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Theater
intro and 2 monoluges |
Film
Monologe |
TV
monoluge with reader and outro |
What are casting directors looking for in a self-tape?
Ask any casting director what they look for in a self-taped audition, and one of the first things they’ll say is that it looks and sounds good—not necessarily professional-level quality, but that the actor’s face is well-lit and the audio is clear and free of background noise. But assuming you’ve nailed all the technical aspects, what else makes a self-tape stand out?
We asked three CDs for their take:
Luci Lenox: “It’s just that they’re believable in the role. They don’t even have to do anything too much. I’ve seen some incredibly good self-tapes. And it’s when the person’s alive on tape, so when they’re not speaking, they’re still in character. You just believe them. You don’t have to have too many props or too much costuming. Someone [gave me a] self-tape [of them] being shot, and they added in sound effects. It was surprising, it was fun. Directors get bored listening to and seeing the same thing over and over again, and sometimes somebody will do something so random, but it’s charming, and you go, ‘Oh, let’s have him.’”
Marci Liroff: “[W]e often suggest that actors make a strong choice when they’re auditioning. My coaching clients constantly tell me they’re worried that their strong choice will be the wrong choice. Especially with self-taped auditions, you can feel as if you’re acting in a vacuum, as there is no immediate feedback in the room. But here’s what I see: If an actor makes a strong choice that’s headed in the wrong direction, and if they seem to be right for the role, I want to work with them to steer them back in the right direction. Because they’ve made a strong choice, I can see they are an intelligent actor and have done the work, which indicates that giving them adjustments, notes, and direction is worthwhile.”
Robert B. Martin: “The most important thing that I look for is ‘Does the performer understand the concept of the project we’re casting?’ Meaning, ‘Does he or she understand the material?’... In other words, say you have a scene and Christopher Guest is directing it. Now, what if I told you it is [the] same scene but it’s not Christopher Guest, it’s Steven Speilberg who’s directing it. Okay, let’s change it up. What if I said it was Michael Bay directing it? Each one of those directors is going to be a different tone. You’re going to approach the audition differently because each of those directors has a certain style and technique and because you’ve seen a majority of their movies, you already have a general idea of what they’re looking for or the style of performer that they’re looking for or, most importantly, their concepts.”
We asked three CDs for their take:
Luci Lenox: “It’s just that they’re believable in the role. They don’t even have to do anything too much. I’ve seen some incredibly good self-tapes. And it’s when the person’s alive on tape, so when they’re not speaking, they’re still in character. You just believe them. You don’t have to have too many props or too much costuming. Someone [gave me a] self-tape [of them] being shot, and they added in sound effects. It was surprising, it was fun. Directors get bored listening to and seeing the same thing over and over again, and sometimes somebody will do something so random, but it’s charming, and you go, ‘Oh, let’s have him.’”
Marci Liroff: “[W]e often suggest that actors make a strong choice when they’re auditioning. My coaching clients constantly tell me they’re worried that their strong choice will be the wrong choice. Especially with self-taped auditions, you can feel as if you’re acting in a vacuum, as there is no immediate feedback in the room. But here’s what I see: If an actor makes a strong choice that’s headed in the wrong direction, and if they seem to be right for the role, I want to work with them to steer them back in the right direction. Because they’ve made a strong choice, I can see they are an intelligent actor and have done the work, which indicates that giving them adjustments, notes, and direction is worthwhile.”
Robert B. Martin: “The most important thing that I look for is ‘Does the performer understand the concept of the project we’re casting?’ Meaning, ‘Does he or she understand the material?’... In other words, say you have a scene and Christopher Guest is directing it. Now, what if I told you it is [the] same scene but it’s not Christopher Guest, it’s Steven Speilberg who’s directing it. Okay, let’s change it up. What if I said it was Michael Bay directing it? Each one of those directors is going to be a different tone. You’re going to approach the audition differently because each of those directors has a certain style and technique and because you’ve seen a majority of their movies, you already have a general idea of what they’re looking for or the style of performer that they’re looking for or, most importantly, their concepts.”
$150 AuditionGreat environment
Clean Audio Multi camera options Teleprompter Bright well lit Changing Room Makeup Table (with lights) Edited on site Files ready in 1hour large video (Uploading to YouTube) Compressed video (for emailing) What to expectBe prepared and ready to film!!
Arrive 15 minutes early so you can acclimated and relax, do a few run-throughs in our environment. You will be the Focus of our attention for the next 30 minutes of filming/editing, you can do as many takes as you like. After 30 minutes it is $2 per minute in 5 minute blocks (payable on site) a 10 minute break while we download all the footage and bring into our software. Edit should take 15 minutes, your files will be processed into 2 sizes and emailed/dropbox for you. |
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