Casting

The casting for our film has been a difficult process. Without the ability to use any students within Barking Abbey, our search for a reliable friend who was comfortable with acting in our film was limited.

For our main character Delilah we needed a young woman, around 17 to 18 who would feel comfortable and look at ease in her scenes. Our film will depend on facial expression due to the absence of dialogue, if our Delilah can show confidence she'll if the role perfectly.
Because of this need for a complete understanding of the character we found that the other media students we could ask to audition for our film felt awkward and unenthusiact at performing the scenes in our film, which would be likely to show in our character. And unfortunately our other options were unable to give the time to the filming and production stages that we need for the film.

However, considering our need for Delilahs actor to have a full understanding of her actions, while feeling confident and sure of the acting with the rest of the cast, we decided I should play the role of Delilah. With our group of 5 we believe we can balance our roles so that i can participate in acting in the film and the production process. As i developed Delilahs character and the story I'm fully aware and comfortable with what i need to do for us to achieve the portrayal of Delilah how we want it. And being a maker of the film i can encourage my fellow cast into showing there roles to how we want.


How i perceive Delilahs character has been based off of various actresses and characters who i feel would be similar in how she moves and portrays herself.
Zooey Deschanel is an actress i have found to brilliantly play strong female characters. She uses her subtle style of facial expression and soft movements which emphasise her femininity, but she also creates an impression of confidence in her character, with a tendency to day dream.



Although this is a dance sequence, we can pay attention to her character Summer, from 500 days of summer, movements and expressions, they show a calm, confident woman with a fun attitude. Plus some of the moves resemble an almost controlling nature, like how they move each other around, or the sad face motion which then controls Tom into doing what she wants. This way we can see hints of a more serious matter, in her subtle, romantic gestures. This is the kind of actions we want for Delilah.




This commerical with Zooey's also focuses on Zooey's expressions and body language. Again its floaty and dream like, with shots of her gaze drifting up, much like we want to do in our film with the daydream. I can really get a clearer idea of how i should act as Delilah by watching Zooey's performances.









































Although we have to remember Delilah has a vindictive side, and must show in the abstract scenes.
A great example i looked to when experimenting with how to show Delilah's secret side, which she hides from the men.The character Jessica from the TV series Heroes shows an evil side to a woman. Her movements and actions are stronger and seductive compared to her alter ego Nikki. This will be useful in how i can show Delilah in both the abstract and normal world. The way she is also shown in her own abstract world has helped me also. The way she looks to Nikki through the mirror, she's in control and her world is flexible to her, like how she also appears outside the mirror and in different reflections. This can help me have an idea how to act in the abstract world, the still posture, with soft movements and gestures. I can also look at Nikkis character for when Delilah loses control. We see her desparation when trapped in the mirror world, and unable to stop whats happening. Just like Delilah.









For the role of James we have Josh Freeland.We were thrilled to have Josh as a cast member as his a great friend, and a brilliant actor. After seeing him in various drama pieces were confident he'll bring his talent to the screen. He's very easy going and comfortable with our film and us as directors.He was our first choice when considering James actor, and luckily he was glad to help us. I imagined James character as a sweet guy. His romantic and a fool for love. Although his character traits aren't a focus in the film, and aren't exaggerated we can get the impression of his personality trough his actions, like the small kisses and his expressions throughout.
This is a role i think Josh will play well and hopefully have fun doing so,
When offering examples and references to Josh i used actor Micheal Cera.

Micheal Cera's played main roles in many teen romance films, but his acting style is subtle and realistic, with a sense of humour. His characters are how i imagine James, as more of a love struck fool who'll do anything for Delilah.

JUNO, Love from Cavatina_9 on Vimeo.

For David we've created a slightly suaver character, well show this by how he brings the flowers to Delilah, for Akin to play David we'd reffer a character or acting style similar to a Hugh Grant role, although his supposed to be suaver his still been tricked by Delilah, and has to have some sense of foolish blindness to believe her.