Casting Call #2

The second person to show up to the casting call was Rachel. I really liked Rachel from the moment she walked in, like Caroline we gave her a short monologue and an extract of the script to perform.

I found Rachel's performance excellent; it was very vulnerable and endearing and exactly how I imagined the mother to be. Everything from her facial expressions, gestures, even down to every precise movement was so in tune to the character

The only problem was; did she look the part of the mother and could we make her look the part?

Casting Call #1

I had casting calls for mine and Victoria Wilson's short film 'Moving Out' a while back, and planned to upload the videos to the blog but the video files are too big! (and I'm not the best with computors) so I'm just going to talk about it instead.

With that out of the way...

The first person to show up was Caroline and my initial thoughts on Caroline were that she looked great for the part. We then gave her a short monolouge to perform for us and a short extract from the script. For the first person to show up for the casting call we were very impressed with her perfomance and good easily see her as the mother role.

Caroline came of very strong willed in the casting which is a bit of the opposite of the role of the mother as she is very caring and nuturing, but we thought that with a little bit of direction we could make her more like the mother on the day of the shoot.

For more news of the film why not check out or follow Victoria Wilson's blog!

Film Location

One of the biggest questions of filming is where is the film set? And following that question is, can we get the right location to match where the film is set?

My film is set in a house where a mother and son live and, to the annoyance of the son, the mothers boyfriend. We need a home where we can shoot. Funnily enough we decieded to shoot at my home. (Where I'm typing this up right now)

Casting Call

I held a casting call for my location shoot and I felt a sudden swarm of professionalism come over me.

Me and my co-producer/director held the call, for the script I wrote ('Moving Out' a short about a strain on a mother-son relationship when the mother puts a boyfriend before her family. Relatable I think.) in a radio room where we gave the auditionees a short monologue to read to loosen them up and then a short extract from the script to see how the related to the character, and I must say I was impressed by all!

We recorded the casting also (and might upload the footage) now we jus have to pick

Finding Actors

Probably one of the aspects which was the main cause of worry for me for this shoot, I had to find a teenage male and a female actor who could play the role of his mother; and I didn't know any actresses around this age to play the role.

So what did I do? I took to twitter of course, but to much my dismay that didn't pay off as much as I would have liked it to, compared to my other class mates (annoyingly) so I decided I'd post an add on Gumtree (UK version of greg's list to any readers who might be from the States) and to my complete surprise it worked!

So now I have casting calls tomorrow (4 March); which I am extremely excited about. I'll let you know how it goes.

Movie Making

Have you ever wondered what it feels like making a movie or short? Well I'll tell you, it's both stressfull and breathlessly exciting but all that stress you may (or may not) decide to put yourself under is worth it when you see it all fall together and see the final piece.

I'm going go be shooting 2 shorts in 3 weeks time, 1 being a monologue from David Mamet's 'The Dog' and the other from a Script I wrote myself.

As part of the journey I am going to blog about what is happening with the 2 shorts as it happens. This will include: preparing for the shoot, looking actors, shooting on set, photos and editing, so to summarise; it will conclude the entire movie making process.

All coming soon…

Interview Success!!!

So on Tuesday 19 February I had an interview on what role I wanted for a film project of mine and depending on how good I was I'd get the part (or I'd be given the part of what the interviewers feel I would be good at). I went up for the role of 'FLOOR MANAGER'.

Basically a floor manager is someone who is responsible for giving information from the DIRECTOR in the CONTROL ROOM or 'GALLERY' to the crew on the studio floor and then back to the director. He makes sure all what the director wants is happening on the studio floor to get the end product he wants.
I'm assuming since I got the role that my interview was a success. (Yayyyy!)
We were interviewed by 2 people Joe McKinney, the co-ordinator of HND Moving Image at Belfast Met and Kieran Doherty, the Development Executive of Wild Rover.

They asked me 3 questions to do with the role: question 1) "What is a floor managers role?" To which I responded "A floor managers role is to communicate between the gallery and the studio floor and to make sure everything is in order for the director i.e. everything is clear and tidy and the equipment is set up and working etc.
Question 2) "Can you give us a moment in which you were put in-charge of something?" "I have helped many pupils with their AS and A2 level films for Moving Image with co-directing helping then with camera shots and movements as well as appearing in and acting".
The last question I was asked was "Who do you think a floor manager works with closely in set?" My answer, "Well I think a floor manager works mostly with the director and other crew members in the gallery to get what the director needs whether it be on camera or quiet on set, get things organised or give the actor direction".

So with a bit of self belief, confidence and presenting one right I think this is why my interview was a success and why I got the role I was after.

Also on another note, I'M SO EXCITED!!!