# data[].attributes.body
MONDAY
- MEETING OF CAST AND CREW ROLES (PERFORMER - FINN)

CAST LIST

IRIUM AS TAYLOR, JAMES AS MAX, DAISY AS CASEY, STACEY AS HARPER, LUCY AS OLIVE, PETRU AS MORGAN, WILL AS PROTESTER AND GEORGE AS NEWS READER

- CONTACT / MEDICAL FORMS

- LOOKBOOK PRESENTATION

- FIRST FULL READ THROUGH OF SCRIPT

- CHARACTER WORK
FINN
20 years old, intentionally falls asleep, in a relationship with Taylor, his feelings towards this new world is too much for him to handle, falls asleep so that he doesn't have to face these feelings he has, naive, sweet, playful, isn't ready to be a Dad just yet, confused, becomes ill towards the end of script, defensive.

This is Finn Aitken, he is a 20-year-oldCaucasianmale (born 24/6/1998 - Cancer) and is living in a theatre located in Manchester with a group of people whom he has found on his journey with his girlfriend, Taylor.

Finn grew up in Warkworth in Northumberland with his parents Ian and Jean and younger brother Jack, 15. The family were close as it was only them 4 together up in the North East. Sadly, Jeans parents had died before Finn and Jack were born leaving only Ian's family. Ian's parents emigrated to Australia when Finn was only 7 years old to join Finn's auntie's family over there. Of course, the family went over to visit every other year and spent their Christmases together because Ian was always brought up with a great love of Christmas.

Finn attended Warkingworth's primary school followed by Warkworth High for his secondary school. Finn was never into football or rugby but had a keen passion for cooking and baking and this is what he did a lot of with his mother and younger brother Jack.

Finn decided after school he would get an apprenticeship in a restaurant and fulfilling his career goal of becoming a chef. This is where he met Taylor. Taylor was passing through the town to visit family and stopped off in Finn's restaurant. The two cracked on straight away and then the rest was history. From the age of 16 the two texted and travelled across the country to see each other. A lot of their time was spent together in Liverpool and this is where they went on to live when Finn turned 19 and managed to secure a job at a restaurant in the town center.

Finn believes that if you tell God your plans, then God will laugh and therefore is carefree and lives in the moment. He enjoys spending time at work cooking for hundreds of people each day, but he also loves nothing more than coming home to his girlfriend and spending that right quality time together.

- Costume
reality world - 70's colour palette
fantasy world - 80's colour palette

TUESDAY

CHARACTER FACT FILE WITH DIRECTOR AND WRITER

SCENE BY SCENE WITH MOST OF CAST AND CREW MEMEBERS AS DAISY, LUCY AND KELSEY WERE MISSING

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND FACTS

CJ (director) wanted us to really delve into our characters today so she sat with us and Nathan (writer) and went through a fact file with us. Yesterday I posted a character bio so I will add all other information I have found out about Finn in this post.

Why is Finn asleep in the script? - He's asleep because the real world is too much for him to handle so he thought that going to sleep and being away from the pressures of the relationship in this post-apocalyptic would be best for him as it’s the easiest way to escape. He doesn't like this new world they have to live in because he was so career driven and liked having control of things whereas there's no control now.

Friendships within the group:
in the script Max is talking to Taylor about Finn not waking up because Taylor won't leave without Finn and Max wants to leave the theatre with Taylor. Max found his family asleep after getting home from a night shift and he waited for them to wake up... but they didn't. Max met Finn and Taylor prior to meeting the rest of the group at the theatre so there was a bond there before but now Finn is flat out asleep and not waking up he no longer cares about him therefore tries to get Taylor to leave.

Taylor is Finn's girlfriend and everything for them was so happy and going in the right direction. Now in this new world, Finn doesn't need Taylor as much as she needs him hence why Finn decides to fall asleep. Finn definitely feels the pressure from Taylor about her growing need of starting a family.

