Monday, 3 October 2016

Actor Auditions




Actor Auditions

 
Overall, we auditioned five male actors for the vocal actor in our music video. As well as the vocalist for the video, the singer role will also be the character in the narrative section of the music video. Instantly, we thought that using a female to act in the video would not be as effective for the success purely for the reason that the actual song is sung by a male and the lyrics themselves are suggested to be sun from a man’s point of view. We thought that having a female act in the video would be strange and not as effective because the audience will not be able to relate what they are hearing to what is on screen. 

After the auditions, we had to decide who we thought would suit the role as the lead singer and be in our music video. we had to make sure that we picked someone that would be enthusiastic and willing to give up some of their time to be on set and film the music video. As well as this, we needed someone that understands stage presence and how to capture an audience. Adding to this, we needed someone that would not be camera shy and someone who is confident with their acting ability and is able to maintain a character.

In terms of a vocalist, we wanted the actor to lip sync the song with a very relaxed presence due to the song being relatively meaningful and has connotations and themes of heartbreak and some sadness. 

Auditionee 1 was Jordan. Jordan studies A level Performing Arts and level 3 Btec Music, as well as media. For this reason he would be good for the role as he is aware of stage presence and is very good at sustaining a character due to his experience in productions and various acting roles he has taken part in. He is committed and would certainly be available for the role. However, Jordan was not selected for the role of lead singer and the character for the narrative in the music video. The reason for this is that in his audition, Jordan seemed quite extravagant in his performance presenting slightly too much drama and too much enthusiasm which is not what we were looking for. However, we did discover that Jordan is a drummer and he has had good experience gigging with a band in front of large audiences. For this reason, we are planning to have Jordan as the band's drummer in the music video. 

Another reason that we are planning to have him as the drummer in the band is because we are confident that he will learn the song. This is good because instead of having to mime the song on drums, he will be able to actually play the song accurately to how it is in the real song meaning it will look a lot more effective than if we'd have had to mime on the drums.

Auditionee 2 was Ronan. We did not feel that he was one of the strongest candidates. This is because initially, he found the timing of the lyrics and the song challenging and it took a number of takes to get it right. Adding to this, he slightly missed the timing of the first line. This is very important whilst filming because of how many different shots there will be. As we will be taking many shots, it will be important that the person cast for the singing role can quickly pick up the lyrics and have good awareness of structure and the song's timings. Due to this, Ronan was not selected for the role.

Candidate 3 was Jack. After reviewing Jack's audition, we found that his performance was very static and he did not move at all. his lip syncing didn't look very natural and he looked a little nervous. To create an effective and lively music video, we felt that the singer would have to seem relaxed yet not frozen in one spot. Having said this, we felt that Jack's stage presence was lacking slightly and it would have been good to see a little more confidence in his audition therefore we have not selected him for the role. 

Will was next to audition for the role of lead singer and the character in the narrative of the music video. Like Jordan, Will studies A level performing Arts and level 3 Btec music. This means that Will is aware of stage persona and how to gain audience's attention. He is also able to sustain a character very well due to his experience in theatre. We found out that Will performs quite a lot and is used to singing and playing acoustic guitar in front of many people. The fact that Will is already a singer/guitarist was very helpful in the process of picking the actor for the role. Will was able to pick up the lyrics and timings for the sing extremely quickly and was confident in front of camera. The way in which Will performed his audition and set the mood was also a large factor in why we have chosen him for the role, Will was very relaxed, it was clear that he put himself into the shoes of the narrative aspect of the character and he seemed as if he truly understood the lyrics and he was generally very natural.

It is because of these reasons that we decided to cast will for the part of lead singer and actor in the narrative in the music video. As well as singing, Will will also be playing the acoustic guitar at the same time. Will is by far the best candidate for this role because of the amount of experience that he has had and the fact that he already sings and plays guitar so will be able to learn the song quickly and make it look believable and realistic. 

The last auditionee was Tom. Going over Tom's audition, he was very camera shy and seemed very nervous. As well as this, he had to hold a sheet with the lyrics on and was constantly looking down on them. Also it took a while for Tom to get a good take of his audition as he was unsure about the timings of the lyrics and the song. From the audition, it looked like Tom was trying too hard and it didn't look very natural. If this was to be done in the actual video that we shoot, it would not look effective at all and would make the performance less interesting for the audience because they would not be able to believe the performance. It is for these reasons that we did not select Tom for the role of lead singer and character in the performance.