Cardboard and Inflatable Extras are Talent Perfection
NO FEEDING, BATHROOM BREAKS, NO OVERTIME! NO PROBLEM!
By Maurice Voltkofsky

Extras can kill a budget real fast. It’s said that the real expenses of making up a motion picture is the people factor. Talent comes with cost. But what about non-talent and extras? Well the truth is they come with cost as well.

One real extra can cost as much as $200 a day when you factor in wages, meals, and transportation, and lets not forget the SAG, must have by 15 minutes of arrival coffee cup standing by. If you’re trying to fill in a theater audience or sporting event with real people the costs make any large crowd financially prohibitive. What’s the alternative? You can film a real sporting event, and grab moments here and there as in the Lakers game in Grand Canyon, digitally duplicate and cut and past crowds, like the football game in Forrest Gump, or employ the perfect extra, a cardboard cut out and or inflatable extra like the movie The Fan, 500 Cardboard Gonzo cutouts filled in the theater audience along with 60 live extras.

Cardboard cut out extras and inflatables don’t require lunch and bathroom breaks; don’t complain about paltry pay, long hours or chilled weather. 

You don’t need a craft service table, beverages, and a SAG deal. They truly are the perfect talent, but like all talent the lack of perfection cant hide from the scoping camera lens. Cardboard cutouts been around Hollywood since the 1920s, but they were made of wood back then. They fill in large areas of seating and trick the camera as long as the camera stays on a parallel axis. Camera movement can reveal a cardboards two-dimensional flatness so camera placement is very important. Cutouts have been used in basketball games (Bedazzled), baseball stadiums (Mr.3000) and even a small group of students like in the movie American Pie were Oz sings his duet at the choir competition, the cutouts work great. Most of the time the cutouts are ready to go, no wardrobe or make up necessary.

For a more 3 dimensional look the inflatable comes to play. The appeal of inflatable extras is understandable and works even better than their cutout cousin. No real camera limitations and what’s more, each one comes with a free patch kit.

Inflatables have been used in such movies as Seabiscut, Wimbledon, The aviator, and Cinderella man. To add to the effect, real extras are placed about the filmed area to add action to the scene. If the scene calls for cheering, you will see the real person jumping up and down giving the audience the realism. In a normal scene about 10 cutouts are placed in a row, and a real person is placed in between."

In Los Angeles, Gonzo Bros have designed more than 4,000 cardboard people of different ethnic backgrounds. Cutouts rent for 5 percent of what a real-life extras would cost and are said to save production companies a couple hundred dollars to a couple hundred thousand dollars each year. A studio would have to pay an extra anywhere from $145 to $200 a day, where the cutouts are rented for $5 a piece for a day.

Gonzo Bros cutouts have appeared in such productions as Universal's "Man on the Moon" starring Jim Carrey, "Payback" with Mel Gibson, HSI's "PGA Tour" and in many TV commercials such as those for Nike, Adidas, Gatorade, Major League Baseball, and Denny's. In Walt Disney Picture's "Double Hockey Sticks," 3,000 cutouts were used. You can contact Gonzo Bros at http://www.gonzobrothers.com

For all you lonely film people out there, the cutouts make great carpool buddies and perfect non-related holiday guest too!

Until next time, happy filmmaking.
Maurice Vlotkofsky BGF