This is going to be a very short blog just to reflect on my actors, I wanted to discuss how I felt my casting helped or hindered my filming as I feel I very much glossed over that in last years FMP even though it is quite a big part of the hopeful success of this project. I only had 4 actors in total, one main actress who appears in all my scenes, Ella, and my other 3 actors who were casted as cult members and were in the background of the nightmare scene, scene 3.

I chose my actors based on different aspects depending on their different roles, for example, I had more to think about with my main character casting than I did for my background actors as their faces were covered and all I needed from them was their voice and shots of them in completely covering cloaks. Whereas my main actress had a lot more acting and emoting to do in order for my short films storyline to make sense with the absence of dialog. I ended up casting my mum, dad, and brother as my cult members, my brother is actually enrolled in an acting course, but my parents talent for acting is not quite as committed. Saying this, they all had one line and other than that their job was to stand around Ella and chant this line, and they did their job. Working with them was surprisingly easier than I had thought and their presence in this scene I think really completes the scene.

I cast Ella based on a few things, first of all she had the look I was hoping my main character would have, she fit many horror stereotypes and I felt she looks like the character I was trying to portray. Secondly, Ella has acting experience and, although not the best actor ever, she seemed more capable of taking directions and following the script and my instructions a lot better. And finally, I chose to work with Ella as, because we are friends, and I was acting in her short film, I knew she would be ok travelling to Cumbria for some of the filming and we could find a way of working around each other’s filming schedules.

Although I am glad I cast Ella into this role for all these reasons, I had to accept that it wasn’t going to be an Oscar winning performance from anyone of my actors. Being the perfectionist I am, I would have loved to produce a film that looks like it was directed by Stephen Spielberg and acted by Jennifer Lawrence, of course this is not going to be the case as they both have a lot more experience than two level 3 media students. However, I am still extremely pleased with what I have and what I think I’m able to create with the footage I have.