Greater Philadelphia Film Office

**CASTING CALL for Temple University FMA SENIOR THESIS PROJECT**
Short Film Title: CRESCENDO IN
Genre: Narrative , Horror
Runtime: 15 minutes
Description: During a writing retreat, an undermined member of an indie rock band unlocks a connection to a supernatural presence.

**SEEKING**

Claire Avos
Gender: Female
Age: 20-25
Description: Claire is a bass player and one of the back-up singers in the Philadelphia-based Indie Rock band, “ExFoliage”. While she excels at her bass-playing abilities, Claire struggles to have a stage presence and sing for a crowd. Claire does possess the ability to sing, and is quite talented, but her anxiety and self-loathing gets the best of her. Her bandmates are no more supportive to her, as they will often either ignore her, or discourage her about her ability. Claire wants to have her voice heard and discovers a way to do so through a journal discovered at the band’s cabin getaway.
Abilities: Performer must be able and comfortable with singing on-camera for sequences in the film. It is recommended that the performer has some experience with either Bass, bass guitar, or guitar but this is not required.

Liam
Gender: Male
Age: 20-25
Description: Liam is the guitar player and one of the backup singers for the Philadelphia- based rock band, ExFoliage. Liam has always enjoyed his time in his band and wants to keep the peace while also developing satisfying music. Liam has sacrificed a lot of time with his involvement in a band and understands that he wouldn’t be there without any of his collaborators. Liam often sides more with the lead singer Jay since they were the ones who initially started the band together. However Liam also tries to meet the needs of his close friend Claire, who is a talented yet fragile person. Always being the mediator can oftentimes lead Liam to bottling up a lot of his stress until it eventually projects on to those close to him.
Abilities: Performer must be able and comfortable with singing on-camera for sequences in the film. Performer should have experience playing guitar and be familiar with basic chords.

Jay
Gender: Male
Age: 20-25
Description: Jay is the lead singer and founder of the Philadelphia-based rock group, “ExFoliage”. Growing up, Jay based his musical influences off of those with a more “bad boy” aesthetic. The Mick Jagger’s and Julian Casablancas’ of the world. He lived by a philosophy that a group’s music is only as good as their leading member and stage presence. Jay is extremely protective over his music and the “brand” of what he has created. Jay defaults his decisions to Liam, as they were the ones that started the band together, but often feels that criticism from other members is invalid. He would rather cut out a member than compromise the integrity of his music. Abilities: Performer must be comfortable with singing on-camera for sequences in the film.

Kim:
Gender: Female
Age: 20-25
Description: Kim is the pianist for the Philadelphia-based rock band, ExFoliage. With a complicated family history, Kim always found the music scene in Philadelphia to be a type of escapism. She would attend shows and even dabbled in music herself, gravitating the most toward keyboard. Kim also turned to recreational drugs as a coping mechanism, having experimented with marijuana and psychedelics. This is all part of Kim’s carefree lifestyle and mindset that has also led her to be very vocal about her opinions, even to the point when it is confrontational.
Abilities: Performer should have experience with playing the piano / keyboard.

Rob
Gender: Male
Age: 20-25
Description: Rob is the drummer for the Philadelphia-based rock band, ExFoliage. Similar to Kim, Rob used music as an escapism in a lot of ways. While generally an apathetic person who finds responsibility and life to be mundane, Rob has a passion in music forged through passive listening, which eventually evolved into his fascination with music as art and the technicality of playing music. Rob quickly took up drums and after becoming fluent, took to finding a musical group to be part of, leading him to ExFoliage. While extremely laid back and chill, Rob’s more experimental and spontaneous approach can cause problems in the practice room. This, paired with his obnoxious sense of humor can make him a lot to deal with at times.
Abilities: Performer MUST be able to proficiently play a drum kit.

Mime Singers (x2)
Quantity (2)
Gender: Male/ Non-distinguishable
Race: Caucasian
Physicality: Tall, Skinny
Age Range: 20-30
Description: These identical singers are both constructs of an old, evil entity that is tied to a demonic notebook. This notebook is discovered by the lead character, Claire, in the film, and upon discovering it, she finds out that whatever she writes in the book is repeated by these singing beings. They are odd and terrifying in appearance, dawning identical red sweaters, black shades, bowl cuts, and blood smeared around their mouths. These singers are also each tied directly to the band mates and mimic their movements and by the end, possess them.
Abilities: Performers MUST be comfortable with having fake blood in and around their mouth and with wearing a bowl cut wig.

SHOOTING DATES:
Shooting will primarily take place during 2 key weekends First Weekend: Mid-late November
Second Weekend: Early January
WHERE:
First Weekend: Philadelphia, PA Second Weekend: Pocono Mountains, PA
PAYMENT:
Food, Transportation costs, and Lodging.
Additional Compensation will be given based on shooting period and experience.
Email headshots/resumes/reel to:
crescendoinshortfilm@gmail.com