Auditions - LW, LR, End of Year Films - Unit 8

Little Women Auditions

Tuesday 25th April - Jo and Laurie Duologue

Today was the day we had the little women auditions and I was 6th on the list with Jess, as I was auditioning with her doing a duologue for Jo and Laurie. We practiced through it in the green screen room hoping to get past the awkwardness. When we went into the room it wasn't too awkward as we had already got past the awkward stage the main problem was me staying consistent with the accent which in the end wasn't a problem. At first when we went into the room we had the usual of asking us why we went for this character, I replied with "I've never really seen myself wanting to do something this classical so I felt like it would be an added challenge for me and really push me out of my comfort zone to try something new." We had also got tasked to write a monologue for the audition as well which we had the option of choosing if we wanted to do the monologue first or the scene first, we decided to do the scene first. If I was to do it again I would do it differently and do my monologue first as it takes place right before the scene when Laurie is at college, he then returns and that's when our scene takes place. At first I was a little nervous but I brought myself to a calm and ready state as Jess started with the paragraph that Jo says so it gave me chance to ready myself to walk on. I remembered from previous lessons to keep the posture of the gentleman but also remember that Laurie still needs to show that he is in love with Jo. So when it was my chance to say my line I walked into the middle with my back straight and shoulders up with both hands behind my back. When I approached Jo that's when I let Laurie become more calm around her and sort of break down that gentleman posture but also show that I can keep it. I messed up my third line which I asked if we could restart since I stumbled trying to say it as it was an awkward line and I forgot one of the words, muddling it all up. After that I had a quick glance on my phone at the line as Jess started doing Jo's paragraph again. This time Jess had messed up since I ruined the continuity of it at the start so we restarted again and this time it went smoothly towards the end, when again I forgot one word in a line but kept powering through as it was a good run to this point. I also felt that I made Laurie too angry towards Jo, even though he gets annoyed at her and does get angry I think I portrayed it as his anger was more aggressive and shouted more than actually showing annoyance because he does love her hes just hurt from being told she won't marry him. After we had done the duologue, Jess went first for her monologue which I stayed in the room for and clapped for her once she had finished, her monologue was based on Jo writing a play which was a good concept to go off of, then it was my turn for my monologue. I based my monologue on Laurie being at college and did it in a style of a letter. Also basing it on him actually feeling like he has a complete family again since meeting the March family, since after all his parents did die. I also based it on him professing sort of some feelings towards Jo (but not making it too obvious as he does ask her to marry him and professes all his love for her when he returns) by directing it towards her saying "To my dear Jo" and always naming her but then referring to the others as just the March sisters or Marmee. 

I feel like if I could have a second chance to do this I would do things a lot differently, I would definitely have spent some more time on my monologue as I felt it was a bit rushed and I didn't have a full clear understanding of what direction I wanted to take it so I repeated the concept a lot of the time. For my first monologue I am happy with it, but I now know what to expect and how to correctly take it into the direction I want. I also felt as thought it was a bit short as again I ran out of ideas and so it sounded like I was repeating so I just had to find a way to end it as I didn't want it to be me just saying the same thing but worded differently every time. I also think I got the style of the writing as there were words in the monologue that I felt were appropriate for that time era and got across how much Laurie does love Jo. I just felt like I made him a little bit self obsessed over her. I would also be more prepared when it comes to the lines as there were the two occurrences where I did mess up the continuity of it when it was going well which also led to Jess messing up the beginning of her line the second run through. With Laurie as well I could of made him more hurt and not angry towards Jo at the end as again I decided to shout at her instead of being more annoyed that she won't take his hand in marriage. So overall, I think the audition went well, but there are just some bits that I would do different to fully understand the character and have it flow more fluently. 

