Casting

To ensure that the data we recieved is an accurate image of our target market's views we broadened our questioning. We asked a larger sample of our audience to listen to the song and tell us who they think would suit the part well. These are the names that came up:

-Alice Dale
-Caris Iliffe
-Holly George
-Mollie Bramley
-Jess Daniels
-Charlie Springthorpe
-Jordon Wing

Finally we narrowed down our options to 2 people who we though would be suitable. To get a better idea of which person would be the best we asked them/(us) to do a mini clip, singing infront of the camera. We would like to stress that the videos were one shot takes and we did not conduct any post-production editing on their tapes, apart from adding the music. Therefore the two girls were unsure of the words at times however we simply wanted to get a feel of their presence in front of the camera and if given the part, we are confident they would have time to rehearse and remember their lines.

The first person on the tape is Charlie Springthorpe (me). Whilst we were doing some research many people said that I would be a good option for the role. This was mainly due down to my appearance being how they imagined the song/artist to be. During our target audience research regarding casting we asked people to suggest what current singer would suit the part. Avril Lavigne was mentioned frequently and thus we feel that she is a good person to match my self against as we have many similar features. These similarities for instance hair length and colour, skin tone, make up styles and facial structure would be helpful in our video as the audience will be able to draw associations, and thus making our video more related too our genre. Furthermore my look is comparable to the artist's (Jessica Drake) which is ideal as the voice would suit the visuals more. Overall this would make the performance more authentic and realistic. One of the main downsides to me, is that i was less confident and less enerjetic in the audition tape. This could affect the upbeat nature of the video. Also with being a member of the group myself, it could influence how i perform: i could depict what the group want better as i have been present and contributing to all of the ideas, however i could also be slightly biased as my personal ideas may be over powering.

Our second audition on the tape was Holly George. She is not a member of our group , however she is a theatre studies student- making her more confident to perform. Holly is all of our friends, and she is particularily friendly with Alice Dale- a member of our group which we feel will make her more comfortable to act infront of us. During our audience research, when we asked them to suggest a name of a current artist Ashely Simpson was mentioned. Holly has a similar look to her. The strongest aspect that Holly portrayed in her audition was her performance. We felt that she moved well to the music and had a good upbeat style. The main issue that we had with Holly is that her appearance did not suit the song- as she looks nothing like Jessica Drake. Ashely Simpson generally portrays a very rock chick/ pop feel so we feel that Holly would be able to represent an American singer. The fact that Holly is not a member of our group could present an issue as she has not had such a close connection with the video, however it could also make her more likely to portray all of our ideas equally as we will be able to direct her.

Final Choice