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chapter
ca
sti
ngan
d
2
1 wor
kin
gwit
hac
tor
s

C
asti
ngi
ssome
thi
ngma
gi
calt
hatma
kes
y
ourscr
ip
tworko
nscre
en
Afil mmakergetsanew dimensi
ont otheirscr
ipt,t
hr oughcasti
ng
actors
, andt
heprocessbecomeswaymor eexci t
ing.Theent i
re
pre-product
ionpr
ocess,ci
nematogr
aphyt echniquesandvi sual
styl
edevelopmentcreat
esandsetsthestageforact orstoperf
orm.

Theactorsoccupythefor
efr
ontoft
heaudience’
sfinal
cinemati
cexperience,
andhavethepowertobri
nga
scri
ptt
olife.

Thees senceoft hestor

yisnarratedandper formedbyt heact ors
,
whoar et hefaceofthefilm. Theyar ethebridgebet weent he
back-endfil mmaki ngteam andt heaudience.Iti
sonlyt hrough
thei
rper for
manceson- screent hatthedepthoft hechar acters
conceivedbyt hefil mmakercomest hr
ough. Hence,sel
ect i
ngt he
ri
ghtact orforeachcharacteri
sexceedi ngl
yi mportant,andi sa
processthats houldnotber ushed.

Castingdirect
orsareact i
vel
yinvolvedindiscussionsregar
dingthe
scri
pt ,
ands uggestactorsthatwillr
endert hebes tperf
ormance
basedont hei
rskil
lset.
However ,thisr
oleisnotcommoni nTami l
cinema, andsoitfall
sont hefilmmakerandt het eam t
oresear
ch
ands electanactorthattheybelieveisthebes tfit .

Theprocessofcasti
ngulti
mat el
yboil
sdownt oan
open-
mi ndedcrit
icalanal
ysi
s,guti
nstinctandgood
ti
ming.

Kart
hikpointsoutthatcas
tingact or
sisaninsti
nct
ivepr
ocess.
He
vi
suali
sesthetrai
tsofacharacterinhiss
tory,
andimparti
all
y
anal
ysesifi
tfitsanyoftheact orsknownt ohi
m.
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Kart
hikSubbar
ajexpl
ainsthatthi
sisnotadefini
ti
veprocess
becauseeveni
fanactordoesresonatewi
thacharact
er’
srol
e,t
hey
mightbeunavail
abl
eorunaf f
ordabl
e.

Certai
ncharacter
sdemandsomeonenew fort
her ol
e,toavoi
dany
preconcepti
onsthatt
hemoreexper
iencedact
orscarry.
He
suggestsconducti
ngalookt
estt
ocheckthesuit
abil
ityofanact
or
f
orar ole.

Alwayskeepanopenmindandcons
ideral
ter
nat
e
actor
stoplayt
hepart
.

Karthikalwaysinvolvestheent i
redirecti
ont eam inthecas ti
ng
process .
Iftheteam isabletoinstantlypict
ureacer tainactorfora
rol
e,heel iminatesthatchoiceimmedi at
ely,asthishappenswhen
theact orhasdones i
milarr
olesint hepas t
.Heexpl ainsthataf r
esh
castcanmaket heentir
efilm mor einter
estinganduni que.Casti
ng
thewr ongact orcanr ui
nachar acter'sbeli
evabil
it
y,affecti
ngt he
qualit
yoft heent i
refilm.

t
hemos
tinn
ateta
len
tforafi
lmmak
eri
s
c
ast
in
gtheri
ghtpe
rso
na n
dgett
in
gthe
r
ig
htpe
rfor
ma n
ce

Beforebeginningthecast
ingpr ocess,iti
ses sent
ialt
obreakdown
thescri
ptbas edonthechar act
ers.Thiswillhelpeasethecas
ting
processfort
het eam,aswellashelpt heact or
sgainabet t
er
understandi
ngoft hecharactertheyarepl ayi
ng.

Eachofthechar acter
simagi nedbythefilmmakerneeds
tohaveanager ange,keyfeaturesaboutappear
ance,
tal
kingstyl
e,personal
ityt
raits,
manner i
smsandquirks
andt hebackstory.

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Forabegi nneri
nthefil mi ndustr
y, youcanfindl ow-budgetactor
s
from dr
amacl ubsinlocaleducationalinsti
tuti
ons,l
ocalt
heatre
compani esandFacebookgr oups
. Youcanal soconsi
deraski
ng
famil
y,f
riendsandacquai ntancest ostari
nt hefilm.

Pre-Screeni ng
Ifyouneedawi derrangeofchoi ce, cons i
derpubli
clyputti
ngouta
callf
ors elf
-tapedaudi tions.Thispr ocessofpr e-
scr
eeningallows
yourcallforaudi t
ionst ober el
evantt oact or
swhodonotr esidein
thecity.Italsohelpsmanaget imeef ficientl
ybyeliminat
ingt he
actorsthatdonotfitt her ole,withoutt heneedf oranin-
per son
meet i
ng. Includes pecificins tr
uct i
onsf orthem tofol
low,thatwill
easeyourpr ocessofdeci dingi ft
heyfitt her ol
e.

Auditi
ons
Onceyouwat challthetapes,makeal is
toftheactorswhos e
perf
ormanceswoul ddoj usti
cetotheroleofthecharacter.
Finda
spacetohostthein-personauditi
ons,andtheninvit
ealltheactors
onthelis
t.Cal
culatetheamountoft imeeachact orwoul drequi
re,
andorganiseti
mes lotsaccordi
ngly.

