Casting Character

Casting Character:

Propp's theory of character types allowed us to explore the effects of having an actor/actress and also the absence of an actor. We considered the conventions of a social realism piece and the need for the main character undergoing a change throughout the piece (often this is upon reaching a new equilibrium as Todorov suggests, that the characters are unable to return from).

Having a male actor in this piece was originally scripted and at the start of the piece we had planned several shots where the antagonist of the piece was seen over the shoulder (pinning the actress down). Upon reflection however, we decided that the tone of the piece was to show how our protagonist recovers from the act and not focus on the act itself. Having an actor would've created a drastically different piece that may have been too distressing for some people to watch and created difficulty to film. By having the attackers actions seen but not his face, we enabled the audience to allow their abnormal psyche to scare them into what or who was the attacker, as many horror films tend to do.

Our actress needed to be able to portray a high level of emotions seen through various close up and extreme close up shots. Our actress is an a-level drama student who has acted in several filmed pieces before and we chose her to act in this piece to make it clear to people that anyone can be a victim of assault and it is a very real and close-to-home act. By having an actress that audience members could readily identify with, we made our piece real and gritty, as is a convention of the social realism genre.