Rikhel Trivedi

Screen Test Notes

For my A2 Media Studies project portfolio I tend to direct and
produce a five minutes short film. The scenes included the
short film will all help represent the protagonist in a way I
plan to. These scenes would be able to send a message across
to the audience and this will help attract audiences from
different markets. The five minute short film would need to
demonstrate the struggle and pain which the protagonist is
experiencing. My short film would reflect how the disability
impacts a life heavily. With my aim being able to portray to
the audience how tough and hard it is when having a
disability. I would need to demonstrate how the protagonists
(Daniel) life changes after being paralyzed and disabled.
Our production wanted to make the film realistic to real
lives; by trying to achieve this goal as a group we had seen
how other directors of drama films portrayed their characters.
My idea happens to be inspired by Fault in the Stars (2014),
Theory of Everything (2014) and The Last Memory (2013). I had
used similar techniques in which the directors had used such
as to make the actor show how hard it is to use a wheelchair
without any assistance. Also I had used similar ideas from The
Fault in Our Stars (2014) by using the method of showing how
the protagonists life had changed after she had found out her
illness.
In order for my key frames to tell the audience a story
successfully, I would have to find good actors and actresses
who have the ability to connect with the audience well. After
thinking of my idea how am I going to show it, I had created a
script for my five minute short film. For my idea, I would
need to find an individual who can correctly demonstrate a
disabled persons daily struggle. The main requirement which I
am highly expecting from the candidates is how they can
portray struggle in front of a camera. Also, I am expecting
the individuals to use their facial expressions and hand
gestures as this would help narrate the story to the audience.
The entire short film would not have any dialogue so there
wouldnt be any lines to be delivered however I will be
looking for candidates with clear voices just in case I would
use them for the voice over.
Brief outline of Daniel:
Daniel happens to be rebellious arrogant. Although he lives
with foster parents, he is still a spontaneous person. With
him having a rough time and choosing the wrong path, Daniel is
a just confused person who sadly has nobody there for
guidance. Daniel is commonly known for his bad behavior and
mischief. With his life being not according to plan it has led
to him being miserable inside. Until, one day, as Daniel

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participating in a crime event everything goes horribly bad
for him. This had led to Daniel being a victim of a car
accident; this had resulted with Daniel becoming physical
paralyzed from lower waist. With being under hospital care and
having plenty operations it had led to all of Daniels friends
and foster parents leaving him behind moving on with their own
life. Daniel now has nobody looking out for him, living in a
small council flat with having checkups every week and with
taking pills everyday has made his life boring and misery.
Brief out of happy couple:
Both the male and female are aged 19 and are both in the same
university. With both of them living happy lives and with
going out with each other for just over a year it has led to
them to feel better physically and mentally. With having a
strong relationship it has allowed themselves to be proud of
the item they are. The couple in which I am looking for to be
in my short film must be able to have good body language and
good facial expressions. Not only this they must be able to
feel comfortable with each other making sure it isnt awkward
when filming. Although, the female of the relationships
happens to be someone who Daniel once knew very well and she
had happily moved on with finding someone who makes her happy.
The following extracts are from my script in which I had
created. I had chosen this extract for the auditions for the
protagonist for my film. This extract is where Daniel is on
the wheel chair and is about to enter the bathroom.
I had
chosen this extract as the extract is one of the main key
scenes of my entire short film, therefore the actors must be
able to do this scene the best they can in order for the
ending to be a success.
------------Several hours later, DANIEL is at the train station
underground and stares towards the wall with his eyes wide
opened. DANIEL turns his head left and looks at the train
lights. DANIEL then closes his eyes for the last time.
DANIEL
(WHISPERS)
I guess this is it; at least I can live a happy life.
----------Here below are fellow candidates and their character profiles
that had taken part of the audition and had used this
monologue.

