What would you do if you won thousands?
LAURA WADDELL'S THOUGHTS
Laura Waddell trained at East 15 Acting School and her CV can be viewed at:
www.spotlightcd.com/interactive/cv/7416-1209-3762
The journey for my character began prior to the recall audition day. Having been sent a basic character outline, we were to create our aspirations (both emotionally and physically) and obstacles to those aspirations. In terms of my character Charlie, my outline provided was that she had been a foster child and had grown up in children’s homes. From this I had built on the idea that she desperately wanted to be cared for and loved. After the death of her father her mother had remarried soon afterwards and her stepfather had become violent towards her. She was taken into care and moved around various foster homes until she was allowed to leave of her own accord. She then got a job in a bookshop and moved into a flat alone. I had then researched into foster and care homes and how this upbringing can affect a person. I also looked into how children cope with bereavement at a young age. I saw that both these things could create a sense of detachment and feelings of rejection. It can often lead to behavioural problems or a lack in social skills. I had imagined that Charlie would probably rarely trust someone and not have a great sense of self worth, possibly leading to quite a volatile nature also. It was established that James (who was to play George) and I would have some sort of close relationship. We met in the first week to discuss what this relationship could be. We had thought about him possibly being Charlie’s previous foster parent, but after discussing it we thought it would be a more interesting dynamic if the two were more closely linked, i.e.- a romantic relationship. George was already married and we established that they met when Charlie was babysitting his children. We knew this relationship would be challenging, especially for a 15-minute film, but we thought it would be more interesting for an audience to watch and would create more friction in the given situation they are in.
During rehearsals we worked by improvising possible scenarios between each pairing of characters and sometimes in groups. To begin with, we had little script so it was very freeing to not be completely bound by this at the start and to use improvisation to help feed Rachel’s ideas for dialogue. We were given a specific focus and aim that she wanted us to achieve from our improvisations and then gradually, as rehearsals progressed, we would obtain a little bit more script and discover more of the narrative. It was an exciting few weeks, knowing that at each rehearsal we would get another piece of the puzzle to then build upon. When it finally came to the shooting I felt as thought I knew Charlie inside out. It is quite rare, that you get the chance to work on a film in this detail and to see your character evolve through their relationships with others. I hope in the future that I get the chance to work like this again, as it was a truly unique and exciting process that gives the actor the chance to be involved in the creation of the characters from start to finish.
Watch the film (32Mb file)