Choice of Actor

When thinking of our concept for the music video, myself and the other member of the group decided that we needed to try and keep it simple in terms of actors, because having more than one or two actors would provide complications, especially due to having to film two sets of footage. Upon further conceptualising we had decided to use only one actor for both sides of the split screen to show that different choices or circumstances in life can lead a person down two disparate paths, and their decisions on each of these paths can influence the other.

We chose Robbie for several reasons, some were to do with organisation and others to do with appearance. Robbie is in the same media class as myself, so it was much easier to discuss our ideas and planning with him in order for him to understand the plot and what would be required of him. In previous productions we have contacted drama groups, such as City College and The Garage, however we found it harder to work with individuals from these groups due to time constraints leading to organisational problems. Robbie had similar a timetable and so we found we would be free at similar times, proving to be simpler to plan shooting dates. One of our shooting sessions was to take place in London, meaning that we would have to spend a the day with our actor as well as pay for their expenses; seeing as we already knew Robbie this was not a problem, which also made it easier to direct him during shooting. If we had chosen to use more than one actor we wouldn't have been able to afford to take the trip to London. We chose Robbie as our actor due to the fact that he looks old enough to be a young businessman/entrepreneur who is hungry to work up through the ranks of a large corporate business, as well as being able to change his appearance to look like a student interested in protesting against the dominant ideologies. It is becoming more and more common for entrepreneurs to be younger, coming straight out of college, so this factor makes sense with the age of our actor. The fact that our actor has facial hair also added to his older looking appearance, making it more believable that he would be in a higher up corporate position.

We also chose Robbie because we felt that he would be ideal for the album cover/print production; our idea is to continue the split screen theme and have one side with the businessman and one side with the protestor, each with their relevant '1%' and '99%'. Using Robbie for this is ideal because he has quite symmetrical features, meaning it is easier to line up the two sides of the face on Photoshop. An important reason for why we chose Robbie as the actor for both characters is his appearance/background. The stereotypical image of a businessman is a white male with a smart appearance, Robbie fits into this stereotype well for our music video. This worked in favour of our video because the white male symbolises the wealth associated with the often unquestioned privilege of white western middle class males. An example of this 'superiority' can be seen in governments, particularly in America, as all of the Presidents have been male and, until recently, white.

Robbie in costume for the businessman character