-Morgan wants to help the couple out by taking Taylor into Finn's nightmares so that he can reunite the pair. This is against Finn's will and knowing as he is asleep hiding away from all these pressures.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

·       6FT

·       12 Stone

·       Stocky

·       Blue / grey eyes

·       Brown hair

·       Chubby cheeks

Costume:

Loose blue jeans, tucked in camel colour t-shirt, green bomber jacket, black trainers for the real world – going with the 70’s vibes colours

(blue mustang, avocado and natural) spoke with Caitlin whose head of costume for this.

Fantasy world – tbc.

Ideas: pink pyjamas, pink eyeliner / bright eyeliner

How do others see me?

Finn would be seen as the heart of the group, always making light out of a situation even if things seemed to be getting to him / others around him. Cooked for everyone and made them feel at ease when they had supplies but as supplies started to run out couldn’t really do much cooking for the group.

When Finn falls asleep others may see him as a non-survivor in this dream world.

How I see myself? (START – FINISH)

Before the sleep world – Finn was a career driven young man, whose dream was to have his own restaurant one day and have his wife and kids work there with him too, a family-oriented person with a family-oriented business. Of course, he has the pressures from Taylor about wanting a family but in the back of his mind he does want one just not yet and doesn’t know how to explain this to Taylor because he loves her and doesn’t want to upset her especially when the pair are both still so young.

When Finn found out about this sleep world, he was laughing it off at first but as cases became more serious and closer to home (losing contact with his family through it) it was now his battle to keep Taylor and himself awake, therefore he sees himself as a fighter through part of this journey. Finn believes Taylor relies on him a lot which is true for the most part even though Taylor is a strong leader throughout this script – so Finn feels he needs to keep up this alpha male stereotype by having his girlfriend rely on him even though he’s not the manliest of men.

Finn does end up going to sleep because like I’ve stated all the pressures and not feeling comfortable 6 months down the line in this new sleep world, so yes he does see himself as giving up, but there isn’t much hope for him in the real world because he can’t cook, he doesn’t want to have a family yet OR bring up a child in this bad world because babies need their sleep therefore they would lose their child to the sleep anyway.

When discussing the script, we thought of a nice idea that Finn had been asleep for 3 days and has a better understanding of this dream world so that when Morgan brings Taylor into his nightmare, Finn is the one who turns out the light on Morgan when he is leading Taylor to him. Because Finn doesn’t want to wake up, he wanted to get rid of the person whom brought Taylor to him as now he is trapped with her in the nightmare world with her.

Finns Motto:

If you can’t see it, you’re looking in the wrong place.

Finns secret that no other characters know about him:

His mother’s parents died when he was younger, and it was because Jean’s dad fell asleep at the wheel driving back from the airport after they’d all been to Australia for their family Christmas with Ian’s side of the family.

Nobody knows I’m:

Not actually able to have children

CJ asked us to think of performance techniques and where out centre of energy is:

The Heart

The Head – Finn – thinker – thought about going into a forever sleep

The Gut

7 levels of tension:

Throughout most of the script I’m level 1, but within different scenes I work my way up to number 6 so I’m going to have to show this throughout the film but not overdo it and make it look unnatural with the help of the director for this because I welcome as much positive and constructive feedback as possible.

WEDNESDAY

When developing our characters, we did a hot seating task where the director asked us (in character) different questions. These were quick fire questions that helped the director and us understand more and more little things about our character that we probably wouldn’t usually think of. I liked doing this exercise as it helped us develop the character more and made me think like Finn would.

We did another hot seating session where we had 30 seconds to speak in character to a video log, because this was quick on the spot thinking I made up a story about Finn not having enough supplies left to cook for the rest of the group therefore he was starting to think what’s the point in even being here anymore because he can’t do what he loves most – cook!

