Recounted below are the highs and lows of finding Bengali actors and how we went about trying to find them.

Directing at auditions (dear god!)

Finding actors

All I remember was fear. The first time I thought about doing a film mainly in Bengali, I thought that it may be an impossible task. All the immigrants that come to Australia from Bangladesh are busy building their lives, surviving, persisting. You just don’t hear of a Bengali who is a professional actor.

But during the countless hours that I’ve now spent travelling the length and breadth of Sydney, from down in Minto to out west in Blacktown, I’ve seen people who are absolutely in love with performing and the arts. And even under the stresses of immigration and survival they still keep alive their deep cultural traditions. I’ve seen why Bengali cities like Kolkata and Dhaka were the intellectual capitals of the sub-continent.

We used a number of different methods to find actors. 

1. The most useful was using the personal networks of both myself, and a casting advisor Golam Mustafa who is very well connected in the Bengali world. Aish Nidhi also helped quite a bit. I went along and met people and they knew other people and I followed the chain down from there. (70-75% of actors came from this method)
2. We advertised on Bengali websites. We got perhaps 20-25% of our actors through here.
3. We advertised in the largest Bengali paper (10%)
4. For the child we contacted the 6 or 7 Bengali schools that are spread across Sydney and got recommendations from the teachers. We saw about 10 kids.

Casting

Casting is one of the most overlooked parts of making a short film. But a bad decision made in casting has difficult repercussions down the road. It increases the work load tremendously.

I think most directors hurry through casting and take the first best options because they can’t really tell what they really want or what to look for in an actor. I think this because I didn’t really know what I was looking for going into the auditions.

I had made some guesses: physical fit; intelligence and understanding of the story and character; acting ability and experience, commitment, directability etc. But how do you see all this in the very short time you have in an audition?

So I tried to meet the actors before the auditions. Since the actors aren’t professionals, this method was a really good way to build trust as well and traverse the network. At the initial talk, you can gauge the actors commitment, intelligence, physical fit, and their experience if they have any.

Then we had general auditions at Newtown Community Centre, where we saw about 15 actors for the part of Monir and Beena. That night we also drove out to Blacktown and other places to audition actors in their homes or have invited them to my house to audition there. Out of all of that I had 2 good options for Monir, and  good options for Beena. We already had what I thought was a pretty good option for Rajun already.

Call Backs

We then organised a call back for the family to see how they would work together. This is when shit got weird! One of the actors that we’d really liked for the role of Monir called me at six just before I was leaving for a dinner. He apologised profusely but said that he was in a very difficult position. One of the actors in his play that he was directing had quit and now he himself would have to play the role which was being performed in late July. But things didn’t seem right. To cut a long story short, there were some issues at home for him which made it difficult to act in the film. To say I was disappointed and disoriented by the reversal would be understating it. We now had to look at other Monirs. I didn’t really want to go back to the actors that we’d already seen, so we restarted our search. 

Thankfully it seems like we’ve found a new Monir who is going to be great.

Casting Call Structure

The structure of the casting was mainly based around a two hander that I had written out that could be done in multiple ways. This short dialogue was used to check the actors range and his choices. We then moved onto some improvisational work with a couple of scenes. I was really interested to see if the actor could take directions and effective change their performance. Whether they had a natural, realistic style that didn’t look like acting. I use action oriented verbs mainly as direction but depending on the actor’s request talked about motivations a little although most of the pieces were contextless on purpose.

Recording Auditions

We’d taped all the auditions on a Canon 7D and the tapes have been really helpful in really studying a performance in depth and comparing an actors development through multiple takes. It’s also been handy in comparing actors. We’ve also tried to have the camera in close and move around the actors and it has simulated a canvas for the performance which gets closer to the film we are going to make in the end.

We’ve also been using the video clips and carefully showing the actors their performances so that they can have an understanding of what it is that we are trying to correct. I think they’ve been surprised by how much the camera picks up and how little they have to ‘act’.

Rejections

We made sure that we called back the actors who weren’t selected and thanked them for their performance. It is always a process of giving as an actor and it’s something that I respect deeply. Everyone was quite gracious even when they weren’t selected. A key goal for me, and through me for others, is to create a community that I can make films with in the future. That’s certainly something that’s happening.

