DOCUMENTARY UNIT: PRESENTER DROP OUT & CASTING CALL ADVERT

Liam Alexandru, who was signed on as our presenter had to drop out of our documentary because he was offered paid work which was more beneficial for him. So, because of this we had to go forward and find a new presenter. Since none of us knew anyone who would suitable. I went onto Casting Call Pro and sent out an advert for a Presenter.

Since this project is a lot different than our last 2 projects I felt I had to explain this. We needed someone as a genuine person, not as an actor. We need someone that the audience can connect to and someone who is confident on camera. Gender isn't important as either Male or Female would work for the Documentary. In the advert I also explained that the applicants must have a full and clean driving licence and a valid UK Passport in order to work on the Documentary. We also explained that they must be completely free for all the production dates which I listed as the dates we intend to film.
I put in the description that we wanted someone energetic and most importantly, interested in the topic. If someone is just doing this for the sake of experience it wouldn't be as effective. I wanted a Presenter who has a real interested in the topic so we get that in the documentary presentation as well.

Since we can't afford to pay the Presenter, we had to think of what we could offer the applicant since this project involves giving up 8-10 days of filming which would mean the applicant giving up 10 days of potential paid work. We agreed that we would have to cover travel expenses and food as well as playing for their plane ticket and hotel while in Berlin. As well as giving them a copy of the documentary once it has been finished for their showreel. This is unfortunately, all we can offer the applicants but as well we will have to find a way to get the money to pay for all of this as well.

Once the advert went up, we ended up having 16 applications for the role. 4 of which were sent in from an agency, had no show reel and also no cover letter. For this reason and time restrictions we wrote this off and unsuitable straight away. We looked through the remaining 12 applicants and judged them on their Showreel's and CV's. A lot of these were unsuitable due to the acting being pour and also their cover letters not being very impressive. Everyone we seemed to get kept explaining how good of an actor they were but not if they had a passion or an interest in the topic.

Three applicants that stood out to us. Kamran Vahabi, Olivia Haart and Freddie Wintrip. Firstly, because they're all young and appealing, you could imagine seeing them on TV but at the same time go for a drink or night out, they look like they could be students or just ordanary people. As well, all three had really impressive cover letters. They're all interested by this topic but as well, none of them had Showreels which meant we couldn't see them on camera.

I sent out an email to them and asked them to give a short introduction to the documentary and record it over their phone, but as a test I only sent them the synopsis. I wanted to see them put on the spot as this could be the case with the documentary. My aim from this was to see how they all were on camera as well as being put on the spot with a PTC or quick fire question.

Our aim interest out of the three was Kamran as he is not only a Historian Graduate, but also studied under one of the worlds leading experts in the Holocaust so he clearly does have both an interest and a good knowledge about this area in history.

The applicants got back to me with their show tapes. Freddie, although an experienced actor, just wasn't interesting to watch. He was very simple and slow reading and didn't give any passion or energy into this introduction. Although the topic isn't 'happy' we still need energy and to make the audience see the interest in the presenter to help follow the documentary. For this reason, we declined Freddie.

Olivia's tape was really impressive. She's very confident and gave real passion for what she was talking about. When watching her introduction I could see the interest but also I was interested in what was to come, she pulled the audience in and gave you something to look forward to.

Kamran's tape was also impressive. Kamran broke down the synopsis we gave him and used it almost like a script but improvised and made a real opening to the documentary. Kamran also emailed ahead and told us that he can book off all of the production dates from work so he would be 100% committed to the documentary, after this it was an obvious choice and we got in contact with Kamran and agreed on him as our final presenter.