Video Project - Escapism Post-Production

Role - Actor

During post-production my requirements as an actor were quite limited, as the only thing that I had to do was ADR.
During the first week of post production, I had a look at some of the final edit of the film and it was evident that I would need to do ADR for the park scene, as it was very quiet. In addition to the director noticing this, she scheduled a suitable date and time for me to record some of my lines again for the following week.
I made sure straight away to notify my producer when I would be available to do this, in order to get it planned promptly.
The following week I went to the recording studios to record my dialogue again.
As an actor I had no problem getting straight into character as soon as the playback began, and for the most part I was notified by the director and producer that my first takes were the best ones.
During this, I tried doing my voice over in several different styles whilst keeping it true to how I originally said it; giving the director and producer a variety.

Overall, the post production process went smoothly for me, and as an actor I proved to myself that I was able to maintain a characters persona even after the production schedule.

Video Project - Escapism Production

Role - Actor

The first day of filming took place at a makeshift escape room entrance outdoors. I came prepared in my costume, with my make up done, and had final touches applied by the costume/makeup department. The filming for this particular scene was short and swift. One issue that we were faced with during this time was the positioning of the camera and trying to match it with the height of every actor. To rectify this I had to tiptoe as much as I could, whilst keeping balance and looking as natural or normal on camera. During this scene I had to look directly into the camera which would act as a identification scanner for the final film. The director advised me to be neutral yet show in the eyes a slight sense of suspicion. With my kind of role, most of the subtext is shown through subtlety. To portray a sinister character I was advised to show this using my eyes.
The following day of filming took place in the library at my accommodation. This was a complex scene to film. We did several rehearsals before filming to refresh our minds as we had already rehearsed this scene during pre-production.
As an actor I ensured that I knew all of my lines however I always brought my script with my just in case.
The day was long however I stayed in character throughout the duration and remained professional.
Throughout the period of filming I was also extremely busy with taking part in a showcase outside of this project. I had to make sure that I prioritised my time well, so in advance I emailed both the director and producer if at a particular time of filming for one day it would be okay for me to leave for 15 minutes and then come back to filming, which they were fine with. However, on the day of filming we finished way before the time that I was required to leave.
On the next day of filming, we were filming my fight and death scene in a public park. This was the most challenging scene for me to film as it was very physical and required a lot of direction. During this scene Lily Moors had to tackle Kristine to the ground and strangle her. I had to ensure that I used stage combat techniques during this so that I wouldn't hurt my partner at all. I found this scene quite fun to film as it was more of a challenge for my character, as it is the big moment to revealing to everyone who my character really is. I wanted to get everything perfect from the laughter to the dialogue in order to portray a total opposite side to Lily Moors that no one knows about. I think that this is the point of the acting stage where I was able to completely change to a sinister character verbally and physically, without having to be internal.
We had to do several takes of me pushing my cast member on the floor (which was muddy), and this was quite challenging as it was potentially dangerous, and our costumes kept getting muddy. Having been prepared, I happily provided my cast members wet wipes to clean themselves from being on the muddy grass for so long, hadn't I had these it could have been a continuity issue, however I had these just by chance.
The following day, we were required to be on set at 6:45am at Manchester City Centre. As a professional actor, I planned my transportation there the day before, and allowed a team member to stay over at mine for travel convenience.
Again, we were limited on time for this part therefore there wasn't much filming required on this day. Despite the early hours, the cast members and I remained professional, and worked to an efficient pace in order to comply with the rules.
On Thursday 12th April, we were required to be on set again for 6:45am at my place of residence. This was not a problem however I got downstairs approximately 4-5 minutes late as the props department left their props with me to deal with as they were not going to be on set for this particular day. Last minute I remembered that I had left the props in my bedroom; therefore I had to go back upstairs to get them which delayed my time. Although this was not my responsibility as an actor it delayed me by a few minutes, however when I arrived to set we didn't begin filming til approximately 9am, as other cast members were late. This day was a long day of shooting, but for me filming went smoothly. We rehearsed the scene a few times before shooting, so that we know where we had to be which helped the overall shooting process much easier.
Overall, during the production process I think that my team worked quite well together, the director and producer were responsive to any emails that were received, and as a group I think for the most part a lot of us were prepared and ready.

