Planning - Casting and characters ( Post 28 )

CASTING AND CHARACTERS

In preparation for my coursework I have been planning who will be the cast that make up my band and characters within the music video. I have 5 main characters, 4 band members and a policeman, who will be in the video and it is important I cast these characters effectively to make sure my video is the most authentic and professional it can be.

Character profiles:
The band will consist of 4 males, around the age of 16-17. They will each have a role within the typical set up of a band, so a guitarist, singer, bass guitarist and a drummer. They are all very mischievous, and have a passion for music. The image of the band is kind of grunge, and they have all been best friends since they were younger and have a very close friendship.

The policeman will be a male and only a few years older than the band members. He will have the stereotypical grumpy policeman personality, moody with no sense of humour. 

Casting for the band:

The casting for the band is a crucial aspect of my music video as these will be the people with the most presence within the video, and who give the song and band name an identity to the audience. 

Option one:
The first option for my cast is to use fellow students from my sixth form, which could be a good option as I can plan and rehearse the idea within school time because we are together everyday, which would be more practical than hiring in actors as I would not have to worry about paying them and we do not have to organise lots of different dates to meet up; only the day of the actual production of my video, everything else can be done within school time. Also, as I see these people everyday I am comfortable around them so directing them to fit my idea will be easier as we already know each other fairly well, making production flow more smoothly. Here are the potential cast members:

Fred Statham-Eldred: Lead Guitarist 

Sam Husk:

Bass Guitarist

Noah Yeates:

Drummer

Rory Main:

Singer

I feel like these people would make a good fit for my music video as they are all within the same friendship group so will feel comfortable performing around one which could create a more authentic feel of friendship within the band. Furthermore, both Rory and Sam are actors so will feel more comfortable performing in front of a camera and taking on a roll which could improve the overall performance of the video. However, only Fred and Rory have musical experience so their miming with the instruments could look more novice and unprofessional than if I used people who genuinely played instruments, even if they have the correct qualities for the silent film aspect of my video.

Option 2 :
My second option for casting of the band is a local band called St Benedicts, as I am friends with one of the band members. I am auditioning them because they are all actors in their college course, but have independently set up their own band in their spare time. This means they can all act fairly well, which would fit my silent film aspect, and also can all play instruments, which would make the performance element look more professional and authentic. They also are very good friends outside of being in a band together, which makes the friendship seem more realistic and less staged, it also means they feel comfortable performing together. One negative is that none of them are based in the same area as me so we would have to travel to film, which can make things more complicated. I have also not met some of them before so directing could be a bit more challenging but with their acting background they may be more open to direction than the people in option 1.
Alex Glenn:Lead Guitarist
Alfie Mazzei:
Drummer
Joel Reader:
Bass Guitarist
Isaac Byram:
Singer


After some consideration and discussion, I have decided to use St Benedicts as my cast of the band because they are most likely to give the best performance with their acting and musical backgrounds. Also the fact they are a band out of school already means they have strong roles and have the chemistry between band members that is hard to stage.
Here is some pictures of them as a band:

Casting for the policeman:
The policeman is less of a major character within my video, but is still needed to make the storyline make sense and add a purpose to the narrative.

Option 1 :
Stewart Cutting:



Option 2 :

Rob Gowing:

Option 3 :

Jonathan Bailey:

I am auditioning these people as they are all from my sixth form and people I am good friends with who have volunteered to help me with my coursework. They all are fairly confident people who don't mind being in front of a camera. As the policeman is not a main role they do not need lots of acting experience as they just have to be able to do the main facial expressions if needed, therefore they are all suitable. They all live near me and Norwich, which makes transportation to and from filming easier, making production flow more smoothly. During auditions, I will ask them just to pull the stereotypical facial expressions you might expect to see in a silent film, to see who would best fit the role.

After auditions, I have decided that Stewart was the best for the role as he looks the most like a stereotypical policeman with his physic, and also could do the best impersonations during auditions. Unfortunately we did not have a camera available so I do not have any footage of auditions.