. If so that would be pretty awesome.