Tuesday 25th April - Amy and Laurie

For this I partnered up with Emily H, we decided to run through it in green screen room as it was a different audition piece. I disliked the piece we were given cause I didn't know how to exactly how to portray Laurie in this scene because it mentions hes angry but he's also not angry, but hes also drunk but it is never portrayed as that. So when I went into the room I was honest and said I didn't like it because its very weird how Laurie is portrayed in the scene. At first I played it a little annoyed and angry but I got told to calm it down and play it more like I love her. I got told to tone down the anger as he isn't angry hes just upset. There's also a line where I mention that "I could never get angry at you Amy" which I got told by Kelly that should be the line where I show the most affection then I should start teasing her back and enjoying what she is saying. So when I got to that line I stood up and grabbed Emily's hands and kept eye contact but had my back to Kelly so she wasn't able to see it. 

If I was to do this again I think I would try and spend some more time digging into the scene and fully understand what it is Laurie and Amy are both trying to get across to one another. So that I will be ready and would be able to give it the best of my ability as I can then show how the character is actually feeling. 

Last Resort Auditions

For last resort I was struggling with who to audition for there is a lot of characters in the script that are funny and I think would be fun to play. I decided to audition for one the boys so I told the two directors Elliott and Geoffrey who put together a table of times and people that would be auditioning. For the boys I was paired with Mark, Jamie and Henry. I had been giving the role of Darren to audition for but since it was last second we went into the audition room with scripts since we didn't get a chance to rehearse due to the directors having to find the people to fill in. On the day of auditions I had been asked if I would also want to consider going for the role of someone in the killjoy family since they hadn't had anyone put there name down for one of the roles. 

Thursday 27th April

Today came auditions for last resort which I was excited for but also not since I wasn't prepared with line learning as at the same time I was learning the Laurie and Jo duologue and last resort auditions were sort of last second when getting made due to them having to find what role someone would suit well auditioning for. When the time came for my audition with Mark, Henry and Jamie we all made our way to the film room where Elliott and Geoffrey were waiting. They had told us it was ok that we were still on script because nearly everyone was. When the audition started and we had the music queue us for an intro we had to improvise we all already felt sort of no connection between us as the roles since this was the first time we had ran through this as an actual group but we decided to take it on as a challenge and see how well we could do this. There was part of the scene where Jamie's character is away from the group but chatting to some lass but since we hadn't read it properly me, Mark and Henry still thought he was in eye shot of us, so we started reacting to what he was saying and what as happening between them both and it sort of took away from the moment as we were being a bit over the top with some of the gestures. When we had finished we had got told we had a done a good job and asked us to get a the next group, we had spoke among ourselves and even though we bought some laughs to it we didn't feel the connection from the start. 

My next audition later in the day was for he Killjoy family where I was auditioning for the role of Damien, I was in the audition with Kiera and Emily H. At first I didnt like Damiens lines I felt he was too much like younger Kobi from old times and I couldn't figure out how to portray him at all as he was described from the directors as being 'chavvy' but all of his lines didn't feel the style of a 'chav' and it felt unnatural to how he was described. Since we didn't have anyone for the dad one of the directors read in for us, we couldn't really act the scene out since the one we were doing where there in the car we didn't have enough chairs to use at the mean time, so we relied on expressing with voice and some body language. I got told afterwards if I would also like to try Wayne (who is the dad of the family). I think I made him a bit too aggressive to everyone since he gets annoyed a lot by his kids but I definitely went over the top when there were parts that I should of toned the angryness down. After wards again we had just got told goodjob as they didn't want to give too much away with casting since they already had roles certified in mind after watching there auditions. 

Thursday 25th May

Due to Aiden dropping out as one the surfers, they needed someone to fill in that they could think of that would learn the lines in time for the show, I put my name forward and no one else did but to keep it fair they still held an audition in case anyone else came forward and wanted to try it with Alan and Henry who were the other confirmed surfers. The role I was auditioning for was Fraser who out the three seemed like the more energetic but stupid type. Again when going into the audition just like the boys they started off with the music that has us enter on with which I had Aiden help me learn what he did for the character. When reading the first few lines I had the accent on point (I got told by the directors) there only concern was I was a tiny bit too much like Henry's character 'Matt' which they said we could work on to make Fraser his own character. I also had to practice the surf board segment where we do a choreographed piece of blocking to the music where we wobble on the surfboards like were going to fall off and then when the beat drops we wobble on the other side. I also had to learn a slow motion walk for when we bring the surfboards out as they wanted to make sure whoever was auditioning was learning all the blocking since it would in the long run. 