Video Project - Escapism Pre-Production

Role - Actor

"The purpose of acting is, or should be, to deliver what the author has written to the audience who have paid - or switched on their TV - that night." (Scales P, & West T, 2005, page 41)

I chose the role of an actor because portraying characters different to myself whilst telling a story has always been an interest of mine.
For an actor, pre-production preparation requires auditions, script readings, rehearsals, character research, and so much more.
In order to prepare, I read through the designated scripts and imagined which character I could see myself potentially portraying. I gave myself options so that I am not limited when it came to the actual casting.
The first step to the casting was an audition and script read. First I went to audition for two roles in 'Escapism', and then for a role in 'The Substitute', however, I could most definitely see myself playing a character in 'Escapism'. Initially I wanted to play Kristine, but as I read through I gravitated more towards the villain 'Lily'.
During the audition, I explained why I wanted to be an actor for this particular script. The reason being, was that I believe that I am able to channel characters who have a subtle darkness about them, and I channel that through the use of Stanislavsky's naturalism technique.
The day after we were emailed by our director and producer with the final castings. I was given my desired role of the villain 'Lily'. Straight after this process we were onto rehearsals and line learning.
Below, Figure 1 shows a character breakdown for inspiration characterisation purposes that was created by my director to help give me an idea of exactly what makes my character the way she is.

Figure 1

Furthermore, I also watched a video from the link provided by my director in Figure 1. This piece of stimuli helped me to engage with my character and relate my character to other people in different films (See the link below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlcKuFPhL8k

Having watched this I think I was closer to understanding how insincere and manipulative the character that I will be portraying is.

As a task for the week, we were asked by our director to create character background stories in order for me to understand my character more and to know why my character does certain things. Having understood the concept of the play and being given a character breakdown, I expanded on that knowledge to create my own detailed character history (See Figure 2).

Figure 2

The following day, our director asked me to go in even more depth on how 'Lily Moors' met the host (another character). Therefore, I added extra information by picking out certain traits that I had already created for myself (my character, as seen in Figure 2).
I analysed the main themes of the script and ultimately what drives it, and applied this to my characters background. For instance, I noticed that the script evolves a lot around the ideas of technology, and being watched - a big brother. And with that in mind, I decided that my characters traits are a direct result of being interested in technology and the dark web; eventually getting involved in dark reality game shows.
Each day my other cast members and I would attend rehearsals for the scenes so that we were aware of what would be happening on the day in a similar way. To make my job easier as an actor, I would ensure that before each rehearsal I have learnt my lines for the particular scene that we would be rehearsing. This made my job easier and I imagine the directors too. Learning the majority of my lines beforehand let me get into character more, as I was able to focus more on actions, rather than the next piece of dialogue.
In addition to this, I marked up the entire script using the Stanislavsky's 'given circumstances' technique. My super objective in the script was ultimately to kill my fellow friends. The tactics that I (Lily Moors) would use to achieve that is by giving a false impression that I don't know what the outcome of the escape room will be, and I did this by being kind, innocent, yet manipulative. 
Other than knowing the script, using this technique helped me to understand why my character does certain things, and what she does to achieve that. Giving myself tactics for each line, gave me (the actor), reason for my actions. Furthermore, I also split the script into units. Sectioning scripts helped me to remember what particular scene I am doing; therefore helping me to remember my lines, as I knew the gist of the scene.
During the pre production process my classmates were struggling to find a place to film the library student scenes in, and considering that I live in student accommodation, I recommended a space to the group and showed them all photos. The director and producer liked what they had seen, and that same evening I took a few photos for the locations department to use for their own purposes. The director decided that the location that I had recommended will be used for our film. I also showed them a few photos of the library at my accommodation, and they agreed to use that too as it had a vintage, old feel towards it which would apparently be suitable for the film.
Also, in this rehearsal I imagined what type of clothing my character would wear. I knew exactly what I wanted her to wear and I had reasons for it. I imagined that because of my character's background (that I had created), she would want to reinvent herself from a tomboy type of girl to a girly girl. With that in knowledge, I wanted my character to wear heeled boots, a pink top (to represent her femininity and innocence, and a long black 'Professor Snape' like cape (to represent the bad side). I spoke this ideas with the head of costume and she agreed with the connections between my costume and my character's traits. With costume not having had a mood board created for my character, I sent a few pictures of my costume idea to the costume department for this project (See Figure 3).
The following day in our next rehearsal, the director asked me to imagine what animal my character would be. Having thought about it, I decided that Lily Moors would be either an owl, a cat, or a snake. However, having realised that the host (in the script) wears an owl ask, I wouldn't want to mimic that, therefore I decided that Lily would most likely be a cat. I chose a cat because they are sweet animals, however there has always been a myth that they're secretly evil (like my character).
Also, during this rehearsal I got feedback from the costume department, and was told that because two of the female characters are already wearing heeled boots for this, it wouldn't be ideal that I wore it too. I initially wanted to wear heeled boots as I acknowledged that in one scene my character fights with another character (who is much taller than me in height), therefore I wanted to level the height difference. To solve this problem, I ordered a pair of platformed shoes from online which would give me height, and not cause too much of an issue with filming (See Figure 4). These are the kind of things I thought of and took action into my own hands as an actor independently, that perhaps weren't already thought about by the costume department.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Bibliography:
Scales, P. and West, T. (2005) So You Want To Be An Actor?. London: Nick Hern Books Ltd.