Planning - Choosing the Cast

As a group we felt that casting was an important planning process that we needed to consider, as good acting would be needed to create verisimilitude and create a realistic attempt of a film trailer. The main roles we needed to cast would be the young and irresponsible mother, and the victim- her daughter. We found that casting was actually an extremely difficult process, as not only did we need people who were willing the feature, but were also available on the dates that we planned to film.

Young Mother Role:

Raffan was a potential cast member for the role of the Mother who looses her daughter. She is a drama student and has been in many plays and shows, demonstrating how her acting skills would be beneficial for us. However, as Raffan is only 16 we felt she may be too young to act as a Mother figure, and our trailer may not seem as genuine as it could be. We considered using both make-up and costume to create the idea that she was older than her actual age, however we thought this could incur higher costs.






We decided to cast Alissa as our Mother actor. Alissa is an A-Level drama student looking to pursue acting as a career, therefore we felt it would beneficial for both us and for her. Alissa will soon be 19, and we felt this would be the perfect age for our role, as there are many people who would have young children at this age. Alissa is also blonde and attractive, which in research I found were two main stereotypes for a victim, such as in the trailers for 'Before I go to Sleep' and 'Gone Girl'. However Alissa is committed therefore would be able to act as the determined, but vulnerable, Mother on the hunt for her missing daughter.

Daughter Role:

We immediately knew that finding a cast member for the daughter would be much harder, as they would parental permission and we would be likely to need to have their parent present on the filming day. Another important aspect would be finding someone who could be a convincing daughter of Alissa, looking like her as much as possible. We knew that filming with children would be difficult, so we decided that the less filming they needed to be in the better, and as the character is supposed to be missing this was appropriate! We wanted to find a endearing and likeable character, as during research I found that the victim in thriller films is normally a charming character, because a greater impact is created when they are hurt/missing etc. In my research I didn't come across many thriller films that involved children, as audiences may think the storyline would be simplified. However we believe that the use of a child as a victim could be a unique selling point of our film and would be something that could entice a wider range of audiences.

Amelia, a 5 year old girl was our initial idea. She is confident and being my family member, would be comfortable working with us. However, an issue was location as she does not live locally, therefore finding a time and location we could all access would have been extremely difficult. 

Trinity, a 5 year old sister of one of our group members was our final decision, as we felt with blonde hair she would match perfectly with our Mother actor - Alissa. She is a cute and likeable character, meaning that audiences are pitiful when she disappears, and therefore are desperate for her to be found - increasing anticipation and suspense.







We are also going to have a role for Alissa's mother/Trinity's Grandmother. She will be the figure who blames the disappearance on Alissa's young age and believes that she is responsible for loosing the child. This represents the view of many individuals in society who disagree with women having children at very young ages, but this will be contrasted with Alissa's severe desperation and dedication to finding her daughter. This will be a controversial topic, which could possibly bring increased public attention to our film/trailer.