Weight of the World Film Audition

Thursday 20th April

I didn't get much chance to prepare for this audition as they wanted to put us on the spot and see how we would take the challenge. At first when receiving the message saying that we were doing it today and that they had the audition scripts with them, I was very nervous. I went to the film room where they were going to be holding the auditions and handed us the script and gave us five minutes to go have a read through and come in when we were ready. I was auditioning for the role of Mike Schwipps, who is a zany lawyer in a colourful suit who helps Doug with the trouble he is in. The reason I had chosen this role was because he was pitched as an over the top character with a lot of comedy elements and it felt like a role I could really get behind and have some fun being. When I had a little read through I went into the film room and auditioned it with Aiden who was going to be Doug as when reading through the script, the scene we were given felt more like a chemistry duologue between them both. At first I just went fast as I could reading it but then I asked if I could do it again and go slower and actually think of why this character would say this as the nerves were kicking in. After doing it again I got a round of applause and some advice, Kenz had wanted me to leave the room read through it again but try with a rough Teessider accent. When reading through it I found it extremely difficult to do that accent as most of the lines that he was saying is something that we would never say, it seemed more american as some of the lines said 'you my friend are screwed as a pooch' and 'if you were a dog you would be in deep shih tzu'. When I went into the room to try again no matter how many times I said it the American accent would just keep coming back so I was asked if I wanted to switch roles with Aiden and try and be Doug, at first I was confused but decided to give it a shot and take on the challenge. After going through it and being told that me and Aiden bounce off each other really well and that I have a sort of voice they would associate with Doug, they asked me if I would improvise a sort of mini dance scene pretending I'm waking up all the campers in a happy mood. I had to start it off with a power slide which I got counted down for on the beat of the song, at first I clammed up and had to restart a couple of times as I felt ridiculous but as soon as I had a little breather and composed myself I went ahead and got straight into the character and I could feel myself walking down that hallway banging on the doors waking them up. Elliott then came in after my improvised scene to do a duologue with me as Doug to see the chemistry between both Doug and Ralphie as they would spend the most time together so it was essential there had to some chemistry. I got asked how I would envision the scene at first I wanted to try it with me putting my hand on Elliott's shoulder and delivering my line but I felt that was too cheery for what was actually going on. So I decided to do it with Doug sat down on a chair and give the line with a bit of a more sad emotion as Doug was supposed to be at his lowest. Afterwards, we both got another round of applause then they said they would let us know in the next couple of days the casting list and a little advice for me was to slow down and just delve deep into what the character is actually saying. 

Turnips, Tweeds and Tractors

The audition for this film was to do a self tape. I was asked if I would consider doing the audition as they thought I would be a good Archie, so I inevitably said yes. For, this I was also asked if I could do a Yorkshire accent and if not they said not to worry as they're looking more at the acting of how I would react to get winded. I did about 5 takes because I kept losing the accent half way through saying my lines and I wasn't happy to how I was reacting because I felt like I kept going over the top with it. 

Redherring

This audition was also another self tape and I was auditioning for the role of the detective. I could tell this was going to be a challenge for me as when the idea was pitched to us the detective was described as someone with having schizophrenia, which relates to why he can hear the inanimate objects like the hat or the tie talk to him. So going into the audition I knew that this was a very serious role that if done correctly could be amazing, I decided to want to take on that challenge as I wanted to try something serious. When giving the audition piece I was asked to wear a hat in the self tape since the scene is how I would react to finding one the clues and the hat talking to me. It took me a couple of tries to sort of get a feel of how I think the detective would react, when reading the information I was giving for them as well, I saw them as sort of rough and sense of confusion and lost with reality.