Rehearsals

We’ve only just really begun rehearsals and as up till now we have been acting out scenes, and parts of the script, it was our first chance to discuss the characters and the meanings behind the story.

The actors that we have so far were quite insightful about the characters and had a deep understanding of who the characters were. There were things that the actors had thought of, and backgrounds that they provided that I hadn’t. But none of it conflicts significantly with what I’ve been thinking so it’s been a pleasurable act of fleshing out the story rather than reconfiguring it fundamentally.

One thing that we are finding is that the dialogue doesn’t always work. Especially with Rajun it often feels unnatural and forced. This is one the great things about having the number of rehearsals that we do have. It gives us a chance to make dialog that feels more real, fits more nicely with what really would be said. I’m really looking forward to the process.

Further on translations. Golam Mostafa has translated the dialog of the script to Bangla for the actors with multiple options for certain lines for us to choose from. We’ve been having a hard time getting the Bangla text into Final Draft but soon we should have a combined script for everyone.

I’ve also written up notes on directions for every actor for every scene in the film. These are initial instructions that we will build on throughout the rehearsals. I’ve been trying really hard to direct with simple active verbs and trying to get the actors to ‘think’ or ‘act’ as little as possible. The actors really just has to be as the character. This is easier said than done and I find myself sometimes giving emotional explanations for things which often get us an over-exaggerated reactions.

What I’ve also found myself doing is really concentrating on the blocking and making sure that the actors have things to do and concentrate on. This often results in a far better performance because the actor again is preoccupied with being rather than with acting. There is much progress left to make but we are definitely heading in the right direction.

As to particulars, we will be rehearsing two times a week from next week to the shoot dates at the end of July for about 3 hours at a time. I wish we could do more, and as we get closer to the date we may do more.

The Best Part

What has been most surprising is just how much I enjoy working with actors. It’s so lovely to see someone give up so much of themselves and transform themselves in to someone else. I can barely keep myself from smiling at the transfiguration. It’s also great to see actors adjust and refine their performance and see them reacting well to direction. This is a such an exciting journey. I really can’t imagine doing anything better than this.

• actors
• auditions
• rehearsals

Posted 1 year ago

At the heart of Omission is an immigrant Bengali family who have no one other than each other. Each is utterly reliant on the other, for income, for comfort, and for hope of a better future. Their characters have been moulded by the social norms of another country and are now put under immense stress in having to adjust to a new home.

Monir

Is a wiry middle aged immigrant from Bangladesh. He is the paternalistic but loving father of Rajun, and Veena’s husband. He strongly feels the obligations of being the traditional head of the family. He is under immense pressure and works as an office cleaner during the day and as a taxi driver at night. Although usually reserved, he has a very quick temper, which unpredictably devolves into frightening rage. The contradiction in his character rests on his love and desire to protect his family, and his wild anger and fear of not having control. He is also confronted by the conflict between his inner moral norms and values, and those of the western world that he has immigrated to.

Rajun

Is a mischievous, adventurous 9 year old boy who is the son of Monir and Veena. He is afraid of and antagonistic towards his autocratic father and is confused by the strict obedience that is expected of him at home and the opportunities and freedoms that are offered to him outside. He is curious and tests the boundaries of what he can get away with. He feels that he has little protection at home as his mother is equally infantilised by custom.

Veena

Is Monir’s wife and Rajun’s mother. She is a conservative but loving wife who is incapable of protecting her son because of her traditional role in the family and lack of power. She tends to the house, loves Rajun deeply and helps her husband in his cleaning jobs. She attempts to stop the violence but also accepts the beatings that her child suffers as a cultural norm, a right of the father.

Minor Characters

Boy who is a school friend of Rajun. Anglo-Australian.

Older Boy who watches the Boy playing video games. Early teenage years.

Clerk who sells Rajun sporting goods. 20s. Caucasian.

Driver who drives taxi before Monir. Bangladeshi. Middle-aged. 

Attractive Girl who passes Monir’s taxi. Early 20s. Caucasian.

Girl 1, Girl 2, Girl 3 who have been out clubbing. 17-20. Mix of Causcaian and Asian.

Man in suit who catches Monir’s taxi. 30s-40s. Caucasian.

• characters
• actors
• monir
• rajun
• veena

Posted 1 year ago