Our Actors & Costume Tests

We have now cast the actors to appear in our music video and we are very satisfied with the ensemble. When selecting the actors/actresses to appear Suela & I acknowledged that we needed to think pragmatically as well as artistically so considering factors such as availability, reliability and work ethic was vital to contemplate alongside physical appearance, chemistry between the actors (also continuity between Lucy and Mimi as they portray two different stages in life of the same person) and their abilities to elevate and contribute to the performance and narrative elements to create our visual interpretation of the song.

On Tuesday Suela & I held a meeting in order to explain the set up, schedule and storyline to all three actors and it gave an opportunity for all of us to come together so any issues or concerns could be raised and answered. We started by thanking them for their participation, introducing them to each other (although they vaguely knew each other already) and explaining the story we hoped to depict. Then to familiarise them, we played the song (which they thought went well with the storyline) and we showed our Summer task short film "Home", in which Daniel also starred to show them the kind of camera skills and editing features we would like to develop on. The meeting was very successful and we discussed availability for shooting. We estimated that Lucy's scenes would take a few hours of work to polish whereas we'd take a whole day of filming to Daniel and Mimi. Daniel also is currently learning the lyrics to the song for the performance elements of the music video and Suela is planning to record the lip-syncing attempts for us to look over. Daniel is Suela's twin brother so I have no concerns about his reliability and I am pretty confident in both Mimi and Lucy for being on time when we start shooting. We are lucky to only enlist the services of three actors as other groups are having difficulties bringing many extras together. Overall if we keep focused, everything will hopefully be on track.

24th March:

Since originally posting I have added pictures of the actors during our costume & make up tests...

Mimi: "The Girl"

In this photograph Mimi is wearing a cream-printed minidress with a white silk bow around the waist so it isn't too floaty. Her hair will be more wilder (hopefully the wind will aid this for the camera) and she will be wearing a jacket over the dress with knee-high grey schoolgirl-style socks and worn out trainers. To juxtapose the lightness of the dress and to contribute to that "Teen Runaway" look he make up with be pale for most of her face with a predominant focus on the eyes. Thick dark kohl-rimmed eyes with smokey eyeshadow and plenty of mascara. We will also smudge the eyeliner so when we shoot an extreme close-up, it will give the illusion that she has been crying.

Lucy: "The Child"

We used the same dress for Lucy. They are both have the same body type and blue eyes so it worked out well and the fact that Mimi is a little taller, her hair is a little longer and her make up is darker all adhere to the development of the character. The point of the young girl is to be the epitome of youthful curiosity struggling against sheltered innocence and one of the main sources of inspiration for souring a costume to portray that was the eponymous Alice from Lewis Carrol's, Alice in Wonderland. Although not entirely visible from this photo, she wears a white silk Alice band amongst her soft curls and in the video she will wear dainty lace-trimmed white socks.
Daniel: "Billy"

Daniel plays against the colour palette for Mimi and Lucy. Suela & I decided we wanted him dressed in sleek black from head to toe apart from white trainers to give him a more contemporary feel. We contemplated giving him a black fedora hat but dismissed the idea as it seemed to cliched, as if we were tying to copy Billy Joel's look altogether. Daniel's hair is also quiffed up with hairspray to give him a kind of James Dean "leading man" type edge against Mimi's "lost schoolgirl" image. This relates to the ideas Todorov explores about binary oppositions in a narrative.