Updates on progress so far...

Yesterday was the first meeting we called with all of the cast and crew. It was a major breakthrough in our progress of creating our music video as it was the first time everyone was together to compile and negotiate our plans and it was a chance for Suela and I to exchange ideas with the group. The roles have been cast: Suela and I are to film (naturally) and Suela will also take some promo pictures as she also does photography so her skills will crossover; Daniel Mija, Suela's brother (chosen because of his intense method acting style as a drama student and was not out of nepotism or convenience) who also starred in our practice short film in the summer term, will star as the singer to bring the performance and narrative elements of the video together and be one half of the love story that emerges towards the end. The other half is "The Girl" whom we haven't named because we feel this will add to her mystery and indicates her lost identity. There is no spoken dialogue and she will not be addressed directly, so either way it is of no resonance. This role has been given to Mimi Naran, a girl in my English literate & language class who is wonderfully expressive and we have no doubt that she will play the part to perfection. We were very lucky with finding the younger version of the girl. As it would be a young girl we wanted someone who would be dedicated as well as a good actress. Me and Suela approached my drama teachers and asked them to announce whether anyone was interested in their year 8 classes. Mrs Mundy got back to us with 6 girls who wee interested. We had not anticipated so many girls being interested so we were very pleased as it allowed for more choice and decided to hold informal auditions to cast the role. I met with the girls and gave them each a sheet of paper with a small monologue relating to the storyline as audition material. After a few moments as they looked over the dialogue, they auditioned one-by-one and after I answered any questions they had. From assessing their acting skills and their possible resembelance to Mimi we chose a girl named Lucy who is very mature for her age yet still is able to embody that little girl persona...she also has the same bright blue eyes as Mimi which will be handy when we go to a flashback. We got her parent's permission and in the meeting it was a chance to answer any queries and co-ordinate schedules so everyone was in full understanding of where we were in the process. Our next step is to do some screen tests with Daniel lip-syncing or singing over the track.