We narrowed our search for our actress down from 8 people. Some of whom did not feel comfortable being in a video and others who had left our college so there were difficulties with time etc. Therefore we now have two possible contenders left and so we conducted auditions. The audition consisted of the actress singing in front of a fixed camera to Jessica Drake's song 'You you you' and they sang a verse and one chorus. As a group, we felt it was important to see what the two girls looked like in front of the camera so we could assess whether we could visualise they playing the part.
We would like to stress that the videos were one shot takes and we did not conduct any post-production editing on their tapes, apart from adding the music. Therefore the two girls were unsure of the words at times however we simply wanted to get a feel of their presence in front of the camera and if given the part, we are confident they would have time to rehearse and remember their lines.
First auditioned was Charlie Springthorpe, who is also a member of our group. Whilst conducting our audience research some people said that they thought Charlie would be a good candidate for the role and so we thought she would also be a good contender. Charlie has the looks that the group had in mind, that is long blond hair etc. and our audience research also suggested these features; many people said that they imagined Jessica Drake to have a similar look to Avril Lavigne. Therefore there are similarities between Charlie's look and Avril's which would be helpful in our video, as one will be able to draw associations between appearances, suggesting a similar genre ultimately increasing the target audience's appeal. Additionally her look is similar to that of Jessica Drake's which means that the voice fits with the actress, making the overall performance more authentic and believable. However from the audition tape we felt that she was less confident in her performance which may not appear to be realistic in an upbeat music video. However we must also consider that Charlie is a member of our group and therefore would be able to understand more of the ideas that we can visualise for the music video however there is a question of whether this would affect the group's direction of shots.
Holly George was our second candidate and although not a member of our group, she is a theatre studies student and therefore understands the concept of performing and being directed. In our audience research many people said that Jessica Drake's song reminded them of the singer Ashley Simpson and Holly does have a similar look to this artist. Also in looking like Ashley Simpson, the music is again associated with a more rock/pop genre which is what we want to achieve to increase our target audience. Additionally one of the strongest aspects of Holly's audition was her performance. Her lip syncing was natural and she moved her body to the music more like an artist would in a video. However our group had the concern that Holly does not have a similar look to Jessica Drake and therefore may be unbelievable as the artist. However Ashley Simpson exemplifies a different type of pop/rock singer to the typical blonde and so Holly may show more deviance to the stereotypical American singer. We must also consider that Holly is not a member of our media group thus she does not have an insight into the final piece however there is a question of whether the actress would help being more impartial so we as the directors will instruct her upon how to act.
Therefore after looking at the two contenders for our promotional package, we will consider who we believe will best reflect the song as the actress, portraying the artist. Although both have good points and bad, we will come to a decision based upon the overall performance of the actresses.
Casting Decision
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