PRIMARY CONTACT
Magda Olchawska
Magda is a scriptwriter, film director and sometimes a producer. She
graduated from the London College of Communication with a
Foundation Degree in Arts and started a film production company
called Mayan Films. Magda enjoys writing books and short film
stories inbetween productions. She has made several films that
have been screened at festivals around the world, written a few
screenplays and children books. Her children books are used by
several charities in third world countries to teach kids how to read.
As Magda has professional experience in writing screenplays I
emailed her to see if she could give me some advice and tips on
my script. She emailed me back very promptly and was keen to help.
Her first bit of advice she gave me was to get my script copyrighted
especially if I'm sending it to people, so that my idea and script
doesn't get stolen. I did this straight away. However with her busy
schedule she is only able to give me proper feedback on my script.
Chloe Cox
I have secured the role of three-year-old Millie. Chloe is going to play
the part, she is also three-years-old and has the right sweet nature that Millie has.
She has only got a small role at the start and end of the film, so as she hasn't
done any professional acting before this should be okay.
I have put casting calls out for the other roles on Star Now and Casting Call Pro.I was surprised and please with the amount of people appyling to be in my film. As I have had a lot of people apply I am going to do auditions on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th November. Here are the people I have shortlisted-
Leah
Harriet Layhe Hannah Firth Louisa Connolly- Burnham Charlotte Howley Kirsty Terry Frankie Payne
Johnny
Leo Bidewell
Mother
Deborah Clitheroe Mia Mcliam Nikki Davis Claire Ashton Caroline Holmes
I also put out an advert for professionals to add to my crew on Shooting People. Here are the thinks to look at the work of the cinematographer and sound recordist I chosen-
Cinematographer
Haridas Stewart- http://www.haridasstewart.com/
Haridas Stewart is a Northern Irish born Director of Photography. Educated to a high standard of analogue photography, he brought ten years of photography experience to moving image were he quickly got picked up by Norwegian Director Andre Rettedal to shoot the feature film “Four Hours”. Since then he has shot three more feature films with various directors including Edward Evers-Swindell, with whom he shot his most recent feature film “Dark Signal” as Second Unit DP.
His appreciation of intense colours and photographic framing has made him a go-to cinematographer for many UK directors. “His patience and ability to work with everyone allows the film making process to be truly collaborative”, Benjamin Ferguson, 1st AD on “Four Hours”.
I want to meet with Haridas before we shoot to go through vision and work closely on storyboarding so we understand eachother, get inspiration from eachother and get a better understanding from what we both want to achieve for the film. I want the film to have lots of slow, smooth moving shots that are very cinematic and focus on certain things using shallow depth of focus that will add to the story and make the audience think.
Sound Recordist
Siddharth Dubey- thesoundbuff.com/
Born in 1988 to Indian parents Rajesh and Bina Dubey, Siddharth spent most of his childhood studying and traveling all over India. His father was an officer in the Indian Army and would relocate every few years. Siddharth studied physics, chemistry, mathematics and computer science as his core subjects in his senior year at school and later graduated as a Computer Engineer majoring in Software Programming. After this, Siddharth jumped right into the film industry with his relocation to Mumbai, India to follow his passion for sound. He took up internships at various studios before landing a job at a reputed sound post-production studio in Mumbai. Siddharth quickly advanced his skill-set in the next few years and went on to work as a Sound Editor on Bollywood titles like Ram-Leela (2013), Aashiqui 2 (2013), Ragini MMS 2 (2014), Heropanti (2014) and also the first Dolby Atmos title in India, Sholay 3D (2014). He has completed his Master's degree in Sound Design for Film & Television from Bournemouth University, England and is now working on a variety of titles worldwide. In the past, Siddharth has produced electronic music, worked as a disk jockey and later as a boom op/production sound mixer for film school students. His interests include traveling, trekking, photography, hunting for unique/new/fresh sounds and listening to his favorite tunes.
Siddharth has so much passion for sound and is able to produce high quality professional sound too. He has a good show reel and is also keen to edit the sound on my film as well. I am going to keep in close contact with him so that we can share our ideas and have a clear understanding of how the final film should sound and how that sound will add to the story.
I shortlisted these actors because I feel they have the right look for the characters. For example Leah is quite shy and hides her emotions. However at the end the emotions build up and she can’t keep in hidden any longer. For the character even though she will look quite timid I want the actor to be able to portray the frustration through her eyes. I feel Louisa Connolly- Burnham has this certain look that will portray this well. I wanted the ones I shortlisted to have lots of previous experience in films and ideally have done professional work too. Charlotte Howley was a tricky one for me as in each picture she looked quite different. I thought if I audition her anyway this will help me see how she will portray Leah and if it matches my vision. Leo Bidewell has had lots of good experience and I messaged him as I saw a short film he had previously done called ‘L-Note’. I thought he acted very well and through emotion brought the character’s hardship to life. He was keen to audition and I look forward to see how he brings Johnny to life too. The mother role is quite small but I wanted to still have someone who had experience. Even though the role is small the last scene in the script is tense and brings the deciding moment to what is going to happen. I want the mother actor to be able to add to the suspense and use her experience to add more depth to the character. Claire Ashton has the most experience in professional work including having roles in Mr Selfridge, Eastenders, Midsomer Murders and more. However I want to give all my shortlisted a chance as they may surprise me and it is hard to judge what they would bring to the characters in my film without actually meeting them. When I do the auditions I want them to tell me how they see the characters and share their inspiration and creativity for the character. I want to be able to work closely with the chosen actor and be open to any suggestions. That is why I want to keep the script quite open and make changes on the day as certain things said in the script that might be different when said on set.
