Selecting Actors

After a significant amount of research on character influence, it was now time to decide on an actor that would fit within such requirements. As a week rolled by neither the group nor I could decide on an actor to play the lead antagonist role, until a memory sparked of a friend both Dave and I knew from secondary school.

Initially it all seemed like a fine idea, as he was moderately tall, robust, charismatic, yet could fit within the general public effortlessly. It seemed however after weeks of preparation for props, sound, location etc, that the shooting schedule was almost impossible to fit around the mediocre day at his college. Worried about the deadline for both shooting and editing, we had to swiftly drop the actor, and started frantically searching for someone around Shenfield Sixth that encapsulated the necessary requirements to be in our Thriller.

Literally days before our scheduled first shoot, Tom Vale, from our media class confronted us stating that he wouldn’t mind acting within our two minute Thriller as the main antagonist. Initially, we weren’t exactly sure whether Tom could pull off an image of formality/impulsive madman. However, in hindsight, Tom Vales proposition was a Godsend.

It fundamentally appears from the footage we have managed to preserve so far that he can pull of the formal image really well, which is anchored through the props of the briefcase, glasses, and watch. I have seen him frequently at school with his shirt tucked out, with a skewed tie, so I’m hoping that the subsequent day of shooting will be just as successful as the first.

As well as the leading antagonist, we needed to find someone who could play the torture victim. Our choice was primarily influenced by a fellow group’s finished Thriller product, whereby Taylor Gladwin plays a frenetic, disjointed, down-and-out male, who appears to be psychologically ruined. Influenced greatly by their thriller, we confronted Taylor, requesting similar acting skills within our own thriller. Taylor appeared more than happy to comply, meaning that we shall hopefully utilize this factor within the second torture stint, the following week.