Most film sets are closed to the public, unless they are shooting an exterior street scene. Occasionally there will be an announcement on the radio, TV or on-line that a film will be shooting in a particular location or that they need extras for a crowd scene. This can be a good way to spend some time watching the filmmaking process but keep in mind that, if you sign up as an extra in a scene, you may have to stay for 4 to 12 hours until they complete shooting that scene.

In my opinion, nothing is more boring than watching a movie being made. It's almost like watching a person write. It'only when you are in the process that the experience has value.

You can be a movie extra if you have the right "look" for the movie. That will give you a front-row seat for your scene.

When I did this, I did get something of a feel for how the shooting went and the process of how they picked people to be extras, but what I mainly got was a deep appreciation for how long it takes to shoot a single fairly short scene. I was onscreen for 5 minutes, and doing that took four hours.

I didn't find it boring since I watched a lot and talked to the other extras and wanna-be extras (you may not get picked, as hundreds of people showed up and only a dozen of us actually got in) but the process definitely does not move quickly.

Have you ever watched paint dry?

Now try doing it with a group of ADD grade-schoolers running around and yelling.

That's what filming is like. Most people are sitting around waiting, but the rest are running around frantically. Nothing is linear, scenes are usually shot in little tiny bits, and the camera is moved for different angles while the same scene is redone from those angles multiple times.

One always brings a book and a thermos of coffee. ;-)

I've seen people show up on indie shoots and simply volunteer - when a set is really crunching, often there are simply not enough hands - if you don't try to force yourself into getting face time with the director or stars, act sane and are actually helpful, your presence will be appreciated. Bystanders are not really welcome.

I agree with Charles on this. The filmmaking process is incredibly measured, no one has time to answer any questions you might have, so really you'd probably just end up sitting there confused.