Long hours spent waiting around for the film crew to prepare the scene before the real cast appear and show us their years of acting training – that‘s an extra’s day’s work.

To survive as an extra, the main rule you need to clearly remember is – don’t look at the camera. If an extra does look at the camera the whole scene might need to be re-shot to ensure the filming looks authentic. If this has to be managed a few weeks after the original filming, it’s going to be an expensive operation.

The second rule is to remember about continuity. The same scene may be shot from various angles including long shots and close ups. If you are working as an extra in the background, but close enough to the stars, you must ensure that you take the same actions every time the director calls action so that it’s easy for the editors to rearrange the shots in a scene to make it flow nicely. If you have chosen to look left in the scene, but look right during one retake, the editor won’t be able to use that footage in the final print.

If you would like to know more about what an extra does – professionals call themselves a background artist – and how to learn the basic rules, here’s a few hints to start you off.

Beware that there are many scams exiting for you to pass over some of your funds. They offer to find extra’s work for you and offer nothing or at the very best, offer you work too far from your home to make it affordable. You need to research the offers available and find out, via the wonderful world of the internet and more importantly, personal discussions with people who have found work, what really exists and how to claim work.

Extra’s work is a nice way to be in the movie world and earn a little and regularly. Although often a boring experience, you won’t need a degree or experience to claim a role. One day, you might be asked to utter a word or two and your claim to fame will last forever.

Be polite and consistent in your work and you might find yourself on screen for two seconds.

It’s hard work being an extra and you may find yourself cut out completely of the final editing. After all, it’s the stars the director wants on screen, but often they can’t complete a scene without a few extras.

The real name for the position is production assistant, also known as a PA. If you are good at fetching coffee, copying screenplays and moving both crew and equipment to specific locations which might be miles apart, then the gofer’s work might be right for you.

The smaller the movie budget, the more the gofer will do. When a large budget is available, a number of people will be employed to carry out specific tasks on set.

Gofers will have the opportunity to learn all about the making of movies because they will be closely involved with all the people concerned in the film making process.

All the crew will give the gofer orders to complete, not just the producer or director, which explains why the position is an entry level role, known in other industries as the bottom of the rung. Where the role differs in the movie industry is where quality gofers can be spotted by actors or directors and become personal assistants to just the one person in the near future, which can become quite a career leap, financially.

You won’t need any particular education or skills to become a gofer. What you will need is the ability to perform each task quickly and efficiently without complaints. You will need to be ready to work for someone at a moment’s notice, even if you have just started your own coffee.

If you fail in your tasks you will be easily replaced as many people will be queuing to take your place. Many future actors, producers and directors start life as a production assistant.

Most gofers are creative thinkers. This helps their work move smoothly and efficiently. It also means they get noticed for that ever important spotting by an important person who can offer you a better role in the industry.

When people’s voices drift in and out of the scene as they move across the stage, you know the boom operator wasn’t trained properly and the production team have failed to over-ride the problem in Foley.

Boom operators work with either hand held long arms or mount their sound pick-ups on people or moving dollies.

The best operators will know the screenplay in advance so they will know where to move the boom while on set after the person who believes they’re in charge has called action.

Experts at pulling a movie apart will cheer when they see a boom operator making an appearance in a movie, either by the black of a shadow or in a mirror or reflective screen.

A good working relationship with the director of photography and the lighting departments is required.

It is not just a case of holding up a stick with a microphone on the end. Good boom work can mean the difference between a good or a great movie; going under or over budget.

The screenplay writer doesn’t write the boom operator in for an appearance on film. Boom people spend all their time keeping off the line of the camera.

Until the check clears the banking systems, you won’t know if the money is real or make believe.

It’s the deal you agreed and negotiated for that dictates how much you will receive and when. Don’t agree a deal that pays you from box office success only, unless you need credits on screen and on IMDB. You might never see a cent.

The smaller the producer’s business, the sooner you will see your first check. The bigger businesses take time to get a check written and sent out. Accountants take so much time authorizing each check to see if they can delay it for a period keeping the money in their account longer. The delay can be weeks or sometimes months.

If you don’t have a track record in the industry, your up-front payment (if any) will be low. You may have signed up to receive a total of $50,000, but don’t forget your agent will take their 15% share first. You must not forget to place some aside to pay your tax bill, your manager and perhaps your attorney and your grocery store.

Don’t forget to send your check to the WGA or whichever screenplay organisation you are a member of – many writers live outside of the US.

Your first check now looks closer to 50% of what you expected to receive, but wait: you’re new check is only around 30% of the total, as your first payment. You won’t receive 100% of your money in the first check. You’ll be sent your money in stages over the course of time and often dependent upon reaching the first day of filming. If the movie doesn’t start filming, you may not receive any further funding.

Always beware, the producer may not be able to raise the funds they originally suggested so the more you place in your bank account, the sooner, the safer it is.

Over the course of a year, one sale might be great for you, but don’t forget to consider your cash flow – when you have to pay your bills compared to the way the producer or studio will pay you. The two plans might not fit perfectly.