We then went on with some frantic assembly games, again in character so that CJ could really push the characters feelings out of us – this for me was fun in the fact I was thinking like Finn would however it didn’t feel very useful to me because throughout most of the script Finn is asleep and when he is awake / in the nightmares / flashbacks he only ever speaks to Taylor.

We then did a group mediation and were asked to think about the theatre that the film is set in. CJ wanted to know what we could hear, see, touch, taste and smell. I thought that hearing was the best sense for me because it allowed me to feel the space of the theatre and listen to all the surrounding noises. I imagined that I could hear birds in the roof perhaps nesting and I could also hear the Gameboy music being played very faintly. Of course, this would all be if Finn was awake during the script so it’s interesting to understand more about Finn’s character before he went to sleep.

THURSDAY

This morning the cast did some warm up games with CJ before we went onto doing technical rehearsals with the equipment.

The warm up games were to get us focused and the energy in the room right for beginning to rehearse. One of the warm up games which stood out for me was the cast in a circle and walking to each other whilst projecting one of our lines to one another. It was a good way of getting lines into our head as well as being able to get to know everyone’s character names when we walked their way.

The rest of the day then continued with the technical rehearsals which a lot of it I wasn’t involved so I thought this would be the best time for me to learn more of my lines.

FRIDAY

For the last day of pre-production, we really tied down the last of the technical rehearsals. In this case it was Tasha and Stanka filming / lighting the bedroom scene with Finn and Taylor. This was great fun because we as actors got a feel of how the shoot would run on the day and great practice for Tasha as DOP.

The afternoon we spoke about the schedule for next week because we are starting to film next week. It is now just a waiting game for the schedule to be released over the weekend and see when I am needed. I will thoroughly learn my lines this weekend and get myself more into character by using some of the techniques CJ has passed onto us and looking into the relationships more within the script.

# data[].attributes.body
TUESDAY
Call time today was 9am for shooting the scene between Irium and myself. This was the scene where Taylor records herself smacking whipped cream off Finn when he's taking a nap at 3pm.
We rehearsed the scenes a couple of times without the cream so that the DOP and Irium could get a feel for how the camera was going to be handled and the best angles they could work with.
Once again, Finn was asleep throughout this scene until he is hit with the cream and wakes up in a panic followed by roars of laughter with Taylor.
It was fun to film this scene as I had the ability to actually do something rather than just laying on the floor and it allows me to show Finn's character off a bit more.

On the afternoon Caitlin did my make-up ready to take the family photo in which we see in the bedroom nightmare scene. This is the scene we had set up for rehearsal from 12-3 in the TV studio in the New Adelphi building. The rehearsal process for this scene was great because it again allowed us to get a feel of what will happen when we shoot it next week. It was also good for Irium and myself to get more comfortable with each other as we have to lay in bed together so whilst everything was getting set up we actual just spoke about anything and everything.

THURSDAY
This morning was an early call time for a full day of filming in Hemsley House which we are using for the green room scenes. This room was gorgeous and so grand. I thoroughly enjoyed filming today (again Finn was asleep for the whole thing). I had to lay down on the floor with blankets and pillows around me whilst Irium and the rest of the gang in the theatre said their goodbye's to Taylor (Irium) before she entered into Finn's nightmare to bring him back to the real world.
We finished earlier than expected today which is always a good thing and we found out that the money Hemsley House asked for to rent the room is going to be donated to charity!!

For next week (still awaiting the schedule) I only have 2 or 3 things left to film, so over the weekend when I'm home from work I will continue to develop my character and keep practicing my lines so they are fully down for next week's filming.

# data[].attributes.body
TUESDAY
today we shot the actual nightmare scene in which Finn wakes up to discover that Taylor and himself have a child.
This was the scene which we rehearsed last week in the TV acting studio at university.
I felt today went well but also went very quick so when it came down to actual recording the scene and not rehearsing it we had to get the takes done quite quickly. This did not effect my performance as it's not an extremely long scene but towards the end I was beginning to get uncomfortable laying down on hard mats and became tired due to a lot of panic acting.

