Studio Shoot: A tale of stress, cameras and wallpaper paste
21.2.16
As part of the professional toolkit unit, we were tasked with creating a set from scratch and making some kind of campaign between 1 and 2 minutes long. The campaign we decided to pursue was to create an advert that intends to raise awareness about domestic abuse against men using real life case studies. In hindsight I believe that we could have planned something much more ambitious than this and maybe not gone down this kind of route as people did not seem to engage with the project to their fullest. Therefore the outcome had far less impact than it could and should have had.
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The first thing that happened was deciding which person would adopt each role during the process of
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The first thing that happened was deciding which person would adopt each role during the process of
I took on the role of casting director, Organising the casting (selecting) of Actors for all roles in a film. Arranging and conducting interviews and auditions with artists as well as negotiating fees and contracts for the Actors who get the part. Working with the Director and Producer to understand their requirements.
. Initially I found this experience rather daunting, but after speaking to a friend who had done this kind of thing before I was recommended a few really good castings websites.
. Initially I found this experience rather daunting, but after speaking to a friend who had done this kind of thing before I was recommended a few really good castings websites.
Here are some casting websites and resources that were recommended:
Castingcallpro
library: spotlight books
Starnow
Castnet
Contactcasting
After I found my sites I began to create the basis for a casting call. I worked closely with the scriptwriters and the Director, drafting different versions of the character profiles and trying to get a real feel for who the characters were and what kind of actor we would need.
Below are the casting calls I posted. I would be careful to put every little bit of information onto the casting calls, since it is deemed un-professional and frankly dishonorable to not disclose every bit of information (especially considering it was a student film which means no hourly rate).
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| Casting call using TheStage.co.uk/castings |
Using the character profiles created by the scriptwriters and directors, I worked with the director to plan an audition/interview process that that will help gauge if the actor is suitable for the role(s) required. This is the first process of casting. I was able to specify every aspect of how we wanted the actor to look and sound like and even whether they could sing or not. It felt like I was out at a Sunday market.
Character profiles
Anthony (Victim):
30 year old male, currently living in his lower/middle class house in Bromley, South London, with his wife and two small children. Anthony goes to the gym twice a week after his work as a self-employed bricklayer. Due to the nature of his work, he has developed a strong figure. Anthony has dark brown hair. Usually quite a confident guy, considered 'one of the blokes' and thus he has to maintain a certain sense of masculinity to adhere to his friends standards. Anthony loves football, especially watching it with his friends from work either down the pub or at one of their houses. Anthony is a social smoker, but only smokes when the football is on at the weekend, or when his wife and kids are out of the house running errands or visiting her relatives. Anthony is being physically and emotionally abused and blackmailed by his wife, who threatens to take his kids away from him if he speaks up about even the smallest of things. She takes all her anger out on him, and he is afraid that without him being around, she might hurt his children. Because Anthony is a man of morals, he knows that he can't defend himself when he is physically or verbally attacked because she will use it as ammunition and use it to abuse him further. He is physically abused scratches, cuts from bottles, iron & cigarette burns on his arms, and hides this abuse by wearing long sleeves regularly. This is a very emasculating situation for Anthony, because if he speaks up about it or opens up to his friends, as he is dominated by his wife which, in their eyes, is considered as 'un-masculine.'
Mike Starling (Friend):
28 year old male, currently living in his two bed end terrace house with his bulldog Gray. He is a smoker and a keen social drinker. He is very well built guy, but does not at all deserve to look that way due to his unhealthy lifestyle. He shares 49% stake in a building company with his friend Anthony and they alternate going to each others' house at the weekend to watch the football. Anthony is probably one of Mike's closest friends, mainly because Mike is a very stubborn guy who will defend his views and his friends unflinchingly, even if he is wrong about both. This stubbornness is often mistaken for loyalty, which is why he has so many friends but very few close ones.
Anthony (Victim):
30 year old male, currently living in his lower/middle class house in Bromley, South London, with his wife and two small children. Anthony goes to the gym twice a week after his work as a self-employed bricklayer. Due to the nature of his work, he has developed a strong figure. Anthony has dark brown hair. Usually quite a confident guy, considered 'one of the blokes' and thus he has to maintain a certain sense of masculinity to adhere to his friends standards. Anthony loves football, especially watching it with his friends from work either down the pub or at one of their houses. Anthony is a social smoker, but only smokes when the football is on at the weekend, or when his wife and kids are out of the house running errands or visiting her relatives. Anthony is being physically and emotionally abused and blackmailed by his wife, who threatens to take his kids away from him if he speaks up about even the smallest of things. She takes all her anger out on him, and he is afraid that without him being around, she might hurt his children. Because Anthony is a man of morals, he knows that he can't defend himself when he is physically or verbally attacked because she will use it as ammunition and use it to abuse him further. He is physically abused scratches, cuts from bottles, iron & cigarette burns on his arms, and hides this abuse by wearing long sleeves regularly. This is a very emasculating situation for Anthony, because if he speaks up about it or opens up to his friends, as he is dominated by his wife which, in their eyes, is considered as 'un-masculine.'