Rikhel Trivedi
Actor 1
Name: Shajid Ahmed
Age: 18
Height: 58
Features: Dark skin, Black Hair, Brown Eyes
Character Profile on Daniel Actor 1: Shajid
Ahmed
After seeing the actor perform in the audition, I was able to
identify how the actor had used his facial expressions to
deliver his dialogue. The audition allowed me to witness the
potential in which this candidate had. The actor had a good
posture for the role however; it had felt that he was
uncomfortable with being watched by an audience. To make the
entire audition feel more like I was filming, I had placed the
camera next to me. This had been a great way to find out the
candidates true potential as when filming they would be in
front of camera throughout the film. With this candidate, I
had felt that the performance was not great to my standard as
I was looking for an actor who was not afraid to perform in
front of an audience as well as a camera. The candidate did
make a few mistakes during the performance. For example, when
the protagonist is meant to close his eyes and say his last
words the candidate had closed his eyes in a pace which made
the scene look fake and the voice projections were poor.
Having the candidate make the last scene seem unrealistic it
had put me off as this is one of the key scenes in
which would attract the audience.
Actor 2
Name: Tanvir Rahman
Age: 17
Height: 56
Features: Brown Skin, Black Hair, Muscular figure
Character Profile on Daniel Actor 2:
After witnessing the previous performance I had become more
lenient and had decided that I wouldnt come up with a final
answer before the performance had finished. This actor had
performed in a manner in which I was even surprised. The actor
had shown a significant amount of courage and had been
enthusiastic in preforming. From this point I knew that this
candidate would be highly considered of getting the role of
the protagonist. As the performance continued the actor had
not shown any bad signs whilst reading the dialogue. In the
scene where Daniel opens his eyes slowly and stares at the
wall and speaks, the actor had performed this scene well even
though there was no wall or anything in front of him, the
actor had still made it believable. The actors voice had been
perfectly synchronized with his body movement and facial
expressions. The actor had a good use of facial expressions as
he had delivered his dialogue in a way that would make the
audience feel sorry for the protagonist. With the performance

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coming to an end, the candidate had been good for the role
however his physical aspects of his figure such as his height
had been quite a problem for me to decide. With the
candidates height being 56, I didnt know if the audience
would believe that he is a young adult who is alone on a
wheelchair.
Actor 3
Name: Jonathan Gardner
Age: 18
Height: 57
Features: Caucasian, Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes
Character Profile on Daniel Actor 3:
This candidate was surprisingly different from all the
performances I had witnessed audition day. This candidate had
begun reading the script without being asked and in a short
period of time he had told me that he was ready. As knowing
the candidate from the same sixth form, I had never thought of
Jonathan as a confident actor. With the candidate ready to
perform, it had seemed that he was prepared and highly
confident of his capabilities and performance. With the
candidate performing the final scene in such as emotional
manner, I had known from here he had potential for my short
film becoming a success. This is mainly due to extra dialogue
he had added and improvised after performing the last scene,
this had given me an idea on what to add on to my script which
was useful. The candidate had shown great use of facial
expressions and was able to show some tears during the
performance. The candidate had surprised me as he had
delivered the script and some additional dialogue perfectly
and had shown good use of facial expressions. Also the actor
was not afraid to perform in front of a camera which shown he
was confident in performing.
I personally think that this
candidate would be suitable for the role as I believe he would
be able to connect with the audience well. The candidates
height did play a good part of considering him as with him
being 57 tall he had been easily placed in the centre of the
frame of the camera.
Actor 4
Name: Jeevan Nandra
Age: 19
Height: 58
Features: Brown Skin, Black Hair, Facial Hair
Character
Nandra

Profile

on

Doctor

Actor

4:

Jeevan

For my short film I had required an actor to play the doctor.