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All
ow theact ortoshowcas et heirt
alent,bychoos ingas cenet hat
i
nvolvesaone- on-onedi alogueoramonol ogue.Then, givet he
actorsomeact ionlinestor eal
lygetaf eelofhow t heyfiti ntothe
character
'sshoes.Appr oachingt heauditionswi t
hanopenmi nd
mighthel pinspir
ei nter
es t
ingt r
ait
sandmanner ismsthat
compl ementt hechar acteryouhadi niti
allyvis
ualised.
Ital sohelps
todiscussthechar acterprofilewi t
ht heact orandgett hei ropini
on
onit.

Theactorneedst
obeabl etofor
m anhonest
connecti
onwitht
hechar act
er,f
ort
hei
rperf
ormance
toreal
lycomethrough.

ScreenTests
W hil
emanyact orstransit
ionbetweent heworldsoftheatr
eand
film,therearehugedi ff
erencesbet weenacti
ngliveandinf rontof
thecamer a.
Recordingt heactors
’ perf
ormancesoncamer a, duri
ng
theauditi
on,hel
psgetabet terunderstandi
ngofhow t heylook
andper f
orm on-s
creen. I
tisalsoi
mpor tantt
oobs erveandanal ys
e
how thecostumesandmake- uplookoncamer a.

Scr
eent es
tshelpdocumentt heaudi
ti
on
perf
ormanceandgi veyout
heoptionofr
evi
sit
ingi
t
atalaterdeci
sion-
maki ngst
age.

Cal
lbacks
Onceyouar es
atisfiedwi tht
heactor
s'perf
ormancesf oreachrol
e,
cal
lbacksar
eanext remelyimpor
tantsteptoanalysethechemi s
try
betweenthediff
erentactors
.Wit
houtchemi s
try,
t hefilm wil
lend
uplookingdul
landl if
eles
s.

Duri
ngt hecal
lbacks
,pai
ruptheact
orswi
ththei
r
on-
screenpart
nersandrecor
dadial
ogueexchange.

Twoact orswhoar eperfectfort heirindivi

dualrolesbutlack
chemi str
ywi t
heachot herwi l
levent uall
yprovet obeas etbackto
yourfilm. Thedynami cbet weent heact orsandt hefil mmaker,as
well,
needst obecomf or t
abl e,eff
ortlessandeas y-going,asany
str
ainort ensi
onwi l
laf
fectt heper formancesr ender ed.Hence,i
tis
impor t
antt otaketi
mebef oremaki ngcas ti
ngdeci si
ons,andnot
rushthepr ocess.

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Actorscarryahuger esponsibi
li
tyofbri
ngingacharactertol
if
e,and
i
nemot i
onallyengagingt heaudience.
Al ar
gechunkoft hat
responsi
bili
tycomesdownt othefil mmaker ,whoneedstotap
theirpotenti
alandpr ovi
dether i
ghtadvicetodraw outt
hebes t
performancef r
om theact or
.

Thefilmmakeri
sresponsi
blef
ormoul di
ngt
heact
or
i
ntothechar
act
erthattheyvi
sual
ised.

Toaccompl is
ht his
,iti
simpor t
anttobuil
dahar moniousand
respectf
ulrelati
onshipwi t
ht hem. Kar
thi
kemphas i
sestheneedt o
givetheactor st
heircreati
ves pace,wi
thoutpr
essuri
ngt hem and
maki ngthem uncomf ort
able.

Spendtimewit
ht heactordi
scus
singthecharact
er'
s
pers
onalit
yandtheinspir
ati
onbehindcreat
ingthat
charact
er.

Themat er i
althatthedir
ectorgivest heactorbeforeas cene, i
s
whatul timat elydetermi
nest hequal it
yoftheper f
ormancebyt he
actor.Rat herthancoldinstr
uctionswi thnowi ggleroom f orthe
actor,i
thel pswhent hefilmmakert akestheefforttodes cribethe
setti
ng,t hemi ndsetandt heemot ionsoft hecharacterpl ayed,
duringt hes hoot.Thisal
lowsforincredibl
eper f
ormancesand
creati
ves pacef ortheactors
.

Iti
simportantforafil
mmakert obeadapt
ableand
tobeopent oimprovi
sat
ions
,becaus
esometi
mesa
scenewil
lnotpanoutexactl
ythewayyouhad
vis
uali
sedit.

mus
ici
sag
oodtoo
ltha
tca
nbeu
sedt
o
ev
oket
hea
ctor
’semo
ti
ons
.

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Musicands oundtr
acksgivet
heactorabet
terunder
standingof
thecharact
er’smindsetandthemood,t
oneandaurat hatthey
needtowor kwith.

W hi
les
hoot
ingapart
icul
arscene,
alwaysensur
ethat
t
hemoodoft hes
ceneisr
eflectedi
ntheset.

Thiswil
lal
low t
heactorstostayfocusedandinchar
acter.
Incl
uding
anelementofs ur
pri
sewhi l
es hooti
ngas cenei
sanotherwayto
draw outagenuinereact
ionf r
om theactor.

Asafil mmaker ,i
tisi
mpor t
anttogetaclearunders
tandingofwhat
youractorsneed,bef
oretheysayit
.Thi
swi l
ldemandacompl etel
y
dif
ferentapproachwitheachactor
,andismos t
lyanint
uiti
ve
process.

a
nal
yse 0
1
Basedonal lthefilmsyouhaveseenbef ore,makeal i
stoft he
actorsthatyout hinkfitperf
ectl
yintotheirroles, andanot her
l
istforthosewhodi dnotfit.Todothis,
youneedt ocarefull
y
analysetheent irenarr
ati
veofeachstory,andvi suali
set he
characterslikethefilmmakerwoul dhave, withoutr elati
ngt he
charactertot heactorwhoplayedthepar t.Then, thi
nkoft he
actor'
sper f
or manceandcommentonwhet heri tdidjusticeto
thechar act
er '
srole.

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