Read-through Feedback
The day arrived for Kate and I to finally have a chance to introduce ourselves to our cast and see them rehearse for our production directly. All in all, the read-through was very beneficial - we got to see what our cast felt of the production whilst at the same time receive feedback on the script to see what they would change about our idea.
What did we do?
The day begun by simply reading through the script: refreshing our actors with the story and for me altering dialogue to make it more suited for the actors - making sure that it stays natural.
We then decided to block out complex scenes in terms of the amount of action or to show our actors how we want the scene to work. Here, we went through two key scenes: the first scene was the lengthy party scene where Chantelle confronts Maddie. However, due to some of the cast not being available to make the read-through, we could only cover certain parts of the scene. However, this proved to be very helpful: Kate directed the actors to make the dialogue seem more effective, and I made most of the time and decided to do a test shoot, attempting to see whether all the shots and sizes work. (For more information on the test shoot, check out my 'Major Project: Test Shoot' post. We also went over some interview scenes in terms of the setup so that we can be prepared for our shoot dates.
After breaking for lunch, we then returned back to go over any questions and feedback with the cast, before asking the actors to sign consent and liability forms. This all interlinked with going over our budget - as we are paying our cast for travel expenses, Kate and I noted down our cast's bank details so that we can transfer money over for travel expenses. We then went over our shoot dates, explaining which scenes are for which day, and making sure that our cast are free for the days when they are needed.
To end the day, we decided to do something fun and filmed sections for our behind the scenes package. This included interviews with the cast to introduce themselves, which will soon be edited and then uploaded to our social media sites to help promote our project.
Talking Head Progress
Below is a montage video of all of the interview test shoots which we done. I have purposely positioned these interviews so that they match the same camera sizes and angles which I've chosen in the test shoot. Despite not being at the actual location, this proved beneficial as now I'll be able to quickly prepare for these interviews on our test shoots, helping to save time.
As well as this, whilst watching these interviews back, I can gain a clear perspective on how our actors interpret the dialogue. There are a couple of moments within these interviews where the dialogue has been adapted to their style slightly. For example:
- Emma initially praising Chantelle's audition, showing that she finds her intimidating
- John acknowledging that he's "messed up" with choosing Chantelle as the lead role
- John changing tone and seeming embarrassed when he tells his mother he loves her
- Saying 'Alcohol Anonymous' instead of 'Actors Anonymous' during Alex's first interview
(explained in the feedback below)
- Initially understanding that Alex is very patronising and ironic from the way she looks at Giles
during his interview.
- Understanding Alex's passion for theatre when she talks about them deserving the time off.
Therefore, practising these interview's will now enable me to alter the script so it seems more natural for our actors.
Feedback & Changes
Throughout the day, I noted down potential changes and improvements which I can make to the script. These changes are:
- Adding a section of giving Jordan a Peter Pan costume. Here we decided it would be funny if Chantelle bought her boyfriend Jordan a costume which is a little bit too small for him - making it a tight and funny fit. Here for the rehearsals after the party, Chantelle could force him to wear the costume - where he is the only person wearing one. So all in all, he would look funny because his costume's too small, be the only one wearing the costume, and to top it off, be hungover and not in the mood to be laughed at.
- Giving Jordan a brief interview, as he doesn't have one where he speaks and where we get to see him one-on-one. This could go well with the costume idea: he could be interviewed after to see what he thinks about the costume, and perhaps even talk a bit about his relationship with Chantelle.
- Stylising Seth's hair to make him more suited as Jordan. Unfortunately, Seth (our actor for Jordan) is currently growing his hair long due to having an acting Job in 'Hamlet' forthcoming. So, we are planning on giving Seth a top knot hair cut style - tying his hair into a knot on the top of his head, as this is much more suited for Jordan's character.
- Whilst on costume design, we also asked Paul to keep his moustache instead of being clean shaven. This too is to make him more suited for the character of John.
- Joking at the start by saying that "AA" is 'Alcohol Anonymous.' Here we discussed that it could be funny if Alex acts sad and depressed and says that shes from alcohol anonymous, before correcting herself and saying that it is 'Actors Anonymous.'
- Emphasis on the final scene. Here I wanted to make it clearer that when Alex mentions about paying the damage for the microphone that she seems concerned due to the AmDram having a lack of money.
- Minor dialogue changes to suit the actors, and slight alteration of the narrative in a couple of scenes. For example, after acting out the party scene (Scene 28), I've changed Alex to slam the bottle of the wine after she talks to Maddie about her ex, rather than before. This is mainly because it seemed much more suited to do this throughout rehearsals.
Conclusion
All in all, Kate and I are very pleased with our first read-through. We have now planned a second meeting which will commence this Thursday (4th February) where we are now expecting all of our cast to turn up. We also recorded the whole of the meeting to enable us to look back and make sure that we've noted down. I will also be editing the footage to send to the rest of the cast who were unavailable to make the read-through.
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