Acting Hotshots Producing Blog Week 2 (WB 13/02/23)

This week I organised a location scout for our Martial Arts scene and the Vietnam scene. We initially went to a location in the West Common and found that it was not suitable. Due to it not being dense enough for the martial arts scene and not fitting the aesthetic for the Vietnam scene. It was also too close to the main roads and Cody (Sound) mentioned that it would cause problems for sound due to constant traffic.

I had a backup location in mind, located behind Valentine’s Courts so I proposed we go there the same day.

It was a small birch tree forest that was a good distance away from the main road and it fit perfectly for the Martial arts scene. So, we decided to lock that place in.

The team set up the Crowd Funder. Which we then, all shared on our social media platforms.

We were really fortunate to reach and exceed our goal of ￡800 within the first week and eventually reached ￡930.

This week I started making the casting calls.

I create a quick and simple design, to make them stand out.

I set up the casting calls on Mandy, Backstage, and Star Now. I also shared them on various different Facebook acting groups.

Within 3 days, we had over 40 applications for various roles. I created a word document, to help me sort through all of them. For each Character, I had a table with all of the applicants and their headshots. So that in the next production meeting I could go through them with Josh (Director), and we could create a short list of people we thought might fit.

I also personally contacted Mark Wisdom, an actor who I have worked with previously and kept in contact since. I sent him the casting call, and the script.

He chose to apply for Young Bruce (Supporting) and Connor (Lead).

This week had a crucial turning point because I quickly realised that we needed more pre-production time in order to be properly prepared for the shoot. So, after another meeting we all agreed that shooting during the last two weeks of March would give us enough time to get all of the elements together. So, the plan is to shoot 20th March – 2nd April.

This gives us an extra two weeks of pre-production and took some of the stress away.

We were given the opportunity to use the ARRI Alexa camera for the film, and after speaking to Darcy we agreed we should apply for it. So, I sent through an application outlining all of the dates we wanted to use it and reason why it fits our project.

The application was approved and a meeting to discuss the use of the camera was set up.