I’m convinced that casting and other decision makers decide who an actor is and if they’re right for the character in the first five seconds of watching a self tape audition. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your first few seconds are as alive as humanly possible.
Here’s something that we used in a workshop that I taught last week to make those first few seconds “pop”:
- Choose at least three descriptive words for your character that fit the story and the style of the show.
- Pick one of those descriptive words that is most alive and interesting for you personally.
- Find something from your imagination or experience that really brings that descriptive word to life and gets it into your body.
- Roll the camera.
- Improvise for 15-30 seconds before you start the scene, anything at all to get the feeling and the character into your body.
- Cut out the improv before you send the tape, so the first few seconds of the scene are alive, interesting, and full of character and story.
I highly recommend trying this with your next self-tape audition!
All the best,
Michael Bean
Acting Teacher
@confidenceoncamera