WEDNESDAY
This afternoon it was time to film the final scene between Finn, Morgan and Taylor.
I was looking forward to filming this scene as Caitlin (costume/make-up) and myself had discussed a really great costume for Finn because the final scene was also part of the nightmare. She had me a blue boiler suit rolled up accompanied with my white air force trainers and blue/red belt to pull the piece together.

Today I was once again asleep in the scene so I just had to be present on camera whilst I was waiting for Taylor to come and wake me up.
This scene was quite an emotional one so I really needed focus on set today which was hard when the director had sent me a new script about 4 hours before shooting. Now, the script may have only changed very slightly which is a positive but it did mess with my performance because I was cautious not to say the old lines whilst recording the scene. Irium and myself thought that the change of script should have been told to us earlier because even she was a little muddled up with her lines during rehearsals.
The scene did not take very long to film at all and the crew even managed to get some different shots of Finn waking up, Taylor trying to wake him and a close up on my eyes opening.

# data[].attributes.body
Being a part of a futuristic, dystopian and apocalyptic film, which is Immortalus Somnum thrives in my mind with creativity, precise thought and availability to play. When I found out that I had been selected to work on this film and had been given a rough draft of the script I immediately knew that my ideal role for this would be to act in it. There was something about the script which I believed in and felt excited to be a part of it and watch it come to life.

The interview process for me was nerve-wracking at first however soon turned into one of the most comfortable environments I had been in amongst my peers. The Producer and Director of this film made me feel at ease whilst going through this process and spoke about the roles in which I had put myself down for. It was between the crew role of Locations Manager / props and set dressing alongside the cast role of Actor. During the interview after speaking with them about locations we spoke about my other option of props / set dressing however the Producer knew that I had transferable skills from previous modules in the location department and wanted me more so for that role. Furthering on with the interview after I did my audition part for the role of Finn, it was clear to me that the Producer was keen for me to act in Immortalus Somnum as well as the Director. I felt genuinely happy with the audition process and knew that either way, Locations or Acting I would be happy with the outcome. My understanding after the audition would be that I would be acting because I really moved the Producer and made him quite emotional in just a short little audition which made me feel proud of myself for being so invested in a script that we will soon be bringing to life on screen.

Reading the script again in closer detail got me thinking that I would be getting cast as Finn which then began to make me panic because throughout most of the script Finn is asleep and my mind kept telling me that this is a very small role with hardly any dialogue. A reminder of Constantin Stanislavski crossed my mind “there are no small roles, only small actors” (Stanislavsky and Benedetti, 2008). Remembering this put my mind at ease and focused me onto bringing out the best in myself during the performance.

When I found out that I had been cast as Finn I was delighted with the outcome and the fact, I am going to be acting in the first of two films for this final module.

Starting production week one I knew was going to be intense, long and draining but all worthwhile to create this film in such a short amount of time. My aims for production week were getting to grips with my character, who is he, where does he live, how has he got to this point of his life and where has he been previously? I needed to know the inside and outside of Finn in a week before we begin filming. Not a lot of given circumstances were given with the character bio’s so as an Actor I really did have free range on what I wanted for my character. A lot of information just came from mind mapping things or influenced by watching different things on TV, be it adverts or soaps that just gave me inspiration to put into making up a character. Ballon wrote “Remember, powerful character development needs to come from inside so that your audience connects to them.” (Ballon, 2005. Pg. 134) reinforcing the idea of anything giving me inspiration to just write ideas down and mind map things into creating Finn to the character he became.

My focus of creating Finn was so precise and detailed throughout production week because I wanted to make sure that my acting would be worthy when it came to film. As well as learning my own character the rest of the cast and crew needed to get to know the characters. Working with the other cast and getting scenes up on their feet with the Director was a rewarding process because it did get me to know the other characters and their behaviour so that I could develop on my own character and his feelings towards the other characters and explore the relationships within the group.

