Actors featuring in our thriller

The character of Ray was played by Tom Battell. We chose Tom to feature due to firstly his size, he is a tall broad boy for a seventeen year old and looks much more mature than his age. Therefore as the tension-builder or the possible villain (in the audience's eyes) we were aware that his size would help, and be emphasised by low-angled shots, a scary, intimaidating persona. Yet there are aspects of Tom's features which are likely to portray him not as a wholly dangerous man - which is the desired affect, we wanted to portray him as a lovable husband also and it is his Femme Fatale of a wife Scarlett that has lead him to follow and kill her. This is shown firstly in the photograph of the couple happily smiling together, the audience should understand that their relationship is not filled with hate and this man perhaps wants to regain what he has lost (his wifes affection). The removal of the wedding ring should be a strong implication that Scarlett is having an affair, matched with the lipstick appliance and dressing up, we hope that this will become apparent to the audience. Therefore Ray is not the villian of our piece. Tom Battell's curly hair and dimpled cheeks present a lovable, sweet aspect to the character of Ray that we needed to portray this, in order to put across a certain aspect of likablility if you will. Tom Battell is also a good friend of mine therefore I was aware that I could rely on him to be at our locations when he said that he would be and that he would give a good performance (as I have seen him act before). Tom was also very comfortable with us and therefore was able to work with us well when it came to shooting and he was very happy to do so, working with a pleasant actor made the filming aspect a lot easier. Tom was also about the same size as my dad therefore when it came to costume and props, we were able to easily get ahold of vital clothing which Tom did not possess which fitted him with ease.
The character of Scarlett was played by me. We done this due to the difficulty finding a female actress, also as I am very comfortable acting in general we knew that we wouldn't have many limitations if this was done. Also since it was towards my own thriller I was erged to be there on time, to have my costume and props and give a good performance - probably more so than if we had gotten another actress to take part. Yet this meant that my ability to film particular scenes was limited, though when I was off screen and we needed singular shots of Tom I was able to film shots and direct.