Analysis
I have been looking at entering the professional performance industry. Whilst doing this I have found that it is very difficult for a new performer to know how and what roles to audition for which also makes it difficult for a casting director to find this performer in the situation where they are their perfect cast. I believe that if I offered a service where instead of just using a model that involves the actor finding and responding to a casting call you could instead also have a model where the casting director can directly contact any performer they think would be good for their casting call. By applying my knowledge of application development alongside my stakeholders’ and my own knowledge of the entertainment industry I think that an online and computational solution to this problem would allow for a change in the routine of casting and bring a number of benefits for everyone involved.
Stakeholders will be crucial in order to help me with both the direction of my project and to provide feedback with builds. I have managed to gather 3 different stakeholders each with an individual link to my project.
Stakeholder 1 is a young person who is just starting to break into the industry and will offer me insight into the situation of trying to land a first role or call back with little to no experience on their CV.
Stakeholder 2 will offer me a different perspective of the industry than stakeholder 1. This is because they are currently well established within the industry taking away the factor of trying to break through.
Stakeholder is someone who has left the industry due to age. This person will offer me insight into both how the casting situation in the industry used to be and any features that they miss from previous styles of casting.
By having this wide range of individuals who are spread out all throughout the industry I will be able to gain views and opinions that reflect the spread of views of people in the industry rather than one specific group of people. I have already planned an informal chat with all my stakeholders in order to gain their insight into my idea and to receive any suggestions they would like to see implemented into my final product.
By looking at other solutions that try and solve a similar problem to me, I can identify their positives and negatives in order to help me build the best solution possible.
Backstage (www.backstage.com)
Backstage describe themselves as “the #1 platform for the world’s best talent and creators”. They are a web application that offers a platform to post casting calls on. This then allows an actor to audition for this role with a self-tape.
While this is a great solution to a very similar problem it does have a few disadvantages that I can build upon to try and make my solution more appealing.
Backstage is not a free service and requires a monthly fee in order to use the service it provides. While this may not be a problem for some people for beginners this could provide a barrier to entry into the industry that I would look to remove in my final solution.
Backstage relies on a system where the actor actively finds the casting call put out by the production company. This could cause smaller production companies to be easily looked over on a site such as backstage that has clients such as Netflix and Disney. My solution would try to oppose this by allowing the casting director to actively search through the signed up actors and be able to enquire directly to them about their role.
However, Backstage also has a wide range of features on their website that I can use as inspiration to allow me to create a working and helpful solution.
One of these features is a filtering system that allows all the roles in the system to be filtered. By having a filter system it allows for quick and easy navigation of the system. This means that users would be more likely to return to use the system in the future.
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| The Filtering System on Backstage's search |
Another positive feature of their system is their email notifications that signed up performers receive on a regular basis. These emails allow for users to be able to easily see what content is currently available on Backstage creating an easier experience for the end user.
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| An Example Email Sent By Backstage |
A final positive feature with Backstage’s solution is the talent’s dashboard. This is a web page that is part of their solution that allows a talent on the platform to quickly gather all the information they could possibly need about their profile all in one place.
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| Backstage's Talent Dashboard |
Actors Access (www.actorsaccess.com)
Another web application solution to my problem is a website called Actors Access. This is another service that offers a place for casting directors to submit a job and for an actor to then send in a self-tape for that job. Along with Backstage this solution is also not free and requires a monthly subscription fee to be able to access the full service. With these in mind this solution has the same problems for me that Backstage did.
Yet again it not being a free solution is a massive downside for me and causes an unfair advantage to those trying to break into the industry with money over those who don’t have money.
This is also a solution that uses the actor applying to a casting call model. This is the same model which Backstage uses and which I believe could cause some small producers to not get noticed by the right talent.
In order to create my solution I intend to take inspiration from the other solutions that I have researched and create a web app. By doing this I allow for my users to access the product from any location just as long as they have an internet connection. This is a massive benefit for me over a traditional windows or mac application.
The next crucial step in the creation of a web application is deciding what framework I want to build my application on. By looking into different frameworks I will be able to see their benefits and disadvantages in order to choose the best one for my project. A framework is a layer that adds additional functionality to a website without causing the developer significantly more work.
