Casting

After watching films with such powerful subjects, such as ‘Hunger’ by Steve McQueen or ‘Tyrannosaur’ by Paddy Considine, you can really see how the use of acting in such a powerful manner can really influence your film in a really positive way. From analysing the success of these independently British films, you can see that the actors have won more awards then the director. For instance, Olivia Colman’s harrowing performance in ‘Tyrannosaur’ won numerous titles, such as best female lead at the British Independent Film Awards. This film is exactly the target audience that I would aim for; Social grade C and above, the kind of people that would watch independent films, or attend film festivals.

Acting can make or break your film, and with this in mind, I have decided to audition actors for my film. I have approached the drama department at my school and asked for two actors, one of about Year 7 – 8, and one who would be this person’s brother, about Year 12 – 13. The head of the drama department let me know about outstanding actors in these age groups, and subsequently I tried the suggested actors. The first, Jake Clutsom (age 12), was very keen to be involved so we exchanged contact details and I gave him a copy of my up to date script. I gave him about a week to read through it, and then met up with him again to see what he thought. I know that having a good director to actor relationship can really make your film work. I asked him if there was anything that he understood, or particularly didn’t understand, because my script is very surreal and I can’t say that I was too sure of Jake’s level of understanding. He seemed to understand and like the part, so I told him that I would let him know when I would need him for filming.

My next actor, Dan Annear (16), would be playing the part of the brother, a particularly difficult part to play in a hospital bed. I knew that if his particular monologue was delivered perfectly, then this could really make his scene spectacular. I caught up with Dan, and discussed the possibility of being in the film. He was very enthusiastic, and I told him that I would like him to audition for me, which I have filmed. I thought that the audition was fantastic. He was everything that I envisioned the brother to be like, he loved the script, he was keen and we got on well. The part of the brother, although hard, unlike the part of the child, is only brief. After auditioning Dan, I knew that he would make the most out of his brief time on camera, by giving a fantastic performance.

The next stage in my casting was to find a character to play the elder in my video. For this, I asked my drama teacher if she knew of any elderly actors who would be keen to be in my film and would have enough free time to help me out. The head of drama recommended an actor named Rory Wilton, who was keen to be involved. Rory was the main reason that Ricky and me wrote the play, because the brother’s experience of death in the screenplay is based on Rory’s real experience when he had heart problems and died for 3-4 minutes. Having him involved would really have been spectacular, but unfortunately Rory was rushed to hospital with more heart problems and had to rest, which means he couldn’t be involved in the production. I had to find someone else to play the part, and I knew a family friend who had studied drama. Although he doesn’t have much experience, Derek Rushton was very keen to be involved in the film and the fact he is retired gave him a big advantage over Rory, as he had more free time. I emailed Derek a copy of the script and he enjoyed reading it and fully understood the part and process that he had to have creative input into.

Claude Levi-Strauss was a structuralist philosopher who was fascinated with how much the world is described in terms of opposites (“binary opposition”) – night/day, good/bad, light/dark, good/evil etc. He observed that these oppositions tended to structure texts narratives. Through using contrasts between ages with two of my characters, I also used Claude Levi-Strauss’ Binary Opposition theory to help structure my narrative and create a far more intriguing storyline, that’d really draw the audience in.