As well as working with the cast I worked closely with the crew, especially the costume, hair and make-up department because we had these brilliant visions from the Director that we developed on and came up with outfits, make up ideas and colour palettes for the characters. When working with Caitlin we spoke about the work relationship and how important it is to be able to communicate with the actors / art team, Musgrove wrote that “It is important to be able to build up a good relationship with artists.” (Musgrove. 2003. Pg. 176). Actors and the art team are just as important to each other and need to be able to have a good working dynamic which I feel throughout this film has been built. I thought that some of my own ideas helped out with the role of costume because I had a lot of clothes that would work with what she wanted for me and we bounced ideas back and forth till we came up with the final costume and make-up looks. I hope that Caitlin and myself made a strong choice of outfits for Finn’s character because she and I did spend a lot of time together getting to know Finn’s character.

Some problems that occurred for me during production week is not all cast members turning up or having half days therefore for me I felt as though my relationships were better and I understood certain characters more so than others. As well as this another slight issue which I thought could have been handled better would be sometimes a lot of cast and crew would just be sat about chatting, including myself, due to not been giving enough direction on what we needed to do because of the Director dipping in and out of rehearsals for other commitments. Now of course for myself to improve this in future I would definitely sort out things to do such more character development, line learning and getting to know the other characters more by asking them questions from their characters point of view.

Following pre-production week, it was now our first week of filming. To break down the week I was called in on Tuesday 5thMarch to film scenes 2a, and 8 and Thursday 7thMarch to film scenes 2, 9 and 14. So a total of 2 out of 5 days for filming. This meant during the first week of filming I had plenty of time to continue to develop my character and learn my lines.

Scenes 2a and 8 were rehearsal scenes for the following week and test shots so that the DOP could work out the shots she needed and all of us could get a general idea of how things would go for when the actual filming would take place. Scene 2a was a very playful scene and it gave Irium who is playing Taylor and myself the chance to get comfortable together on camera and rehearse what the Director wanted. During the rehearsal I feel that I contributed 100% of my efforts and attention – this meaning turning up early so I was on time and being engaged and listening to the Directors guidance throughout, working as a tight team getting the job done correctly but still being able to have fun with it. We ended up actually filming this scene because Tasha the DOP has brought in the camera, we needed to film this on, which was excellent because it meant that we could rehearse and have fun then really clamp down and get it filmed straight away.

In scene 8 we had lots to work with and it was mainly working out how the camera would be moving around the room giving us all an understanding on where we needed to be on set, when we would be on camera and allowing the team to develop a detailed plan for when it came to shooting. On set when the Director and DOP were working together with lighting and sound, Irium and myself spoke about our characters and the relationship between us. From the rehearsal process in pre-production we needed the relationship to come across real on screen. We spoke a lot about where the pair had been previously, how they met, why they were with the rest of the cast members and various other topics that meant we truly understood each other’s characters. I am pleased with how Irium and myself have worked together so far and developing the relationship further because in this film Taylor is the only person that Finn actually speaks too in the flashback scenes and the very end scene as Finn is asleep throughout the rest of the scenes so does not get chance to interact with any other characters.

After the rehearsals had finished on Tuesday it was time to master the art of being asleep on camera without looking dead because come Thursdays shoot, I was going to be asleep throughout the whole shooting time. I worked with the Director on this whose guidance was excellent. On camera, chest movements could be slightly exaggerated so that the movement of breathing could be clearly seen, slight eye flutters or face movements to appear as though I was in a dream like state and also slight movements of my hands / head but nothing over the top otherwise it would look false on camera, which sometimes we did have to cut on Thursday’s shoot because it did end up looking false. If I were to improve on this at least now I know that it is just very slight movements that are needed so I would not overdo it and thus meaning less cuts having to be made.

