I am currently an acting student in the Theater Major BFA program at Southern Methodist University (SMU). During our freshman year we learn all about the foundations of acting through the lens of storytelling. Actors live in the industry of storytelling and therefore story lies at the forefront of everything we do, where the elements of a story are influencing everything our characters do. As an actor, the job is not done when you have created a fully embodied character who realistically lives inside the world of the play, script, or story. Only once what has been prepared is presented in a way that is clear to the audience is the actor’s job done.
A director, a stage manager, a production designer, a lighting designer, a sound designer, and teams of assistants come together and share in the responsibility of presenting actors and their work in ways that translate a story to an audience; that is the job of the film, television, and theater industries. However, since the pandemic sent shockwaves through the world by shutting down all the institutions actors had become used to in the world of auditioning, the framework of auditions have changed.
Before the pandemic, most of the time, actors would receive an email from casting (usually forwarded from their agent) with a plot synopsis, character description, and sides for a character in a story. Actors were then expected to show up to some remodelled warehouse building or collection of bungalows in Los Angeles somewhere, where they were expected to be ready to sit for up to two and a half hours to deliver their lines (hopefully all the way through) once, or maybe twice if they were lucky enough to be given a directorial note. Granted, this does not sound like the best way to do things. If you are looking for an original reading that comes from a relaxed and in-their-body actor, cooping the actors up in a room full of other hopeful/anxious actors going for the same role for hours right before does not sound like the most effective solution. So, when the pandemic shut things down, the acting community turned to our less-favored but reliable if-all-else-fails option: the self tape.
Normally self tapes were reserved for incidences when an actor was in another state than the audition site, out of town, the first audition round had an extraneous amount of actors, or (insert reasonable excuse to not show up here). Now self tapes were being used for all auditions, without exception. This meant that actors, big and small, had to figure out how to self tape. The premise is pretty simple but there are a couple of foundational steps to submitting a successful self tape! Try it yourself to find out!
STEPS:
1. For your face always wear light makeup, and have powder on hand. You don’t want to look sweaty, but you also don’t want to look like a piece of cake. The camera will accentuate any oil on the face. Be sure to always use blush, because the camera and lighting is likely to wash you out. People auditioning for female-specific roles should always wear mascara, because plain eyelashes are practically invisible on camera!
2. Wear your hair down, and out of your face. Casting directors want to see you, that includes whatever the hair department will be working with.
3. Ideally wear solid-colored clothes, but do not wear anything busy that will distract from your face. Avoid reds, greens, whites and blacks, because depending on background color, lighting, and clothes, these colors can distort your skin tone and overall coloring. Make sure you are comfortable with how the clothes you wear on camera fit, because anything too tight or too baggy will be more noticeable on camera.
4. Make sure your lighting shows what you really look like. Don’t film in front of a window or light source. You want most of your light to come from directly in front of you. Ideally soft light. Know what color lighting works and doesn’t work for your skintone.
*Typically a ring light works best to highlight your genuine coloring (And you don’t have to spend a fortune. There are plenty of great ring lights on Amazon for under $30). If you do not have access to a ring light, using a lamp (that you remove the lampshade from) should work similarly well, just watch out for weird or distracting shadows!*
5. Make sure the room you film in has clear sound, with no background noises (think about the humming from your A/C or refrigerator). Casting directors want to hear what you sound like without having to tune out the droll of some machinery in the background. That applies to all sounds during the scene. Make sure you can hear your reader, but you don’t want them to be louder than you. We want to hear and see your character.
6. Film in front of a plain backdrop, ideally gray. Any solid color will do. A busy background will distract from the subject, your character, and can contribute to color and light issues.
7. Know your lines, but don’t rehearse too many times in exactly the same way. You don’t want to sound monotonous. You can do it a different way every time. Don’t rehearse yourself into a one-note performance, and don’t do so little work that you’re struggling to remember your lines when you’re reading. No one wants to watch you struggle to remember your lines unless you can really make it work for your character, the scene, and the scope of the play.
8. Make strong choices, and stick with them. You don’t have to say one line with extra sarcasm every take because it was funny the first take. You can always do more, and you can always do less. Play with that balance for a more entertaining performance. Casting wants to see that you can allow versatility in the role.
9. Don’t over-record. It’s natural to want to critique every little thing you do on camera; do a few takes, and then take a break. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself or your reader with a grueling non-paid shoot, for a robotic over-rehersed and over-recorded performance.
10. Have fun and be yourself! Casting directors want to see you, and what you bring to the table just as you are. They also want to cast people that will easily fit into their work environment. A person can’t begin to get a glimpse of who you are until you give them something to work with: don’t be a robot!
EXTRA BUT ALSO IMPORTANT: SUBMIT EARLY! Only good things come from being early in the casting world. It doesn’t hurt to be early, and you might even get some feedback while the office is waiting for the rest of the submissions.
This article was written by Enhance team member Sidney Floyd-Armstrong. Be sure to subscribe and keep an eye on the blog for more fun content from our team!
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