As much as I thought that this character role didnt have much
part for my short film it still needed an actor which could

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perform the character movements. This candidate had been the
first candidate who had volunteered to play this role. This
candidate tended to be well dressed and did look older than
his actual age. With the character just having a small part I
had just made the candidates preforms the same monologue as
the other candidates had done for this role. With the actor
delivering his lines correctly it helped to create an
atmosphere where the audience would be able to hear the lines
from a far distance. Not only this, the actor had correctly
used his body language to demonstrate his emotions and
feelings at that point. With this being said, I strongly
consider this actor equal to the other candidate who have
taken part fort this role, however, the candidate had clearly
stated that he would only like a small role which required no
dialogue. Sadly, this candidate tended to have potential to be
the main protagonist of the five minute short film, although
the chances of this candidate being the doctor of the short
film is high. After his audition I had spoken to the candidate
whether if he was sure he didnt want to put his name forward
for role. Also, I had handed him a lab coat to give myself a
clear idea on how he would look like when filming. To be
honest his skin color and his style of hair had played a great
deal to make his character seem more professional. With my
short film following the stereotype of doctors being brown
skinned it had been fortunate that I had found an actor who
meets the stereotypical requirements for the character.
Actor 5
Name: Hassan Shahid
Age: 17
Height: 56
Features: Brown Skin, Black Hair, Facial Hair
Character Profile on Doctor Actor 5: Hassan
With knowing Hassan for quite a long time, I had believed that
Hassan would be an excellent candidate for this particular
role. I had politely invited Hassan to the auditions; I had
happily given him a copy of the monologue so he would be
prepared. When the auditions came and his turn came one, I had
watched him introduce himself to the camera and had given a
friendly welcome. At this point, I would need to forget that
Hassan is a friend of mine and to start analyzing him as a
candidate. With this candidate performing I had looked the way
he delivered his lines as well watched the use of body
language and gestures. Although, his monologue was not perfect
and this had been due to him stuttering being nervous. This
had not given anyone a good impression on him delivering
lines. However, this candidate had shown a great amount of
useful body language and gestures. This had surprised me as I
personally never expected Hassan to perform this well. I had
briefly looked at the script and had saw that no dialogue is
required for the Doctors role. By looking how there is no
dialogue which will be used for the final product, I had

Rikhel Trivedi
understood that the candidate wouldnt need to say anything.
The candidate would just need to perform the same amount of
body language and gestures. I had chosen this candidate for
the doctors role as I had believed that this candidate would
help make the short film look realistic.

Actor 6 and Actress 1

Names: Manjayan and Donilla
Ages: 17
Height: 56 & 55
Features: Dark Skinned, Black
Brown eyes

Hair,

When deciding the couple scene in my five minute short film, I

had planned the actions and dialogues and it had happens to be
that personally I do not know anybody who is willing to act as
a couple for me. Therefore, I had searched for real life
couples who tend to be happy and could act of course. When the
candidates had attended the audition I had no monologue ready
to hand to them, as a change I had just requested if they act
a scene where they have just saw each other after a long time.
This had resulted with the male and female both using good use
of eye contact and facial expressions. With their audition
being very easy it had meant that they would need to convince
me that they are a couple without using any physical contact.
This came to be the couple having a normal conversation on how
they had met. This had convinced me that the candidates knew
how to inform the people around that they are a couple.
Actor 7
Name: Abdullah Sharif
Age: 32
Height: 511
Features: Brown Skin, Grown man, Bushy Hair
Character Profile on Shop Keeper Actor 4:
For this role, I didnt want to make such a fuss about who I
wanted or what qualities they would bring. The ideal person
for this role was someone who looks like they have experienced
a good amount of time as a shop keeper. The requirements were
small therefore; I didnt advertise this characters role as
much as the other roles such as Daniels or the Doctors. With
having this candidate playing the role as a shop keeper it had
allowed our production to look realistic as not all short
films include someone who looks like a current worker for
store. The shop keeper would just need to demonstrate his
anger on the protagonist. This candidate had performed the
following monologue and it seems to have gone well as he had
delivered his lines and his gestures seem to be well for this
particular role. Without considering any other candidates for

Rikhel Trivedi
this role, I had decided to go with this candidate as I
believe that this role doesnt require a high amount of effort
however, they would still need to work at a certain standard.