Ending week one of filming honestly flew over. I am shocked at how quick it has gone and although I have only been in for two days there was always work going on outside of being on set. Filling in my logs on padlet and preparing lines for the second week of filming so that everything would run smoothly on my side of things when we were on set because I did not want to let anyone down by not knowing my lines or having no clue on what my character would do in the situations he is going to face.
Moving into week two of filming we began with filming Finn’s nightmare scene. This was on Tuesday 12thMarch and my call time was for late afternoon. I was first for costume and make up therefore again showing up on time was such an importance for today so that we had the full amount of time to film. During filming today there was a lot more intensive rehearsal, so that when it came to actually be filming the scene, we did not have a great deal of time. This however did not hinder my performance; I believe it made me push myself to the utmost of my best work so that with the short amount of time we had we could get it done.

My only struggle with today was feeling uncomfortable laying down on the mats we used for a bed. I did not want to complain about this though because it did not matter in the grand scheme of things, I could rest my back when leaving the set.

Following onto the next day it was time to shoot the final scene of the film between Irium, Petru and myself. This is the scene in which Taylor and Morgan enter Finn’s nightmare.

A lot of emotional preparation had to go into this scene from myself. I wanted to tap into my emotional memory of fear from a loved one – and portray this to the audience watching so they would question their own memory of anything similar to get them invested in this last scene before ending the film. I began to research into some reading on emotional memory to rehearse before doing this scene. Once again it comes back to Stanislavski for me on using emotion memory. In An Actor Prepares Stanislavski writes “your emotion memory can bring back feelings you have already experienced” (Stanislavski. 2008. Pg. 145). Having to get back into this emotion memory was tough and not a very nice thing to deal with at the time but if it means that it will give me a stronger performance then this is what it takes. The aim for this scene is to leave the audience guessing what happens next. This is again a whole team process down to the camera work, acting work and editing work for the big cliff-hanger.

After the shoot I remember feeling exhausted from working hard but hopefully this will come across as a strong performance on camera. The issues which occurred today was a script change which we got 2 to 3 hours before shooting. Now although this was only a slight change in the script Irium and myself kept getting confused with the other lines and had no time to rehearse the new lines together which I felt hindered both crew (timing wise) and also my first few takes of this because I was thinking of the lines too much until I believe the last 2 takes when I just completely went into focus mode and finished the scene off. After this, the crew quickly decided to get some filler shots to use for the edit which was fine as we finished ahead of schedule anyway meaning the work had all payed off. This was also my last day of filming – so the best day to be exhausted after shoot.

My aims for going into this film really was to focus on the character work for when I was awake during the scenes because I want to make an impact on the audience so that they remember who Finn is and that he does not just fade into the background with being asleep most of the time. I wanted to be professional throughout the film making process and I believe that this has been the module I have focused the most in by researching into my role, thoroughly developing my character and going to old places of thought that allow me to bring to the screen.

As I was not in for a lot of shooting days, I was unsure of what was really happening during the other scenes because I wasn’t called to set so I only knew what was happening via reading the script throughout the filming process. After watching the film back, from reading the main synopsis of the film and the initial draft script the whole process of 3 weeks pre and then 2 weeks of post a thoroughly engaging film has been created. Hard work and determination have been put into every aspect of this film.

My only wish for improvements to myself would have been just having an extra scene or something so that I feel as though I could have been in during the filming process more.

This module has tested me with some limits that I was not sure if I could get to again, but I wanted to for the sake of creating art with my peers. I have developed not only as an actor but as a person while in the process of this. I have taken on so much information in such a short space of time and seen how much work needs to go into things for them to turn out pleasingly.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

-       Ballon, R.F. & NetLibrary, Inc, 2005. Blueprint for screenwriting a complete writer's guide to story structure and character developmentRev., Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

-       Musgrove, J., 2003. Make-up, hair and costume for film and television, Oxford: Focal.

-       Stanislavski, C. (2008). An actor prepares. London: Methuen Drama.

-       Stanislavsky, K. and Benedetti, J. (2008). An actor's work. New York: Routledge.