Leo: (protagonist)
We had to represent a young girl, who almost subverts some stereotypical representations of a typical "girly" teenager, portraying a rough edge to her. We tried to portray an element of rebelliousness and a loss of innocence almost as she enters the real world which was part of the narrative of our production. Thus Leo's appearance was vital to reflect her situation and realism of the character. The actor had to fit the requirement of being 16-19 years old.
Her style would connote a rough teenage edge (see Costumes Research). We were considering a member of our group but we decided on a drama student and our friend Katie Crossland, as our acting abilities would not be as good as hers and that would let the film down and destroy the viewer's belief in the reality our film is seeking to create. To me, Katie was more than for this role, she could effectively convey the characters emotions and relate to Leo.
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Alex: His face would not be revealed adding enigma to our film, enticing the audience to watch the rest of the film. To keep the element of mysteriousness and not reveal his face, in our shots we chose and frames we would make sure that his face is never shown by the camera focusing on his body or for instance his hand while he collides with Leo. His style would be simple and casual. Later on, he is represented as the support or hero as the male protagonist. Therefore we conformed to these stereotypes when searching for the Alex. Ollie Parkinson (a friend of one of our group members) played the role of Alex. Ollie was also the appropriate age to be paired with Leo so he was appropriate. Since Alex's role is small and did not require much acting only his presence at the end of the film we did found it easy to select a friend for this role.
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In particular the most significant element for the actors research, we wanted our protagonists to appeal to our target audience, (teenagers) who prefer to watch films with their own age range and a narrative that appeals to them.
