Pre Production Unit - Casting

For the casting of this shoot I felt it was really important to get this right. I needed someone who could act really strongly to do the character justice. I also wanted to make sure I got the right look of how I was imagining the character in my head and bring her to life. I put an advert out on Mandy and star now, both casting websites that were really good at hiring actors for filming. I put the main characters name as Sophie and described what the project was about. I also gave a character breakdown so the people applying would know exactly what was expected of them. I got some applicants and I looked through their show reels to see their ability. When looking through them I didn’t feel like any of them were the right fit for the role. Some had the right look but their acting wasn’t strong enough for me to take them forward. One of them who I thought had potential was in London which wasn’t too far. I contacted them but they were not very responsive and would not reply for weeks. 

I decided that I would have to rethink and think seriously about where I could source the right actress from. I thought about previous actresses I had used which were Alessandra and Claudia. I compared the two and actually felt that Claudia would be really good for this role. She has the right sort of look I was thinking about and since I worked with her in the past I knew her acting was strong and she would have the ability to play the part. We also worked really well together on the last shoot and she said I was really professional and would love the opportunity to work with me again if I felt she would be suitable for a future role. I decided that I would give Claudia a message and asked if she would be up for working with myself and Andreya again. She replied back within the hour expressing she would love to and that she was really keen. I was so happy that she wanted to be part of the production and explained a bit about what we were thinking of doing. I also arranged a meeting with her and I went through my ideas for the script and went into a lot of detail that I knew already about the production. She said it sounded really interesting and expressed how she would be really up for playing the part. When we left the meeting myself and andreya had a long discussion and I came to the conclusion that she was the best fit for the role. I told Claudia the news and she was really pleased we had picked her to play the character. I look forward to working with her again and I know she is going to be really great in the film. After this another thing I did was arrange to meet her again to see her in a piece of costume that I had brought. She tried it on in a changing room and it was at that point I could really see what she would look like as the character. She really looked great and brought the character to life which got me really excited. I know that I have chosen the best person to play the part and I’m excited to get started. 

We are going to need a few extras in the film for the death scenes. I decided that I was going to place an advert out on Star Now as they have a section thats dedicated to people who are interested in being extras on film productions. Like casting actors, I put the name of the production and explained in detail what it was all about. I then explained what we would need for them and the type of look I needed them to be as well as when they would need to be available. After putting the advert out I have had a lot of response and I have looked through a lot of applicants to see who I feel would be ideal to be in the production. After narrowing it down I have picked the people who I feel would be suitable and have the look I am after. 

Casting has been a fairly straight forward process. I decided to start casting in my very first project back in the 1st year and this has given me a great advantage of getting to grips with the process. I feel I have casted well for the project and I cant wait to get started.