"JavaScript Frameworks were created to make the work of web programmers smoother"
React is a framework developed alongside Meta (formally Facebook, an American Technology and Social Media Company) that provides a UI development library to the base of javascript. This framework is well established after having been originally released in 2013 and is the building block for many other more modern frameworks.
React is a great starting point for frameworks as by using this framework not much of the core programming changes as React has more of an effect on the user experience than the actual core logic behind the webpage.
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| Where React Fits In |
Next.js is a more recent framework which launched in 2016. This framework is built on top of React and is aimed at allowing for more advanced websites. When using React, features of the website can only be rendered on the client. This means large and complicated features could be slow to load and very resource intensive on the system. Next.js adds the functionality to render the application on the server side. This allows for more complex programs without causing as much trouble for the user’s machine. Next.js is a very popular framework and is what a large portion of the modern web is built on with web apps such as Netflix, TikTok & Uber etc. all using Next.js
Expo is a relatively new framework which started development in 2017. Since starting as just another simple framework it has found its niche selling point which is offering the ability to seamlessly translate the code for a web application into a working mobile application build that can then be used on both android and IOS. Since its launch Expo has been used by several companies to build apps of all genres; an example of one of these companies is the ZOE COVID-19 Study App which helped diagnose and keep track of the COVID-19 pandemic for over 1 million users. Other examples include Pizza Hut, Cameo, PrettyLittleThing & Codecademy.
After comparing all the options I have for different frameworks to build my project on top of, I have decided to move forward with the Expo framework. While this is not a framework I have used before (unlike React and Next.js) I believe that the benefits Expo has with not only being a newer framework but also the capability to translate web code to a mobile app quickly will allow for easy future development if I choose to do so.
Another important factor in the development of my project is the software I choose to use to develop it. Different IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) can have support for different things such as extensions, languages and debugging tools. That is why it is so important to choose the right IDE to develop in.
Created by Jetbrains (a major IDE developer) PhpStorm is an IDE focused around PHP and developing for the web. With Jetbrains being the developers behind PhpStorm it inherits a robust set of tools ranging from debugging to building. This would allow me to have all the tools I would need to create the program I am trying to develop. However, due to its complexity as an IDE it not only makes it harder to learn where all the essential features are it also can become a slow app to use very quickly due to its complex language support mechanisms.
WebStorm is another IDE developed by Jetbrains. Unlike PhpStorm which focuses on PHP with a bit of web development WebStorm is an IDE which is entirely focused on enabling a developer to develop a web application as quickly and efficiently as possible. With being developed by Jetbrains Webstorm also gets access to all the development tools that PhpStorm gets access to as well. This would speed up my development time considerably.
Visual Studio Code is the most widely used development environment. This is due to its focus on supporting nearly all languages and being extremely lightweight in its design. VS Code also has a large range of extensions available to download in app that allow you to tailor the experience to your individual needs. However, due to this focus on transferability VS Code does suffer from not being optimal for a single language. It is missing key tools such as inbuilt documentation and tab completes for the framework that I want to use. Having these features would speed up my development process as well as VS Code is known for slowing down when used to develop larger projects.
After considering the different IDEs I have available for me to use I have decided to develop my project within Webstorm. Webstorm is a professional level IDE that will allow me to get the most out of my project no matter how large it gets. The tools that are built into its software will allow me to develop my project with ease and allow me to complete repetitive tasks much quicker.
On Saturday 5th October I sat down with my stakeholders in order to get feedback and suggestions on my proposed solution. I had pre-prepared a set of questions that I wanted some answers to however I did also let the conversation flow as I felt this allowed for more feedback to be provided.
Stakeholder 1
Stakeholder 2
Stakeholder 3
Q: Is there a need for a new casting routine in the industry? \
- Yes. With the current way how casting is done it’s easy for talent with little to no experience to be overlooked and not found.
- The current casting system was designed without the internet in mind. With the creation of websites such as Backstage casting directors now receive significantly more applications for a role than with the traditional agent audition process.
Q: What would your perfect casting routine look like?\
- The ideal routine is where everyone can audition for a role and all be seen. This is not exactly possible just due to the time it would take to go through 1000s of self tapes (some of which won’t be relevant to the role).
