Casting Second Male Character

As well as the main male character in my music video, there is also a second male character with a smaller part. I have now confirmed who is to be playing this part in the video. I am going to cast Matthew Tyler. Although Matthew is also studying media A Level, he has agreed to take part. The reason I have cast him is because I believe he will suit the role. He has a contrasting style to the main male character which is what I wanted to emphasise the differences between them in the video. He is also of the right height, and hair colour to what I had planned. Below is a picture of Matthew wearing the style of clothes I would like him to in the video.

I now have cast all seven characters that I had planned, and am very happy with who they are compared to who I had visualised before casting; as they are all very similar to what I had hoped. I believe that the actors will work well together, and their styles and looks will also go well together. My next step is to confirm location, costume and props.

Casting Female Character

I have now confirmed who is to be the female character in my music video. Therefore I now only have one character left to cast, which is a male actor. The person I have chosen to cast for the female character is Joanna Thirkettle. Joanna is 17 which is the age I wanted the person to be. Also, she fits the style in which I had visualized whilst making my storyboards. She is quite tall, with long dark brown hair. She also wears an average amount of makeup and dresses fashionably. She lives in the same area as myself, which means it will be easy for her to get to the different locations involved. I also know this person quite well, so I think she will feel comfortable acting for the video. I also think that her style and character matches well with the male actor I have already cast (Connor Tullett). They both are of quite tall height, dark brown hair and fashionable clothes. Below is a picture of Joanna, showing the style I would like her to have whilst in the music video.

Lip Syncing Practices (Videos)

These are the videos me and Roxie Bright created to practice editing the time of the music to lip syncing. I think that overall they are quite successful and I have discovered whilst doing this, that having the music playing in the background whilst filming really helps and this is something I will definitely do in my music video. Editing the video to the music was quite an easy task, as because the music was in the background when it was filmed; the song was definitely filmed in time to the lip syncing. We tried to choose a varying range of tempos and music styles to practice editing to different speeds etc.

Continuing with Casting

This is a photograph of the actor I am using for the main boy character in my music video. I have chosen to use Connor, because I think that his style suits the part in regards to his fashion and hair style. Also, although he is 17, he looks a little older than this which is beneficial due to the target audience of the music video.

I have informed him of the song and continuity of appearance, and he is happy to participate in the music video.

Photographs of 'Band' Cast

These are the actors I have cast for the performance sections of my music video.

Pictured top left: Callum Singh
Pictured top right: Joe Thorley
Centre image: Matthew Driver
Bottom image: Tommy O' Connor

I believe that their image and style will work well together as a 'band', and as they all know each other it will make the filming process easier as they will feel comfortable acting around each other.

Casting

I have contacted four people who I would like to be in the 'band' for my music video. They have all agreed to participate in the video. The four people I have chosen are: Matthew Driver, Callum Singh, Joe Thorley and Tommy O' Connor. The reason I have chosen these people is because in my opinion, they fit into the psychographic and demographic profiles for my genre of song and artist. They are all around the age 17 which is one of the target ages for the audience of my music video. Also, all four of them get along quite well so they would be comfortable working with each other in the video. Their clothing styles and hair styles suit the role well, as they have short/mid length hair styles of dark brown colour. They wear plain t shirts and jeans, which is the type of costume I would ask them to wear for the filming. I will be confirming their roles in the music video in the near future, deciding which band role each of them is to have; and then follow this by uploading images of each cast member. I have also discussed filming times with them, and each of them may be able to film after schools or maybe on a Saturday if I am able to access the school.

I have also cast the main boy character for my music video. I have chosen to use Connor Tullet, who is 17. His style suits the role for the video well, as he has short styled dark brown hair, and has different clothing styles which I could choose from for the costume. Although Connor is 17, he looks older than this which is beneficial due to the target audience. I have informed him of the song, and he has agreed to learn it prior to the filming. I have also mentioned that most of the filming will take place in evenings or weekends, which he has agreed to.  

I now need to find and confirm two more actors to cast the final two characters, a teenage boy and girl, preferably a couple. I hope to have this confirmed by the end of this week (30th September). 

I have also been considering continuity with the actors. I will have to ensure that I inform them of filming times in case their looks change at all for example noticeable hair cuts or piercings etc. I hope to have all the filming complete within approximately 6 weeks of starting so this should hopefully not be an issue.   

Practice Lip Syncing

To practice for my final music video, I needed to test out lip syncing and editing the footage in time to the music. To do this I filmed several short clips of a teenage girl lip syncing to the songs. When filming, I had the music playing in the background so that she could simply sing along to it. This means that it is more likely to work once it is edited together. I am going to use final cut to do this and I think that this will help when it comes to filming my music video, as I will have had the practice of making the lip syncing look in time with the song and will make it look more professional as a result of this. I filmed parts of three different songs; Airplanes - Hayley Williams ft. B.O.B, Ellie Goulding - Your Song, and Avril Lavigne - Keep Holding On.  The reason I chose these three songs is because they have different paces and I wanted to practice with the different speeds of songs. My next step is to edit these clips on final cut and post them onto my blog.