SuNsHiNe DaIsY

June 13th, 2008

Three years ago I was getting mentally prepared to die in a 7.9 earthquake that hit Iquique at 6:44pm. Today I was remembering that day while enjoying my life as a High School Musical 3 extra.

Call time was 8:00am, we were happy they hadn't gone as insane as the day before. I had a cap and gown, and I had a number, so I got to stand in the huge lines with the rest of the people, which made me feel great (I'm so easily amused). There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and it was quite warm even that early in the morning, so we bathed ourselves in sunblock.

To the field we went again after breakfast, this time we had chairs. I got to be in the far right seat of row #4 --to the right looking towards us. We had a lot of fun, this time the actors were really close to us, two of them were two seats directly in front of me. Maybe I can find myself when the movie comes out... then again, maybe not. They handed each of us a "prop diploma", which was a plastic tube wrapped in paper and tied with a red ribbon.

That scene didn't take long, and after that we had to go to the stands and be "audience". Only the Dancers where in the next shot. Kenny pointed out that when we watched the movie, we could say, "Hey! There's me... looking at me!" It was quite a thought. Again we had to clap, dance, cheer and WOOO!! to the music.

Every once in a while the actors would wave at us, and both cast and crew would tell us how awesome we were (Kenny said it all the time), and how they couldn't do a movie without us (which is so very true). When Bart Johnson (who plays Coach Bolton) went up to us and started spreading the love, he clapped and thanked us, and then started walking back, away from us, but still looking and waving. He wasn't looking where he was going, because suddenly he tripped with a rail and almost fell. We all laughed.

On one of the breaks, I was looking for the tent were the snacks were, but I wasn't really watching were I was going. I turned my head and noticed someone not wearing cap and gown was walking right past me. It took me a second to realize it was Zac Efron. I had almost bumped into him. He was walking with Vanessa.

At the very end they needed extras who weren't Dancers to... err... dance. We wore our gowns (not our hats), and moved to the music, while the Dancers did the real choreography. Then we ran around like crazy. I really think --and hope-- I'm in this scene.

Then the day was over, it was 8:30pm and we were done. It was time to say goodbye, for I still am not sure if I'll be able to go next week.

These five days were definitely one of the best experiences of my life. Being an extra is not as easy as it looks, it's tiring, and sometimes even exhausting, but it was awesome. High School Musical 3 premiers on October 24th, and I'm anxious to see how it turns out. It was looking pretty good, GREAT, actually.

I hope to find myself in the big screen.