The Casting Process

One important element of a music video is having actors that can help tell a story and deliver a message. Often a video without any people in, for example of just landscapes, can become uninteresting to watch. In this blog post I completed the steps in order for my music video to contain appropriate cast members for the roles I have in mind which was a lengthy process yet I am glad I took time because I wanted someone who was comfortable being filmed or even have had some experience.

For my music video I need to make sure that the characters in it look natural as well as realistic and photogenic. This means that auditioning people would benefit my video as when auditioning I could see the video coming to life. As the video is in my mind, seeing people's interpretations will help me picture who suits the role that I had envisaged. In the industry, often hundreds of people apply for a role in a music video however I will be advertising my auditions around the school as I want the characters to look 14-18, so I will receive fewer auditions yet I am likely to find what I have always imagined during this process.

I firstly created a poster of which I would place around the school to advertise the auditions. As many people in the school are 14-18 I thought it a great opportunity to reel in as many applicants as possible. Below is the process of making my poster in order to attract students:


Here is the finished poster which I am happy with because I think it is clear and concise. I chose a red and blue theme so that it would appear to both males and females as well as relating to the already existing video for 'My My My!'. As I have not reached the storyboarding process yet I did not put as clearly as I would have liked what exactly the actors would be doing. Yet also it is quite vague because there will not be many action shots and I wanted the role to be open to people of all abilities as I did not want to exclude anyone.
   I put the words 'Looks great on CV's' because I think that if I want chosen to be a part of an opportunity like this I would write about it on my own CV because it takes a lot of skills such as communication, listening, being open minded, quick-thinking and creative. Aside from auditioning I was also looking out for anyone who, although I may have thought not right for an acting role, had any experience with lighting, sound or costume/makeup because I could employ them to help me with this side of things as well as help me with tips and ideas.

I put this poster up and around different locations in school such as the:

In total I put up 10 posters around school. I thought this was a good amount because they will be seen more regularly. As well as this I made sure that I put the posters up in places that people will see clearly such as on doors and on walls where queues may by, for example, in the cafe. I spread out the placement so that different ages would see it. For example, if I only put posters up in the Sixth Form block I would only get participants aged 16-18.


Instagram Advert

I then made a new adapted poster to post on social media sights because I thought mine could look more eye-catching. Also, for sites such as Instagram I needed to make sure that the poster was square so it would fit in Instagram's width allowances.

Although this advert does not include all of the information, I will be adding more in the caption. I much prefer this design though because it includes most of the information yet is easier to read. This will work well on social media because usually users will not read a lengthy amount of text and may skip past. This is why I used big font to draw viewers attention.

As you can see I posted the picture on Instagram as I knew that alot of friends my age used the popular app as well as the younger years. In fact, research suggests that 75% of teenagers aged between 13-17 in America use Instagram which is not too disimilar to the UK. This is a vast amount of people meaning I would get alot of attention from the 900+ people that were able to view the post, most of which are members of my school.
   I decided to write some more information within the caption underneath the post for anyone who was interested to read. Here I tried to sound friendly so that anyone coming to audition would not feel intimidated by an older student.

I then posted an 'Instagram story' so that I could interact with my followers, asking 'So who's coming to audition?!'. This had an informal tone meaning that the auditions could be seen as less intimidating so hopefully more people would go. 67% of people actually voted 'Yes' which was a good amount because it is understandable that many people would not be interested in it, so I am surprised that that percentage of people were planning to audition. Also I felt that because of the tone, more people may become interested or may want to find out more, because it sounds as if they are missing out.


Facebook Advert

As a final act of promoting the auditions, I made a Facebook event because I thought that slightly older teenagers are more likely to use it such as 17+ year olds. This event was open to the 'friends' I have on Facebook, which includes many people from my year and the year above so are of a similar age to myself.

I think that this method was a more professional way of advertising the auditions however I felt that it wasn't as fun and engaging as my poster and Instagram post yet was more informative. However a benefit of making the Facebook event was that people could post questions and state whether they were participating or not which was helpful to see in terms of expectancy and numbers.


Application Form

So far I have advertised the auditions across two social media platforms as well as around the school grounds, by making posters. I then decided that creating an 'Audition Application' would be the most efficient way of controlling how many people are expected to turn up on the day as well as finding out useful information about them. Firstly I needed their full name so that I could easily identify them. Also, I asked for applicants to state their contact phone number and email them so that we can be in contact if there are any issues or queries.

I also added in asking which role the applicant was applying for so that I can watch everyone auditioning for the main part in the first half of the session and everyone auditioning for the other part in the second half of the session.

Lastly, I included some information for the applicant such as 'you do not need to prepare lines' and 'you will be asked to portray emotion such as sadness/enjoyment'. This includes more information than what was put on the poster because if someone was interested enough they would want to find out more.

A vital piece of information of which I put at the bottom of the page was the details of the date and times as well as notifying applicants that if I think they are capable of the role they will receive an email stating so. This means that for example, if somebody applies that is 11, I may rule them out because the may look too young. However, because I know of many people in the school I can instantly know who has applied that wouldn't fit the role at all.