Mike Starling (Friend):
28 year old male, currently living in his two bed end terrace house with his bulldog Gray. He is a smoker and a keen social drinker. He is very well built guy, but does not at all deserve to look that way due to his unhealthy lifestyle. He shares 49% stake in a building company with his friend Anthony and they alternate going to each others' house at the weekend to watch the football. Anthony is probably one of Mike's closest friends, mainly because Mike is a very stubborn guy who will defend his views and his friends unflinchingly, even if he is wrong about both. This stubbornness is often mistaken for loyalty, which is why he has so many friends but very few close ones.
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| Casting call using Starnow.co.uk |
Film synopsis:
A 2 minute long campaign film focusing on the stigma against male domestic abuse victims. Based on the classic sitcom the campaign will open with the male lead entering the set talking to a friend about how how his partner has been hitting him. At this point you will hear a generic laugh track. This will continue often with his friend quipping in remarks about ‘manning up’ and ‘don’t be a wimp’. The laugh track will continue until the character notices it and address the fact that it’s not a funny subject, at this point the actor will look directly into the camera breaking the fourth wall. Tracking backwards the camera will reveal the set (eg lighting, other cameras sound equipment) showing the audience how the media control our perceptions of abuse alongside the actor who will be speaking about the importance of the stigma being dropped.
Correspondents with Potential Actors
When I emailed potential actors I attached all the relevant details, including all the terms and conditions, a synopsis of the film and a lengthy character description. There were a number of different actors that expressed their interest, including an actor currently employed by the BBC and an Argentinian actor currently living in the Netherlands.. Unfortunately these didn't work out for various reasons, but here are the different correspondents I had with all the different actors.
Upon reflection I would have selected characters more fittinbg
Lighting
I also took upon the role of Gaffer with two others, Steven and Andre. My role as a gaffer was officially 'Running all the electrical work on a production. Leading a team of lighting technicians and working closely with the Director of Photography. I am relatively new to this kind of role and I was rather daunted, but since it is something I intend to specialise in it was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn more about different lights and ways of manipulating light to denote or connote different moods and feelings. In hindsight I feel as though we could have organised test lighting shoots where we could have experimented with different feels of light, because we spent so much time in-between shots adjusting different lights but also experimenting with them/ We used different lights, predominantly the 2ks attached to the roof. We used the barn doors and spun to diffuse the light, occasionally using Steven as a C-Stand to hold some poly board to flag off a light or two. Perhaps a more productive thing to do would have been to book out lights the day or week before and just practise lighting some of the planned shots.
We used a softbox and also different sliders to get the desired effect for each shot.
We also used a redhead bounced off of some poly board to simulate street lights so when the actor walked in some light would spill through the door. We also attempted to simulate a TV turning on, placing CTB onto an arri frost and turning it on as our actor used the prop remote. This was definitely my favourite to light as it involved finding a creative solution to a problem that other members of the crew didn't have time for.
Certainly one of the things I enjoyed most about this shoot was learning how to direct and organise the lighting team. I really enjoyed communicating back and forth with the DP and Director trying to discern what kind of light looked best in what position and making finite adjustments to barn doors or adding more spun or flagging off one particular hotspot where the light was making a glare on a wall or a face. Creating soft shadows was really one of my favourite things to do.
In conclusion this was an incredibly helpful experience. I learnt so much about lighting and how working as a crew on set works. Since this shoot I have helped spark on a grad film and also take upon the role of 2nd Assistant Camera. I found that being on a set previously made those experiences much less daunting and I felt more comfortable and more inspired to work hard and learn as much as I possibly could from the opportunity.
Certainly one of the things I enjoyed most about this shoot was learning how to direct and organise the lighting team. I really enjoyed communicating back and forth with the DP and Director trying to discern what kind of light looked best in what position and making finite adjustments to barn doors or adding more spun or flagging off one particular hotspot where the light was making a glare on a wall or a face. Creating soft shadows was really one of my favourite things to do.
In conclusion this was an incredibly helpful experience. I learnt so much about lighting and how working as a crew on set works. Since this shoot I have helped spark on a grad film and also take upon the role of 2nd Assistant Camera. I found that being on a set previously made those experiences much less daunting and I felt more comfortable and more inspired to work hard and learn as much as I possibly could from the opportunity.
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