Talent

In my short film there are three characters:

• Elderly man 
• Middle-aged woman
• Teenage girl

In short films it is important that the casting is good because there isn’t long to make a good impression, and the narrative has to be believable.

Melissa

I have cast Melissa as the teenage girl as she is about the age that I imagined the teenage girl to be. Also, Melissa herself has a family member who has dementia and therefore will be able to accurately portray the struggles and emotions that people who have family members with dementia go through. Melissa lives near me and therefore is easily contactable and will not have any transport issues with getting to filming locations, because she will be able to come with me.

Angela

I have cast Angela as the middle-aged woman. Angela is an experienced actress and has taken part in theatre and film in the past. Presently she is trying to build her show reel by doing work with lots of independent film companies and therefore she is happy to star in my film. It is a convention of short films for them to star young and/or amateur actors who are trying to build their experience and show reel which is another reason why I have cast Angela.

I currently haven’t yet cast anyone to play the elderly man, I have three potential actors.

I have found that it is hard to find voluntary actors, especially adults, as understandably if acting is their profession or source of income then a lot of people won't work for free. Also, because I haven't written my script yet I have nothing to show potential actors so they can see if the role is right for them and whether they want to be a part of the film or not. Therefore, I am going to write my script and then pass it on to people who I think may be interested. 

UPDATE - 31/10/17:

Finding someone to play the old man with dementia was something that was proving difficult as I don't know many elderly people and my grandparents do not have acting experience and did not want to be involved. Therefore, I put an advertisement in the Hull City of Culture 2017 volunteers Facebook group as I thought that these people would be more willing to take part and for free as they are already volunteers for something so it is in their nature to do things for other people. 

I had three actors interested so I emailed them all a brief outline of the film and the arrangements for filming which I was starting to gather. I got on reply straight away, however after a week I had still only heard back from one of the actors, so I decided to cast him as the elderly man as I wanted to move on and make sure that the actor had enough time to learn his lines before it came to filming. 

EMAIL TO POTENTIAL ACTORS - 18/10/17

John had previously contacted me and told me why he was interested in and suitable for the role. One of these reasons was that he has Parkinson's Disease which means he has some characteristics similar to a dementia patient, meaning his portrayal of the character will be more believable.   

Furthermore, John is an experienced actor. He has credits including 'Emmerdale' and 'A Royal Night Out'. This means that John will be professional and know what to expect from a film set. 

John