"We are? we are!"

Getting out of bed at 6.00am seems a little alien, but I have a call to be on set at 7.00am, about half an hours drive from my home, and I mustn't be late. getting close to the set, and there is a bit of a convoy forming - well, at this time of the morning the only people out seem to be heading in the same direction as me, including the blue fiesta which insists on sticking rigidly to the speed limits.

The set is on an old air base, which still has a gatehouse. the first car in the line of about seven stops and speaks to the guard, who operates the barrier and lets all of us through. As i suspect all airfields look the same, it's a bit like the TopGear test track, and there is a temptation to do a few laps, but it's nearly 7.00am so I head towards the cluster of cars outside a building in the distance.

The smell of bacon wafts across from the catering truck which is set up outside the building, people are drinking tea and smoking, trying to keep out of the drizzle, while others come in and out of the doors looking busy, or important, or both. There are two guys standing there talking in american accents - I assume they must be main cast. I spot the production assistant from the audition, just as she spots me. she shouts hello, invites me in and gets me to sign the standard release form before taking me and three others through to costume. The week before, all the extras had been sent out a mail asking us to bring specific clothes with us, so everyone, including me, had big sports bags full of cloths. But each of us has a hanger ready with a costume, and a name tag attached. I learn that I have two costumes - one general, and another that I'll be shot (with a bullet, not a camera) in. the second has two of everything, because it's likely that the being shot scene will be, er, shot before the preceding, er event. I think that makes sense. In any case and as with most TV and FIlm, the action is shot in a different order to the sequence that appears in the final edit. This makes it easier for the crew to set up and shot all the necessary scenes at one location before moving on to the next. The Director and Editor then piece it all together in the editing suite.

I get a nice suede jacket (the material, not the band) and a not so nice eighties jumper, both of which still have the charity shop price tags in them. £10 for the jacket, £3.50 for the jumper, if you must know. I had found some straight jeans in my cupboard, and was allowed to keep these, and to finish the look I was given some deck shoes. Everyone else is getting togged up, there's clothes all over the floor, people standing around half naked. This is no place to be shy. I reckon there must be about 30 extras here today, and as I sit down in the 'extra's greenroom' with my first cup of tea I start chatting with a couple of guys who had been on set yesterday. It's all very amiable with everyone comparing costumes, and my jacket seems to be a popular item, before the wordrobe team gather everyone together, change one or two tee-shirts and send us off to the mini bus which in turn will take us to the set.

More standing around in a much colder building, with a photographer taking lots of snaps is followed by being shepherded into the set, and arranged on a small terrace affair which is facing a stage with a drum-kit, bass guitar and bass amp, guitar and marshall stack, a micstand with microphone and an acoustic guitar. My mind races ahead and i'm thinking hey, I wonder how many other people in here can play, before the guy arranging everyone gets me to move, because the camera has to go there. I'm stuck on the end of a row, meaning that I more than likely won't be on camera.

The main cast arrive and are placed strategically throughout the crowd, including the 1st Assitant Director, who also has a role in the production. The lead actor comes in and is very friendly and chatty with everyone. This scene involves him performing a long speech and ends with a song, with him on the acoustic guitar. At two points in the speech, the crowd have to repond to a question with "We Are!" The first time it sounds like a question - We Are? - but we get the hang of it. The first run through goes so smoothly I suspect the director wishes he'd filmed it, however the scene is run a number of times with the camera in different positions. The lead actor is great, delivers pretty much every time and fits the part really well, and by the time the crew are happy it's 11.00am and time to move on to the next one. All the extras are ferried back to the green room, tea is drunk, biscuits are eaten, and a bunch of women and children are taken off to the next scene.

All of a sudden it's 1.00 o'clock, and we're told to go and get some lunch and be out of the way before the crew get back. Even when you see your name on a costume, or someone tells you you did well, you have to remember that essentially, extras are part of the scenery and although important as a whole, individually you are not. Even so, myself and the others jump up and, pleased for something to do, go and fill our plates with a very good selection of food from a full roast to salad and vegetarian options. After some apple crumble and another cup of tea, wordrobe want me and a couple of others to change to our secondary costumes. Unfortunately for me, after having the coolest jacket for the morning (and not getting on camera), I now get the un-coolest get up of big baggy black jogging bottoms and a pale blue sweatshirt in which to get shot. We go back and sit in the green room, where people are now napping, the papers are strewn across the room, and conversation is getting more strung out.

Some people go as thier day is over, and others are taken to the next set leaving me and five others sitting around until 4.30 when we are all piled into the mini-bus. we get to watch a scene being finished off with a bunch of extras running around in a corridor brandishing guns, and at one point the 1st AD shouts that he needs one more, and I'm too slow to say yes so another guy gets to join in the fun. I don't reckon the costume was right anyway! One of the other extras who has been sitting around with me waiting to get shot is suddenly told that his scene won't be 'till thursday, so he can go. He'd driven 4 hours to be in the first scene, and now, having sat around for another 6 hours, had another 4 hour drive ahead of him. Such is the life of an extra.

The crew move to another part of the same building to get the last scene of the day. My shooting scene has also been moved, and I'm not in this last one but they might want me to be - so I stay around. Besides, it's a long walk back to the headquarters. The room we're sat in is right next door to the room in which the scene is being shot, so we have to be quiet a lot more. I get to stand a watch a lot of this scene being shot with the Producer, in which a major plot line is revealed, and finally, at 7.45 the scene is wrapped and we all get to go back to base. I've never seen so many people pack up, change and get out so quickly! by 8.00 I'm on the road back home, reflecting that I'll still be home before the guy with four hours to drive. This time!

So not quite as busy as I would have hoped, I have a call back tomorrow for lunchtime, and have been told that although it's a late day (till midnight) my scenes should be over earlier than that. I will, of course, let you know.