Screen Test

This blog contains the screen test of actors that might be use for our music video, component 3. 

A screen test is used to help the director find the most suitable actor that would fit the criteria of the role. During the screen test, potential actors read and act out a line, the purpose of this is to see which person looks comfortable and natural on screen and whether they match the character's intended criteria.

For our project we decided to make two screen tests; one a screen test where potential female actors lip sync to a line from the song, we did this to see which from the candidates have the most confidence and whether they matched the intended vibe of the artist that we are looking for. 

Screen test #1 - Artist (Full Song)

Before we had the screen test, we already have an idea on what kind of actor that we want in a list which include: 

✔️ Is female, around 16-18 years old

✔️ Is confident and not camera-shy

✔️ Has charisma and star quality 

✔️ Will match the aesthetic we planned 

✔️ Is comfortable with love scenes that require close contact

Through this, it became clear that some participants appeared shy or uncomfortable in front of the camera, which would make filming more difficult. Although others were more confident, they did not convey the soft and emotional energy needed to match the tone of the song. 

After reviewing all candidates, we decided that actor #3, Kellie, was the most suitable, as she best matched the overall vision of the music video. From all the candidates in the screen test, Kellie stood out as she best matched our artist criteria, especially through her personality and performance. She was confident on camera and able to interpret the song in the way we had envisioned. Overall, Kellie had the qualities we were looking for, which is why we selected her as our final actor.

The other screen test was to find the artist's love interest. We created a screen test with potential male actors that could act as the artist's love interest and we asked each person to read out the line "Is this seat taken?" which is later used in the music video. This is to test who out of the candidates are the most suitable for the role. 

Screen test #2 - The Love Interest

After deciding our main star, we now had to decide the actor for her love interest.  We wanted someone that:

✔️ Is male, around 16-18 years old as well

✔️ Is confident and comfortable on camera

✔️ Is comfortable with love scenes that require close contact

✔️ Can act naturally/happily with Kellie

To select our love interest, we removed candidates who were appeared camera shy, as this would make the relationship feel unnatural. We also assessed how naturally they delivered their lines while maintaining a friendly and confident tone. After discussion, we chose actor #4, Karl, as he gave the strongest performance and best understood the scene. As he was already close with Kellie, this made their on-screen relationship feel more natural and reduced any awkwardness, allowing us to create a more realistic portrayal of the relationship.

 Reflection: Overall, creating the screen test was not too difficult, but it helped me understand how important casting is in making a believable music video. Since we didn’t have many people, everyone, including myself, had to try out for the main artist role by lip syncing the song. Even though it was fun, I realised it was actually quite hard to perform confidently while also showing the right emotions. It also showed how important chemistry between actors is to make the relationship feel natural.