Auditions for our music promo

We completed an audition process in order to decide who would be right for the main performer role in our music video. The singer is a young female, so naturally this is the type of person we held auditions for. Five people took part in the auditions, and with each one we took photographs of them with a guitar to see if they had the correct presence and image for the role. We then asked them to mime the chorus of the song for a screen test, meaning we could see how well they come across on camera. We could also see how confident they were for the role. Below is a video that shows the process:



Courtney

Courtney studies Performing Arts at A Level so has good experience with acting. She studies Media at A Level also so she understands the whole production process. However, we chose not to use her for our video because she did not show enough anger in her audition. She is a talented performer but would be more suited to a laid back character, rather than this aggressive performer.



Emma

Emma also takes both Performing Arts and Media so has the necessary skills for performing well in a music video. She also has some knowledge of playing the guitar, so in the parts when we would have to film this it would look convincing. She also has experience in various drama groups so can perform sufficiently. However Emma did not portray the singer in the way we envisioned; she put a lot of meaning into the words she was miming, looking quite upset. We were looking for someone to look aggressive and out of control.



Beth

Beth was the chosen performer after this audition process. She is another drama and media studies student, and she is in our group so it is very convenient that she would understand the type of performance we are looking for. She also plays the guitar so these scenes would be convincing. In her audition, she showed quite a fresh and sassy attitude and was very confident in her performance. This is the type of acting we are looking for so she will be used for the role.



Mia

Mia also studies drama and media and is another member of the group. She has been in performances before and appeared in the thriller video we created last year. However she does not have the experience with guitar that Beth does. She also looks too young for the part which should be someone in the late teens/early twenties. We had to ensure that the look of the performer was correct.



Jess

Jess studies Performing Arts, Media and Music at A level so has good skills and knowledge for the role. She too is in our group so would know what we were looking for. However it took multiple takes to get a good one because she struggled with the miming. We need someone who we can be sure can achieve a good performance for all shots. 



Feedback from audition process

We showed a number of people the clips of our five auditionees to get some feedback from them. We made sure that the people knew the idea for our video and about what type of promo we were trying to achieve. This meant that they would know what person would suit the video. We conducted a ‘Poll Everywhere’ to get feedback from the people on who they thought should be in the video and why.

Most of the people who responded said that they thought Beth would be the most suitable. One of the reasons for why she was chosen was that ‘she gave a confident performance’. This is a response that came up a few times, so obviously many people felt she stood out as a confident performer. This is a very important quality that we wanted for the performer of our video, because they would not hold back or be afraid to put a lot of energy into their performance. It also means that we can be time efficient because we do not have to spend time telling the performer what we want or how they should be putting more into it.

Another thing pointed out was that Beth had a lot of attitude in her audition. We definitely wanted the singer to be portrayed as quite a feisty character, not a pushover. She is angered at her relationship and wants to show it through the song. Beth really captured this feeling and the feedback shows us that it was clear.

A couple of people said that she was very convincing at miming the lyrics. While some of the auditionees may have got slightly out of time or forgotten the words, Beth managed to keep it going and looked very natural doing it. It will be useful to have someone who can keep up with it- not just for production but for editing purposes as well. It also shows that Beth will be committed and work hard because she is enthusiastic to learn the words and do a good job.

The feedback also showed that people thought Beth gave quite an engaging performance. She showed quite a lot of facial expressions and had strong eye contact which would keep the viewers interested. If we had a performer that was not engaging and did not demand the audience’s attention then the video would become a bit meaningless and unprofessional.