Casting a Martin Scorsese film isn’t just about the look, it’s about the sound. If you listen to his movies, you’ll here that “the sound of his films is uniform,” says casting director Carolyn Pickman. She would know; she and Scorsese’s long time casting coordinator Ellen Lewis are responsible for the uniform sound you here in both The Departed and Shutter Island. “I need to know how his characters talk,” she says, so she can make that special sound happen in an audition, ensuring that all the roles she’s helping to cast are in that same Scorsese world. In the casting business since the 1980s, Carolyn Pickman has a well-trained ear and an understanding of the nuances of acting that has helped earn her work with everyone from Martin Scorsese to Ricky Gervais. An actor at heart, Pickman’s past has helped make her the sought-out casting director she is today.
— New England Film | Read The Full Article

Transcript below.

VIA: Letters of Note

Image via Heritage Auctions

Transcript

Dear Forry,

Thank you for your kind and very amusing note the other day.

Things are going very well over here in Burbank — the next RAIDERS movie is in full prep. and casting is insane — I need a monkey, a great kid and hundreds of fruit bats!!

And they said filmmaking was easy in college!!

Please start another movie mag. I grew up with you – now I want to grow old with you!

Best of everything,

(Signed, ‘Steven’)

STEVEN SPIELBERG

…The Casting session (actors call it “the audition”) can be a terrifying place for any actor. It takes a lot of guts to walk into a small, windowless room and have about 10 minutes to “show your stuff” in front of complete strangers – some of whom could make or break your career!

But it is just as tough for the Director as well! How can you decide, in less than 10 minutes, who is right for a particular
part? Because you never have enough time to work with the actors in a casting session, here are some casting guidelines
that will help you with the audition process.

— Action Cut Print| Read The Full Article

Watch the Pitch Black Trailer

Over the past 9 months, I’ve chronicled my experiences on my latest 23 minute short film “Pitch Black” here on FilmmakerIQ.com in the Pitch Black’s Short Film Group. We’ve had some very valuable discussions so when it came to time to create the webpage for the film, I had to include them on the site.

I have culminated the discussions from our FilmmakerIQ discussions into a narrative covering some of behind the scenes aspect of making this short film. To stay up to date with further news and information about the short film check out the Pitch Black Film Group.

Breakdown of "The Making of Pitch Black"

• The Auditioning Process
• The Shooting Schedule/Production
• The Canon 1D MkIV
• Teaser Cut
• Editing in the Dark Series Intro
• Editing in the Dark: Part 1 – The Interogation
• Editing in the Dark: Part 2 – See No Evil
• Editing in the Dark: Part 3 – Voyeur
• Editing in the Dark: Part 4 – Fun with a Baseball Bat
• Editing in the Dark: Part 5 – The Attack
• Editing in the Dark: Part 6 – The Final Showdown
• Composing the Music
• End Credit Composition

David O. Selznick’s memo regarding the casting of the Gone With the Wind:

…As to the casting of “Gone With The Wind”, I feel that new personalities are preferable – first, selfishly because of my belief the roles of Scarlett and Rhett will make stars for us; and second, from the standpoint of illusion created by the picture itself: wellknown personalities are liable to be identified with their previous roles, whereas a new personality will be accepted, provided they are sufficiently talented and properly cast as Scarlett and Rhett.

Appearing: Tallulah Bankhead, Susan Hayward, Margaret Tallichet, Frances Dee, Mary Ray, Lana Turner, Paulette Goddard, Anita Louise, Dorothy Jordan, Linda Watkins, Frances Fuller, Adrea Leeds, Jean Kent, Anne Shirley, Marsha Hunt, Mervlyn Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn, Joan Bennett, Jean Arthur, Hattie Noel, Hattie McDaniel, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, and Clark Gable.

Holding Auditions for Indie Filmmaking: Part 1 — powered by eHow.com

Holding Auditions for Indie Filmmaking: Part 2 — powered by eHow.com

Holding Auditions for Indie Filmmaking: Part 3 — powered by eHow.com

…The follow is a list of steps I’ve taken for each of the audition sessions I have held, which have all been successful and actors who have auditioned have commented on how smoothly it all went. Which is great, because that means they’re more comfortable and will give a better audition performance.

These aren’t necessarily in a 1,2,3 order, but, well, here they are:

1. Determine the role(s) you need to audition for (people who don’t work for these roles can be easily cast in lesser roles)

2. Select small segments from the script (usually around a page or so) that best embody the overall presence of the role(s) you’re trying to cast. These will be your ’sides’.. keep in mind that dialogue AND action is important, and you should have, if possible, another characters dialogue included on these that can be read with the auditioning actor.

— HV20.com | Read The Full Article

How to Cast a Micro-Budget Thriller – The best video clips are right here