- A system where you don’t require an agent to get a shot at a big role. With how the current system works it is extremely difficult to even land a shot at some of the top level auditions that are advertised.
Q: If someone was to make a new online casting call and audition application what features would you want?
- I would like a central page where you can put key information about you and your career. Past shows, accents, training etc. (Further noted about location willing to work)
- It would be nice if there was a way that the system recommended casting calls you should go for based on characteristics or previous applications.
- An option for casting directors to be able to search for people due to characteristics instead of just relying on audition submissions.
In order to solve the problems mentioned above I plan to develop a web application using a combination of languages mainly focused around TypeScript, CSS and JavaScript. This solution would allow talents and casting directors to log onto a website and be able to post and access show reels, headshots, CVs and casting calls all in one place.
These are some of the key things that I believe my project will need in order for me to be able to class as a solution to the problem I have identified earlier.
One of the fundamental things that this system will require is an account system. This system will allow individual users to have their own accounts. By having this sort of system I would be able to implement the following features: A unique dashboard for each user allowing each user to have an experience that is tailored to their needs and delivers the information they want to see in the quickest possible fashion An individual messaging system Email updates A unique profile page where talents can upload CVs, headshots and show reels as well as important information about their playing ability so that casting directors can judge them before offering a further audition. However, by including something such as a user account system I would not only need to be able to implement a system that forces the user to create a secure account, but I would also need to store any data sent by the user securely in order to stop a malicious user being able to access personal information such as a user’s name, email address or password.
An individual user messaging system is important in my project as it allows a casting director to reach out to a potential talent about their casting call directly. It would also allow for communication the other way where a talent could contact a casting director in order to submit a self-tape. This means I would require a two-way messaging system.
Another feature needed in my solution is a central feed that would allow talents to search through all the casting calls available to them. This would allow for a talent to be proactive about their auditions if they chose to be.
In order to keep in contact with the users and send them important updates. I believe this would be a crucial feature in order to make my solution more appealing to potential users, and it will play a pivotal part in why my users come back to the site. Filtered Search Section Allowing casting directors to search through a filtered selection of talent will be crucial in creating a more efficient workflow for all involved. Some of the filters available will be accents, playing age, languages spoken and experience. This information will be set by the talent when they originally join and can be updated at any time in order to give them the best opportunity to sell themselves as their skills develop.
By including all these things I believe I will have a project that is both achievable but also solving my problem.
My main limitation when it comes to the creation of my solution will be how much time I have. I will aim to complete all my key features, but I may have to adapt to my scenario as to what I can include.
Also, due to the sort of data I will be storing (email addresses, names and messages) I will need to think about layers of both encryption and protection of the data as well as how it is stored and accessed within my program.
However, due to my solution being hosted on a web server and being accessible to users by an internet browser I will not need to worry too much about the technical requirements of a user of my project.
In order to create the most complete solution I can, I have also chosen to only focus on the acting side of the entertainment industry and not try to implement a different system for other acts such as musicians.
Like previously stated, due to my final project being entirely web based the requirements for the user would be very low. I would require the user to be able to have access to a modern browser with support for javascript. This means that the system would require 2GB+ of RAM and a modern CPU.
To run the server that the web app requires I will use an online service that allows you to host a website for free that comes built into the framework I plan on using. However, if I was to try and run the server myself I would require access to a device with a reliable internet connection along with 2GB+ RAM and a single core CPU. One of most popular services to run a web server is Apache which would require a Linux OS such as Ubuntu Server to get the most out of all its features.
By creating myself a success criteria I will be able to easily track the current status of the project and what features I still have to work on. It will also help me not to get distracted and start adding features which are not essential to the functionality of the program. I will break down my success criteria into required and desired features. My aim will be to include all the required features whilst also trying to include as many desired features as possible. The features I have chosen to include are all based on the ideas and justifications stated above in the key features of my solution.
Required Features: User accounts and unique dashboards An onsite messaging function A central feed where users can apply or find out more about roles A search function to allow for casting directors to filter talent on the site
Desired Features: Email notifications to notify users of information that is relevant to them
I have also then made a project board linked to the solutions GitHub repository. This will allow me to keep track of the features as I add them, and it also acts as a place for me to keep a log of bugs that I will need to fix.