actors “scanned” on film sets fear for their future

It’s almost 2 a.m. at the end of August. Dressed as a 19th century bourgeois, Lucien* takes part in the filming of Count of Monte CristoPathé’s next blockbuster, based on the work of Alexandre Dumas. After more than four hours of filming, the group of extras he is part of can take a break. The actor, drowsy, is approached by a photographer. Accustomed to sessions in costume, Lucien lends himself to the game. This time, he is required to appear neutral, in front of a green screen.

“Stickers had been put up, he pointed them out to me and said: ‘Look at this point’. He also asked me to raise my arms.”

Lucien, extra

at franceinfo

These poses are sufficiently unique to push Lucien to question the photographer: “He tells me it’s for making digital doubles, for special effects. I ask if it’s good for this film. He assures me it is.” But Lucien fears being “used without knowing it” and that “3D copy” Finds himself in other films. According to him, around ten other extras took part in the exercise, without having been informed of “the true use of these images”.

“Follow us to the scan!”

Astrid* says she experienced the same scene on the set of a biopic of General de Gaulle, also produced by Pathé. After a fourteen-hour day of work in the rainthe sets begin to be dismantled when the extras are informed that they still have “things to do”. We designate them “a small white tent with a camera, behind which is a green screen”, says the actress. According to her, those responsible on site “were very careful that everyone passed through”.

The actress consents but is surprised to be photographed standing with her arms spread horizontally. “On the ground, there was a cross and we had to rotate around it 360°, our faces fixed, our feet apart”observes this ex-graphic designer in retraining.

“When we asked what it was going to be used for, the extras told us that it was to create a bigger crowd. But we had to go see them and ask them.”

Astrid, actress

at franceinfo

The actress then demanded that these images be deleted. “I said to myself: ‘Now that they’ve created me in 3D, they’ll be able to put me absolutely anywhere'”she explains. Nearly two months after filming, she still has not received a guarantee from the production. Pathé confirms that scans were indeed taken during the filming of De Gaulle and Count of Monte Cristo in order to “to multiply the crowd”without specifying how many extras were digitized in this way.

On another production, Olivier was also “scanned” without having been informed in advance. For the purposes of a series broadcast by an American platform, he is summoned, in September 2022, to a “period fitting”. He must be dressed, made-up and hairstyled in the conditions required for filming. “They told me: ‘Follow us to the scan’. Four or five extras were already waiting in this darkened room. Two American technicians then placed us in turn on a cross and 250 cameras flashed us simultaneously, arms lowered, then raised for 30 seconds, before being thanked”, he remembers. At the time, Olivier said nothing, but with a year of hindsight, he judges the lack of transparency “problematic”.

“There is no communication”

The absence of “transparency”this is also what strikes Nathalie de Médrano, member of the Association of those responsible for figuration and artistic distribution (ACFDA). This professional whose job consists of recruiting extras claims to have been contacted as soon as “month of June” by “extras who had been scanned”. In four months, the ACFDA collected a dozen testimonies similar to those of Lucien, Astrid and Olivier. “What strikes me most in this story is that there is no communication from the productions. They present this as something acquired, normal and natural.”she continues.

The production of Count of Monte Christo used this argument to respond to Lucien, who asked for the images to be deleted. “Taking photographs in front of a green background, as was done with you, is a VFX process [effets spéciaux] very common in the preparation and shooting of films”one of the producers explains to him in an e-mail that franceinfo was able to consult. “These photographs are taken for the sole purpose of creating visual effects to augment the crowd effects in the background of the film’s scenes (…), in which no faces are used or recognizable on screen.”

“This process has been used for years.”

A producer

in an e-mail that franceinfo was able to consult

“There are a lot of films where this is done.”, confirms Antoine Moulineau, visual effects supervisor, whose company Light is involved in particular on the next Napoleon by Ridley Scott. He himself uses this technique “at least since 1999”. By capturing the silhouettes of 300 extras, Antoine Moulineau’s company “can make 50,000”he assures. This special effects specialist confirms, on the other hand, that it is possible that these digital doubles could be used in other films, as feared by the extras interviewed by franceinfo. In this case, the actors would have a lot of difficulty recognizing themselves on screen, according to him, because the faces are difficult to identify and the clothes are “trades” from one silhouette to another in order “to bring variation” in the crowd.

