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This teaching kit outlines in detail the steps
involved in producing, directing and filming a television program
or movie. It explores many areas of production, including script writing,
casting, lighting, camera, sound and editing.
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Casting
Selecting actors
Selection of actors is a vital component of television and film production.
While the script gives a brief insight into what a character is like,
it is the actor who fleshes it out and brings the character to life. A
casting agent who is knowledgeable about a range of actors and their background
and specific abilities is usually employed by the producer to find appropriate
actors for the roles. The casting agent provides a list of suggestions
which is then discussed with the director and the producer. Actors are
then shortlisted and invited to take part in auditions where they are
given a scene from a script and asked to perform 'in character'.
The actors are often shortlisted again and invited back to do further
screen tests, perhaps with some of the other characters so that the director
can get a better idea of how the cast will work and look together.
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Casting requirements can be quite specific. For example,
for the role of 'Penelope' in The Genie from Down Under, the producer
and director looked for an English girl (or a girl who could speak
with an English accent) who was about 15 years old. The actress also
had to be very experienced because of the large amount of dialogue
required in this leading role. Alexandra Milman, who won the role
of 'Penelope', is an English actor, but all of the other English roles
in the production are played by Australian actors using English accents. |
| To find actors to screen test for the role of 'Mossop',
the faithful English house-keeper (and slave to Penelope's family)
in The Genie From Down Under, the casting agent was asked to find
women in their fifties who could take on the role of a maid or house-keeper.
The actress had to be able to speak using a lower class English accent,
be homely, not glamorous, and fit the loyal servant stereotype. |
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Actor Ian McFadyen's character 'Bubbles'
from The Genie from Down Under series, is an extremely rich, very
silly English lord. McFadyen said: "As soon as I read the description
of Bubbles - short, weak, bumbling, and insensitive - I knew he was
perfect for me. To get the part of Bubbles I had to first do an audition.
I decided he should be the ultimate Upper Class twit so I not only
gave him an English accent but also every speech deficit I could think
of ... so the word Australia sounded like 'Oth-twawia'. The director,
Esben Storm, thought that was funny but too extreme, so in the end
I made his accent less severe and concentrated on making him terribly
pompous." |
Same role, different actors
Sometimes in television, after one actor has firmly established a character,
another actor has to take on the same role in a subsequent series. It
can very difficult for an actor to take on a role established by someone
else as the audience already strongly identifies with the first actor.
With this in mind, casting of the new actor is extremely important as
they need to fit into the role as seamlessly as possible. (Direction and
costuming, make-up and hairstyling can also help a great deal.)
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Activity
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Look at the examples below and using just the information shown,
list the possible physical characteristics the director and casting
agent were looking for in casting the new actors.
What other actors could play the role of Penelope in The Genie
from Down Under series if she was not available for a new series?
Who else could play Dad Twist in Round the Twist? Who else might
be good for the role of Mr Gribble?
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Rhys Muldoon as 'Bruce' the genie in
The Genie from Down Under 1
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Sandy Winton as 'Bruce' in The Genie
from Down Under 2.
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In Round the Twist 1 Tamsin West plays
'Linda Twist', Sam Vandenberg plays 'Pete',
Rodney McLennan plays 'Bronson', and ''Dad Twist'
is played by Richard Moir in both productions.
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In Round the Twist 2 Joelene Crnogorac
plays 'Linda', Ben Thomas plays 'Pete' and
Jeffrey Walker plays 'Bronson'.
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Frank Holden plays 'Mr Gribble' in Round
the Twist 1 (Jan Friedl plays the role of
'Matron Gribble' in both productions).
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Mark Mitchell plays the role of
'Mr Gribble' in Round the Twist 2.
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Avoiding
typecasting
Good actors can play a wide variety of roles and try to avoid being
typecast (playing the same sort of role over and over again). Petra
Yared who plays 'Marcia', Penelope's snooty, rich upper class English
friend in the second series of The Genie from Down Under, plays a
very different character as 'Nikki Colbert' in the Sky Trackers series,
where she is an Australian girl with a serious passion for science
and lives at a sky-tracking station in outback Australia. |
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Petra Yared as Marcia in The Genie from Down Under
2.
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Petra Yared as Nikki Colbert in Sky Trackers.
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script & storyboard I casting I lighting & sound I camera I design I acting I editing
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