5 days after the posters had been up, as well as the Instagram post and Facebook event had been up, I decided to collect the application forms of which there were 12. This was actually more than I thought I would get because I can imagine that it would be unlikely, especially from the perspective of the younger years, that someone would have enough time/want to make this commitment. Nonetheless, I felt that 12 was enough for there to be the perfect actors for the roles in the music video.

Below are two of the forms that had been filled out:

Of all of the applicants, I narrowed it down to 10 people, because 2 of the 12 I knew and they looked too young.

The Auditions 

Of the 10 students that had applied, I made sure that they all were given the same amount of time for their audition, so I made a timetable for myself and the participants so that everyone was updated on timings and everything would run smoothly.

Genovesa Van Reenen was very confident and professional as well as very interested in the project. Her enthusiasm was very motivating as she was excited for the possibility of taking part. However, Gen was 5 minutes late which could become an issue if I chose her to be the protagonist, meaning that she could struggle with timing which isn't efficient. She also arrived quite flustered however I think she was rushing because she was out of breath and already late. One thing that I liked about her was her image because she was photogenic and looked very mature and older than her actual age. I do not think that she would be the best person for the role because she was disorganised and it was clear that she didn't prepare for the audition whereas I am looking for someone who I can rely on more.

Kitty Jones was very efficient and arrived on time to the interview. As well as this she remained calm and well presented so I feel that I would be able to trust her to be organised when filming the music video. She looked realistic as if she would look natural as the part in the video because she was quite short so it would be more natural to have one shorter than the other actor. Although, Kitty wasn't very confident and although she was very nervous, she did not shine in terms of her acting skills because they appeared quite forced. However during the audition she came out of her shell more. She looks fitting for the role and was very enthusiastic about the concept of the video.

Annalise Hawkins was very shy and spoke very quietly which is worrying because I need to build a good relationship with the actors. We did however share our interest in Troye Sivan and we got talking about his music! However she seemed very determined and passionate about acting. We did get along however I do not think she is fit for the role because she looks slightly young as she is 14.

Jess Hallesy was the actor that was used for my preliminary task because she is a good friend and very photogenic. When filming the preliminary task she did not need much guidance on what to do for each shot because she felt very natural in front of the camera. Also she is very organised and always arrives on time. She and Kitty are very good friends so they would work together however I made sure to watch everyone else's auditions before making my decision.

Tom Brown was quite shy however would look good in my music video. However I would have to bear in mind that if I chose a male to star in the music video I would need to give the other main role to another male so that they would be in a gay relationship. Also, I would need to make sure that if the main character is female, the other main character needs to be female.
Tom was very articulate and happens to be gay so would feel comfortable with being filmed under these circumstances which is definitely a bonus. He arrived on time and is very photogenic, after having a lot of experience in musical theatre so would feel very natural in front of the camera.

Oscar Williams is 17 and around 6"4 so very tall which may be tricky during the filming process. Also, although he was very passionate about the idea of my music video, he was very shy and hard to get a lot out of.

I auditioned the rest of the applicants before making my decision.

I decided that Jess Hallesy and Kitty Jones would feature in my music video because they are good friends in real life so I thought that this would definitely come across more in the footage and look more natural. They also look good together as a couple as Kitty is slightly taller than Jess instead of there being a large difference. They are both confident in front of the camera as well as both having had acting and modelling experience.


Actor profiles

Jess Hallesy -

Age: 17

Hair colour: Blonde

Eye colour: Blue

Height: 5"

Health issues: None





Kitty Jones - 

Age: 16

Hair colour: Dark brown

Eye colour: Blue

Height: 5"2

Health issues: Asthma









Informing the selected actors that they have been chosen

In conclusion the audition process was really helpful as I really did not know who would feature it the video at the beginning. I did already think that Jess would be work well in my video because of how well she performed in my preliminary task, however I only figured that Kitty would work well along side Jess once I auditioned Kitty and saw them together. Creating the posters to begin with was enjoyable as I have a passion for graphic design however I preferred my Instagram poster as it looked more professional; also it has less text which made it more engaging. I also really enjoyed the poll that I posted on Instagram because it let me interact with my audience, as well as creating the Facebook event because I really enjoyed the marketing side of the auditioning. 

   The application form was fun to create because the fact that I will be creating a music video began to feel very real. I found putting on this persona as a professional marketer quite fun however it did make me realise how quickly the coursework as a whole has come around and how I will be filming soon and still have a lot to do.
   Holding the auditions was very interesting as I had never done anything like it and I felt a lot of responsibility however I did feel very professional. I think I made a good decision for the actors that will be featuring in my music video because they look good together and we will all work well together as a team. I am very excited for filming yet I need to make sure that I plan it thoroughly so I achieve the best footage that I can, which is why the next several posts will be based around the planning of the music video up until the actual filming.