In a group meeting in week 8, we came up with the following game plan for shooting times. Unfortunately due to conflicting schedules of group members however, not all of us are able to be there on each day:

•  Week 9 Tuesday – Sarah, Alex, Laura and Bonnie
• Week 10 Tuesday – Sarah, Alex, Laura and Bonnie
• Week 10 Wednesday – Sarah, Alex and Laura

Alex was adamant that we could shoot our script without casting the supporting characters to avoid the hassle. Obviously we had Christina, her housemate and qualified actress, confirmed as Emily, but it was the other two who were seemingly harder to place. Alex suggested we work around it by having Emily speak on the phone, instead of walking along the river with Damien, and have her come across a mysterious faceless character in place of Ted (i.e. one of us dressed up in a coat and hat…). We temporarily agreed on this concept, however I was concerned that we would be creatively limited for shots, and experience difficulty in building dynamic relationships on screen. Upon speaking to Jackson I discovered that he shared my viewpoint, and given that we were very unprepared the day before shooting, I sent my group the following message:

To my relief, the group saw the logic in my proposal and with that, the plan took a new turn. We talked to Stayci about our new intentions in our consultation and she gratified our approach. So within the week, I now had the challenge of finding two cast members, Sarah and I would refine the pre-production documents (storyboards, shot lists and call sheet) and Bonnie would organise costume and props. This was definitely the right decision to make as we were nowhere near prepared enough to shoot the next day.

In terms of casting, I figured it would make the most sense to cast locally because 1) people would be more likely to agree if they have do not have to travel far; and 2) they would already have a relationship with the setting, which is an integral component of our production. While StarNow presented a number experienced actors apparently willing to work with us, my group and I were concerned about their reliability and whether or not they would be willing to make the trip out to Warrandyte. With that ruled out, I had a few people in mind who I thought might be up for it, but the most difficult part would be to find people who were available during the day on a Tuesday. Nevertheless, let the hunt begin! I asked a friend of mine who is involved in the Warrandyte Theatre Company if he knew anyone who would be willing, a friend from school involved in the theatre at high school, my next door neighbour who has a very bold and extraverted personality… But no luck! With a bit more persistence however, I casted the ideal Damien and Ted:

Meet Damien, who’s actually my friend Chris from high school. Chris hasn’t had any acting experience but was happy to help out a friend and keen to try something new.

Meet Ted, who’s actually my boss/editor at the Warrandyte Diary newspaper, Scott. He’s been in a couple of advertisements and is used to putting himself out there due to his field of work. He was keen to get involved and was excited to play such a different, albeit slightly creepy, role.

It will be interesting to see how it all goes down with one experienced actress, being Christina, and two amateur actors, being Chris and Scott. Will their exchanges come across naturally or will one out-perform the other? Given their experience we will also likely have to work differently with each actor in terms of guidance and instruction. It helps that I have a personal relationship with both Chris and Scott so they will likely feel comfortable asking me any questions or queries, and vice versa.

On Thursday we will be doing advanced sound/camera and group work. I think we must utilise the time all together to ensure we are on track for our upcoming shoot.