A member of production at Pathé admits “that need [être] more transparent on the way in which these images are used and stored and prove that they will only be used in the sequence in which the extras participated, and that they will not be reused otherwise.. Antoine Moulineau would like to reassure the extras: “There was never any question of making an actor’s stunt double from these photos [prises devant un fond vert] to make him play anything. We’re almost unable to do that today.”

“It’s a way to save money.”

The cinema community is nevertheless concerned about the generalization of these practices. They were even at the heart of the strike of American screenwriters and actors in Hollywood. THE SAG-Aftra, the union of the latter, sis opposed mid-July to a proposal made by the producers. According to Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, its executive director, quoted by the magazine Peoplethey wanted “the extras can be scanned, they get paid for the day, and then their image belongs to the production companies and they can use it forever for any project, without consent or compensation”. In fact, Astrid received the same amount as for a typical day of filming: 180 euros net. “It’s a way to [les producteurs] to save money”Olivier agrees.

“For the scene where they scanned me, they needed 3,000 extras. So they either hire that many or they pay me double or triple.”

Olivier, actor

at franceinfo

Without intervention from the unions, these extras remain silent, for fear of “to burn”. But beyond remuneration, there is also the legal question of processing the image of extras, which falls into the category “sensitive data”, analyzes Mathilde Croze. This lawyer specializing in new technologies points out that personal data must be “ttreated proportionally” by producers. “For how long are these images stored? For what purposes, where and how?” she asks herself. And to criticize “a total ignorance of the law”. Nothing answers these questions in the extras’ contracts consulted by franceinfo.

“Everyone is navigating in troubled waters. Nobody really knows what purpose the [ces images]. But just in case, the productions have them in stock.”

Mathilde Croze, lawyer

at franceinfo

Figurants are required to sign authorizations to use their image, including for “all modes and processes known or unknown to date”according to the established formula. “Everyone recognizes that this is an issue that must be addressed, regulated”, is moved by Jimmy Shuman, national advisor of the French Union of Performers, affiliated with the CGT. He mobilizes so that the extras can “add a line in their contract to avoid use of their image beyond their role in this or that film”.

“We will always need extras”

For his part, Pathé ensures that he is thinking “how to better formalize things so that there are no more doubts” as to the purpose of the images, from the moment the extra is hired “before filming”. After participating in several strike pickets in Los Angeles, alongside his SAG-Aftra counterparts, Jimmy Shuman invokes an urgency to act, by evoking virtual extras and “deepfakes” of actors generated by artificial intelligence.

“Bsoon the figuration on period subjects will no longer exist”saddens Astrid. Nathalie de Médrano also says “very pessimistic about the future of figuration”. “In ten years, there will perhaps be 10% of the fees we have today”considers the person responsible for figuration.

“At this rate, in five years, there will be a lot fewer extras, there will only be hyper-realistic digital doubles.”

Lucien, actor

at franceinfo

“It’s not at all obvious to reduce the number of extras”we insist at Pathé, denying the side “systematic” of this practice. “We will always need extras”also assures Antoine Moulineau, if only to have good image quality on the faces placed in the foreground of a crowd. “If we just ask an extra to walk in the background, yes it can be digitally generated,” However, the visual effects supervisor nuanced this.

Antoine Moulineau, on the other hand, appears much more concerned, like the extras interviewed, by the arrival of artificial intelligence in cinema. Already threatening for the world of dubbing, this technology further weakens extras. Digitally recreating an actor is already possible but for the moment, the use of AI costs “more expensive” that “make play” a real actor, according to the special effects specialist. Two deadlines could be decisive. Negotiations in Hollywood, where the actors remain mobilized, could lead to an agreement with the producers, which would serve as a model in France. By the end of the year, the European Parliament must also regulate the use of artificial intelligence in Europe, particularly in cinema.

* First names have been changed.