Our Actor!

     All great films need great actors to really make the film POP. That's why my group and I decided to use Robert Thomas (the older brother to our group member Pierce Thomas) as our actor. Robert was perfect for the role as he doesn't convey much emotion in his face. Now, I know that sounds strange. You might be wondering why a lack of emotion would be a good trait for our actors to have. So I shall explain. Our character, Lionel, is someone who is trapped within his own mind by haunting memories and experiences. He has become cold to the world and to emotions after death took away someone very close to him. When searching for actors, we wanted someone who could portray this mindset of numbness without over or under-doing it. Robert was the perfect fit. As cinematographer, it was a surprise to me when I was asked by my group to play the mystical figure of the woman who's loss Lionel mourns throughout the title sequence. I was aware that someone would be playing the "female in the red dress", but I wasn't sure who. Oddly enough, it ended up being me! So I will be acting in our film as well.  Pictured to the right is Robert and I. 

Scheduling/Preparing 

Many considerations came to mind for scheduling and preparing our actor for production which took take place on Saturday, March 2nd. The most important factor was making sure everyone was available. We have a director, a production designer, and editor, a cinematographer, and now an actor who all have unique schedules! But we couldn't accomplish anything without an actor present on screen for actual production. We we had to make sure to work production around our actors schedule. Thankfully, he had a free day on Saturday... which was great, because we spent 9 hours during production that day! Preparation for our actor was also important. In order to make sure Robert was ready for the big day, he needed to be familiar with what we expected from the title sequence. Our director made sure Robert was familiarized with the script and with the general idea behind the story so he knew how to conduct himself prior to the rolling of the cameras. This helped make sure his performance was 10/10.

Sources: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-plan-an-effective-shooting-schedule/