Simply choosing a male or a female name, their country of abode and finally, the country base of their name (with many global options), you’re presented with a full character profile providing a full character listing. I wish I’d had this available before I started writing ‘Chasing the Will.’ It would have made my life easier. Listing:

• Name
• Address including post code/zip code
• Telephone number
• Website
• Email address which can be turned live
• A password for online access
• The mother’s maiden name
• Date of birth and age (for those without calculators)
• Credit card number and expiry date
• Insurance number or social security number
• Occupation
• Blood type
• Weight and height in imperial and metric versions

From an author’s point of view, this presents a detailed character map that can be used throughout a novel. Often writers map out an entire character’s life story so they’re consistent throughout a novel or screenplay. You still need to add their favourite likes and dislikes, their school record and their greater family make up, but you’ve saved hours of work. Just checking whether the person is online and seeing if you can use the name carefully is another task. You don’t want to use Joe Brown or Fred Smith or Barack Obama for your character’s name, which is the beauty of this software for authors. It provides real names from all aspects of the globe. You want a Japanese name, it’s yours in seconds. If you need a Polish name for a man working in Denmark, all the necessary accurate details are provided.

The problem begins with the incorrect use of this information. Knowing the credit card number is a valid number and all the other information provided starts a team game. Registering gas or electric in the new names, the criminal starts to map out a future. Eventually he’s able to provide full information for opening a bank account and pulling stunts to gain goods and services illegally. This is then just one step away from identity theft. Our criminal can mix real knowledge with false information gained from this website to take over someone’s life.
So how do we ensure only fiction writers use this website?

http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

If you look in television schedules and see what’s written about a movie, a drama or even sport, the few words describing the viewing will be its logline; telling you all you need to know before you decide if you’re going to watch it, or not.

Rather than reinvent the wheel and write exactly the same as all others should, I’ll direct you to the James Burbidge article ‘10 tips for writing loglines’ at Raindance, the people who are great at independent film making, courses and books.

If you’re a cut and paste sort of person, then you’ll need this:
http://www.raindance.org/site/10-tips-for-writing-loglines

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourous Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up In The Air

Best Actor In A Leading Role
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up In The Air
Colin Firth – Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Best Actress In A Leading Role
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sibide – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie and Julia

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglorious Basterds

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farminga – Up In Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up In Air
Mo’Nique – Precious

Best Director
James Cameron – Avatar
Kathyn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglorious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious
Jason Reitman – Up In The Air

Foreign Language Film
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

Best Original Screenplay
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up In The Air

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Princess And The Frog
The Secret Of Kells
Up

Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc
Which Way Home

Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Make-up
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Music (Original Score)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Music (Original Song)
The Princess and the Frog
Paris 36
Nine
Crazy Heart

Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Short film (Animated)
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Short Film (Live Action)
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Oscar® winners to be revealed on Sunday, March 7, 2010.

Not all the best get nominated, but that’s why we can all have our own viewpoint. No doubt a large percentage of people will disagree with the winners, but that’s life as we know it.

Some trailers are completely misleading. There was a Will Smith movie, Hancock, where the official trailer gives you the impression that the movie is about one subject, yet when you get to see the finished product, it has another entirely different focus. Fortunately, the second route it took was the best part of that screenplay.

Experts will tell us that the trailer should give us enough to want to get us to the cinema. It should entice us to tell our friends to join us on a gamble none of us have ventured to yet. It most probably deals with only the first third of the screenplay so we have a lot more to see.

Murder By Mistake, written and directed by Carolyn Hodge, is a movie doing the festival circuit at the moment waiting to be picked up for full distribution. The logline tells us

it is a story of mistaken identity when a pair of twins separated at birth are reunited 27 years later and one is murdered.

Without giving too much away, the living twin is a police detective. Already, you know where the movie may be going.

Murder By Mistake trailer from Carolyn Hodge on Vimeo.

If this trailer http://www.vimeo.com/5146878 is anything to go by, it’s got me hooked to purchase a ticket or two when it comes my way. If it doesn’t make it to the full release, I’ll certainly rent the movie.

I’m already intrigued. The trailer shows me enough to have me hooked for more, but not so much so I know what the outcome will be, although we’ll all take a guess and hope it’s got a great twist to stop it going down any obvious routes.

Here’s a selection of the different types of people involved with screenwriting: writers, consultants and teachers.

Just one hour of your time watching/listening to these videos may provide you with years of expert knowledge.

Christopher Volger

Michael Hauge

Joe Eszterhas

Julian Friedmann

Callie Khouri

Linda Seger

Blake Snyder

Could it be the high emotions you’ve experienced looking out for your hero and fighting against the antagonist?

It’s different for all of us. For some it might just be the inspiring music. Often overlooked by audiences, the music holds the movie together. It binds the different stages of the film into one continuous loop so we don’t see the edges, unless of course we’re shown the boundaries by the different layers of music.

Occasionally, one actor will stand out above all the others. We’ll tell our friends how wonderful the actor is, what a show they put on, but without direction, makeup, props, special effects and wardrobe, how good were they?

Is it the director’s style or the editor’s ability to chop and change direction or a combination of the two? You’ll know you’re in a certain director’s movie purely by the way the scenes change and float around you.

Is it the screenplay? Of course it’s the screenplay – without it there wouldn’t be a movie, but you do need all of the other elements to make up the total ‘event’ for you. Without a quality screenplay the cast and crew won’t be able to make a hit from a monster. The screenplay may have been crafted over for several months with numerous re-writes.

The craft takes time to learn. To ensure we’re engaged from the very first scene; to make certain that we’re happy to go along with the movie even when it’s unbelievable; to guarantee we’ll be there to the bitter end, whatever the surprises, whatever the ending. That all takes a skill we often criticise, without knowing better, but we know what we like and we know what we don’t like and we don’t mind being surprised. Whatever the reviews might tell us, we make up our own mind during the movie, as long as the reviews didn’t stop us buying tickets in the first place.