UPDATE: Casting Grimm

After an unexpected unavailability of Jonathan Oslar, the replacement for Grimm, we now need an immediate actor for Grimm.

The only conclusion and easy way to do this without being time-consuming was to cast myself.

I am 6 foot, giving an intimidating presence in height.

I will always be available.

In terms of filming, I will film all shots which Grimm is not in shot. Then when Grimm is needed in shot, Jade will film all those shots.

UPDATE: New Location Recce

The picture of the house you can see is now the new location for REAPER.

Family members who are now the actors offered their house as a location after I pitched the the film to them.

This was a massive asset due to improving the location for our film.

The main reasons for the location swap;

• massive house.
• middle of nowhere.
• lots of mysterious objects around.
• lots of rooms.
• lots of space to hide/run/chase etc.
• makes it easier for our actors.

The pictures above show all the rooms we are going to use to film at the moment.

They should hopefully give an idea of the size of the house, which hopefully will create that isolated feel.

UPDATE: Casting Grimm

After the change of narrative, we then had to cast three new characters.

When we auditioned the volunteers, we casted the current actor who was playing Grimm.

We felt Rupert suited this role better.

We now look to re cast Grimm.

We appointed  Jonathan Oslar due to his appearance being broad creating an intimidating look.

Rupert Grace - Auditions

Andy Norgate

Andy Norgate was the first candidate for the role of Rupert Grace, the dad. 

He was perfect age to be the dad of the two children and also confident.

He does not have any experience which unfortunately showed.

His availability isn't great and is difficult to for him to get to the new filming location in Farnham.

He will not be casted.

Ray Lewis

Ray Lewis was very good and extremely comfortable in his audition. 

However, he was just a tad to old than we wanted to be for Seb and Zola's dad.

He was enthusiastic, however, not available when needed as well as being restricted to get to the filming location.

He will not be casted.

Rupert Hollin

Rupert is currently casted to play the role of Grimm.

However, he shined in the audition to play Rupert Grace.

His experience in university short films was exactly what we needed.

His acting was calm and came across very natural.

The new filming location is also his house and the car which will be used is his own. Therefore, not only was he perfect for the role, his availability was spot on.

This applicant was faultless, therefore we casted Rupert as Rupert Grace.

This then called for a re casted actor to play Grimm.

This will be corrected in further posts.

Jane Grace - Auditions

Jin Lewis

Jin was confident.

However, her lack of experienced showed.

Jin was a tad too old to play the mum of Zola and Seb.

Her availability wasn't great and was hard to get to the filming location.

Jin will not be casted as Jane Grace.

Jayne Hollin

Jayne was perfect age to play Zola and Seb's mum.

She is also Rupert's partner in real life, therefore, their chemistry on stage would be natural too.

She was very confident and relaxed.

This would be great as would make the acting look as natural as possible. 

It is also Jayne's house which is our new filming location. Therefore, her availability was perfect.

Her caringness shown in her audition also will be fit to Jane Grace's characteristics.

Jayne has been casted.

Seb Grace - Auditions

Seb Lewis

Seb Lewis is 9 years of age.

He is just under five foot. These both suit the character of Seb Grace. 

Seb also has a good range of experience across all on stage performance including; drama, singing, dancing and acting.

With this in mind he would be perfect, he also showed his enthusiasm and confidence in his audition.

Seb is my brother which makes it easier to film him, due to living with each other and knowing one another's schedule.

Seb will play Seb Grace.

Ted Mason

Ted is 9 years of age too.

He is the same height as Seb.

Ted does not have any experience however, showed confidence in his audition.

Ted is not available as much as Seb.

For those reasons Seb will be casted.

UPDATE: New Narrative

REAPER:

Characters:

• Zola 'Mils' Grace - female protagonist.
• Grimm - antagonist (masked man).
• Seb Grace - younger brother.
• Rupert Grace - Dad.
• Jane Grace - Mum.

Clearer Narrative:

• Zola returns home from a friend's house to babysit her younger brother Seb, whilst their mum & dad (Rupert & Jane) are heading away for the night.
• Once the Rupert and Jane are far gone, the mysterious man, 'Grimm', then stalks the house and takes advantage of Zola and Seb's weakness.
• Grimm keeps appearing and stalking Zola, once Seb is put to bed. 
• After a series of events, Zola comes across Grimm when she takes out the trash, which he jumps out and chases her, but somehow disappeared. 

Ending:

• The way we brainstormed to create a clearer ending to REAPER, is that Zola will be outside after being chased by Grimm, leaving the door open, which Grimm sneaks in without her seeing.
• However, Zola recognises this and sprints in panic back into the house hoping Seb is safe.
• It then calms down, and Zola leaves Seb and shuts the door, which is when Grimm jumps out behind the door, and 'kills' Seb.
• Not shown, but is assumed that he also kills her too.

Reasoning:

The reason for this ending, is that due to analysing several short film horrors, they all have a mysterious but assumed ending due to the budget of a glory death but also limited time available to.

Therefore, this type of ending is present in the short films;

• The Moonlight Man
• The Moonlight Man 2
• 2AM: The Smiling Man
•  Alexia
• The Smiling Man

The list of short films horrors that have this ending goes on forever.