PRE-PRODUCTION: Development of Casting

According to our pre-production schedule this is Week 5 and we should be working on research / prep and the casting advert should be online. Alex has finished the treatment and character profiles and is up-to-date with the schedule, meaning that I can now post the casting advert online.

The characters we are looking for are:
- Tim Stewart
- Luke Lucas
- Theresa "Tess" Connelly
- Sheila Hodges
- Pete Lucas 

This advert will stay online for 2 weeks so actors have some time to apply for our film.

To create the casting advert, I looked over Alex's script treatment and have taken parts which I think are essential for potential actors to know to help them get a feel of VET-MAN, such as the film synopsis, genre and similar shows we want ours to resemble, the type of characters we want and the audition and shooting dates. I started with the topline so the actors get an idea of the film and then went further in-depth with the storyline. I advertised the role to be a unique opportunity to work with animals, particularly owls, I hope this will bring in some interest as this isn't probably very common in acting roles.

Casting advert for VET-MAN

I made clear that this is a student project and the roles will not be paid, only their travel and food will be paid for. However, this is only for the final filming days and not including the auditions. This way we will be able to spend more of the budget on props, locations and costume. Nevertheless, the actors will receive a copy of the final project.

Once I had copied over specific parts of the treatment, I was able to complete the character sections. Here I was able to go into more detail about the characters, such as the age ranges, personality and ethnicity.

Tim's character profile

Tim is the main character of our film, therefore he will be the character that we want the most like our advert. We want his personality to be arrogant but charming and charismatic, so we will be looking for this in the auditions. We were quite specific for what we're looking for in Tim, such as being quite tall, but as we need someone who can work well with comedy, we are open to anyone to apply who's got experience in this genre, we will be prioritising performance over appearance. 

Luke's character profile

We wanted Luke to be slightly younger than Tim to show off his innocence and the way he looks up at Tim as a role model. To add to this we said we wanted Luke to be of an average height so he's smaller than Tim. In Luke, we are looking for someone who can be intelligent but also naive. 

Tess's character profile

We wanted Tess to be a similar age to Tim as they're close as siblings. We also wanted her to be successful in life so she had the right to tell Tim he's doing something silly. She is married to Aidan, we won't see him in the film but he may be mentioned so the audience have a bit of background on her life and family. We don't mind how Tess looks, as long as her look matches Tim, being his sister. If we find two people who look completely different but are perfect for the roles, we could play with the sister relationship. Possibly by saying she's his stepsister. 

Sheila's character profile

Sheila is a sweet elderly lady. We want her to be able to get upset easily so when Luke breaks the news to her about Sooty, we can get the emotional side to the story. However, this doesn't last long as before we know it Luke has run away from the house after realising Sooty is a cat not the dog they hit. 

Pete's character profile

Pete isn't a big speaking role. We wanted a big built man to play Pete, he gets upset and emotional when Tim says his van design is bad. Alex felt that Pete being a big man and ending up sobbing would be quite funny, which is where the specific body type came from. During the audition we will be looking at the candidates body language rather than how he can speak the lines. 

Once I had completed the casting advert, I wrote out a booking request form to book out Lecture Room 1 for the audition dates (12th Nov & 14th Nov), this was so we had somewhere to take the actors to film their auditions. I filled out the booking form and sent it over to Laura, she responded and said that Lecture Room 1 wasn't free for the 12th but was for the 14th, and that we could use Lecture Room 2 for the 12th instead - we were pleased with this. 

Room booking request form

By filling out this form, we have agreed to putting back the room as we found it when we enter, including any tables, chairs, wires and computer equipment - which we intend to do so.