I'm an actor

From "The Simpsons" season 7 episode 2: Radioactive Man

Milhouse: Ever since I became a movie star I've been miserable. I have to get up at 5 A.M. just for makeup. I like the way the blush brings out my cheekbones, but it's not worth it. And making movies is so horribly repetitive: I've said "Jiminy jillikers" so many times the words have lost all meaning! (the director comes in)
Director: We've got to do the "Jiminy jillikers" scene again, Milhouse.
Milhouse: (quietly but angrily) But we already did it. It took seven hours, but we did it. It's done!
Director: Yes…but we've got to do it from different angles! Again and again, and again and again and again!
Milhouse: Aaaaah! (gets dragged out screaming)

Monday night there was a student film being partially filmed at the Women's Club of Orange County where I dance on many Wednesday nights. It's going to be a silent black and white film, I'm not sure how long. They needed dancers for a scene where the male lead goes to a dance club to dance, but his ineptness leads to the bouncer coming after him. He dodges the butler, ends up in the kitchen where he the bouncer gets a pie on the face and the lead ends up stepping in pies with each feet. He ends up back on the dance floor trying to kick the pies off of his feet, leading to him inventing new charleston steps.

Collyn and I got there a little before 6p.m. to get checked out by wardrobe. We worked with the producer to put together some simple choreography and blocked things out. We finished up a little after midnight. By then we had filmed a few minutes worth of the movie...and this was with no dialogue. Because they only had one camera we had to shoot the same scene over and over from different angles and distances. They would set-up each shot, we would rehearse it a few times to make sure lighting and blocking were good, and then they'd film, which typically required a couple of takes. Then the camera would be moved and it would happen all over again. It all made me think of the bit from "The Simpsons" I referenced above.

Because much of the blocking and dance choreography was done on the fly it took a while between segments. The room was hot and they couldn't run the ceiling fans because of the lighting. Make-up passed out powder pads so we could keep our faces from being shiny, and every time we took a short break we all queued up at the water cooler. By the end of the night both Collyn and I had aching feet from standing around for so long in poorly padded shoes.