Developing excellent acting skills, especially in professional level acting classes in nyc, can help build a great foundation. However, there is one skill you may have to develop on your own if your acting classes in nyc do not include it, and that is auditioning technique. Audition tapes are becoming the norm, since the producers and agents can easily see if you are camera ready. Auditioning via tape does not mean you need to spend lots of money on a professional production. Just borrow or rent a camera, enlist the help of an aspiring director friend and follow these simple rules.
First is lighting, because everyone has seen what a poor lighting job can do to someone's appearance. Poor lighting creates deep shadows in all the wrong places. However, if the lighting is too strong, you will appear completely washed out and "hot" which is just a distracting. Anything that takes away from your performance is lethal and bad lighting is one of those things. A well lit subject is one in which the lighting just "disappears." If you are studying in a professional acting program, or taking acting classes in nyc, there should be someone who is teaching an "Acting for the Camera" class or something similar. Ask for help creating a simple diagram that outlines a lighting scheme.
Two or three small lights will do the trick. Two soft lights can be placed on either side of the camera, about 10' feet or so away, focused on where you will be sitting. The background can lit using a third light. In some instances audition tapes leave the background completely dark which creates a certain mood. Just be sure the overall tape is not too dark, or the contrast too great between your face and the background. Correcting the color with a white balance feature is the important next step.
Light sources, such as lamps, professional lights and daylight all have different temperatures. Incandescent lights are yellow, daylight is very blue. Let's say you set up the lighting, and you are also near a window. A mix of light sources is possible but, the camera must be "balanced" to correct for these color differences. A simple white balance button will take care of it. A pure white card or sheet of paper needs to be placed in the middle of the lighting sources. If you do not use this feature the color will be completely off, especially your skin tones. It will be evident if you forget to do this, because the skin tones and colors will all be incorrect.
Another very important thing to consider is sound. A good audition tape is only as good as the sound, because your voice is your main instrument. A good way to get quickly dismissed is to have poor sound quality. The mic should be as close to the source of the sound as possible to eliminate stray noise. While easy, the camera mounted microphones are usually not very high quality. If you aren't being heard clearly you aren't able to communicate who you are as an actor or the character. Acting classes in nyc sometimes have ways to help with this.
With these basics in place now is the time to think about content. Preparing for an audition tape is the same as preparing for a live audition. Preparation can be made easier if you've studied Meisner acting techniques with trained coaches. Using the Meisner acting tools can help create a riveting audition tape that does not seem rehearsed or staged. Anyone who has studied Meisner acting nyc will understand that acting is as much about what you leave out as what you put in. Trying to cram every emotion into a few minutes of an audition will seem false. The key to great acting is what you don't present, but leave simmering underneath. An audience (which in this case is the auditors) will automatically begin to infer and look for clues they can infer about your character which engages them in your performance.
At times, actors are asked to include something very specific, but it should still have your own ideas incorporated. More frequently actors are asked to turn in monologue audition tapes, just to give viewers an idea of their range and abilities. It makes sense to prepare something that involves your strengths. The best actors are those that are fluid and can show quickly how capable they are of acting in any genre. A great comedian always as an underlying sense of tragedy for instance, just like the deepest dramatic performances have moments of light-otherwise it becomes hard to identify with. Videotape your chosen material several times and enlist friends and teachers from your acting classes in nyc to review it and make constructive comments. The best audition tapes are those which have had input from lots of sources with the most constructive criticism incorporated.
First is lighting, because everyone has seen what a poor lighting job can do to someone's appearance. Poor lighting creates deep shadows in all the wrong places. However, if the lighting is too strong, you will appear completely washed out and "hot" which is just a distracting. Anything that takes away from your performance is lethal and bad lighting is one of those things. A well lit subject is one in which the lighting just "disappears." If you are studying in a professional acting program, or taking acting classes in nyc, there should be someone who is teaching an "Acting for the Camera" class or something similar. Ask for help creating a simple diagram that outlines a lighting scheme.
Two or three small lights will do the trick. Two soft lights can be placed on either side of the camera, about 10' feet or so away, focused on where you will be sitting. The background can lit using a third light. In some instances audition tapes leave the background completely dark which creates a certain mood. Just be sure the overall tape is not too dark, or the contrast too great between your face and the background. Correcting the color with a white balance feature is the important next step.
Light sources, such as lamps, professional lights and daylight all have different temperatures. Incandescent lights are yellow, daylight is very blue. Let's say you set up the lighting, and you are also near a window. A mix of light sources is possible but, the camera must be "balanced" to correct for these color differences. A simple white balance button will take care of it. A pure white card or sheet of paper needs to be placed in the middle of the lighting sources. If you do not use this feature the color will be completely off, especially your skin tones. It will be evident if you forget to do this, because the skin tones and colors will all be incorrect.
Another very important thing to consider is sound. A good audition tape is only as good as the sound, because your voice is your main instrument. A good way to get quickly dismissed is to have poor sound quality. The mic should be as close to the source of the sound as possible to eliminate stray noise. While easy, the camera mounted microphones are usually not very high quality. If you aren't being heard clearly you aren't able to communicate who you are as an actor or the character. Acting classes in nyc sometimes have ways to help with this.
With these basics in place now is the time to think about content. Preparing for an audition tape is the same as preparing for a live audition. Preparation can be made easier if you've studied Meisner acting techniques with trained coaches. Using the Meisner acting tools can help create a riveting audition tape that does not seem rehearsed or staged. Anyone who has studied Meisner acting nyc will understand that acting is as much about what you leave out as what you put in. Trying to cram every emotion into a few minutes of an audition will seem false. The key to great acting is what you don't present, but leave simmering underneath. An audience (which in this case is the auditors) will automatically begin to infer and look for clues they can infer about your character which engages them in your performance.
At times, actors are asked to include something very specific, but it should still have your own ideas incorporated. More frequently actors are asked to turn in monologue audition tapes, just to give viewers an idea of their range and abilities. It makes sense to prepare something that involves your strengths. The best actors are those that are fluid and can show quickly how capable they are of acting in any genre. A great comedian always as an underlying sense of tragedy for instance, just like the deepest dramatic performances have moments of light-otherwise it becomes hard to identify with. Videotape your chosen material several times and enlist friends and teachers from your acting classes in nyc to review it and make constructive comments. The best audition tapes are those which have had input from lots of sources with the most constructive criticism incorporated.
About the Author:
The Maggie Flanigan Studio provides acting classes in nyc for serious actors. To learn more about commercial acting visit the studio website.