Be A Sniper Not A Machine-Gunner

I’ve held my own auditions for years now and yet it never ceases to amaze me how many mistakes are made by Actors are when it comes to self-tapes. From time to time I hold workshops on Self-Taping for Actors just to try to help Actors not make these basic mistakes and get more confident and effective at self-taping. Below are some hints for you. Self-tapes are a necessary evil. Like them or loath them, they are here to stay and have become a vital tool in the whole casting process. Personally, I think they are an absolute gift for an Actor. But there are fundamental problems with self-tapes from an Actor’s perspective: The Actor is auditioning to a blank wall not a human (it’s considered standard practice for self-tapes NOT to be performed direct to camera) and so that actor is acting off into oblivion. The Actor can’t judge how their performance is going across as walls don’t emotionally react! The Actor doesn’t get to physically meet the Agent, Casting Director, Director, Producer, etc So why do I think that self-tapes are a gift for Actors? Well, you can’t redo a live audition but you can a taped one. In fact, no Actor should be submitting a self-tape unless they are 100% happy with it. This means that they’ve watched it back, analysed it, polished it, perfected it, re-recorded it over and over again until it’s the best performance that clearly showcases how right they are for the part they are auditioning for. PERFORMANCE HINTS Be Off-Book (i.e. able to perform without looking at the script). There is no excuse at all for any Actor not able to learn a few paragraphs of text and perform them in the safety of your own home. Script changes happen all the time when we shoot. LEARN YOUR LINES. Take a moment to look at what you are wearing, your hair (and your makeup too). Is it right for the character? Don't just switch on the camera and "do your thing" - if you do this, without any care or consideration to any prep-work, you're unlikely to be remarkable. Remember the saying that the army runs on "fail to plan, plan to fail". If you're going to go into combat, make damned sure you do your prep work first. IT IS VITAL that you take time to break the script down, looking for that all-important emotional arc. Personally, I encourage any Actor to notate their script as they break it down and then follow these notations as their roadmap for the character’s journey through the scene. Of course different Actors have different processes depending on their training and their personal preferences but this way works pretty well and is usually a solid and reliable technique you can fall back on when you need results fast. Remember, there is a possibility that the scene may not be that well written and your character may well be a somewhat two-dimensional archetype. This happens A LOT so you may have to get a bit inventive here. If you have to do this, pay some attention to the context of the character in what is likely to be the narrative arc of the scene/sequence. There are usually lots of things that give this away if you contextualise the piece, especially when the arc is pretty two-dimensional and shallow. You may have to get a bit inventive with characters like this but a fleshed-out (albeit perhaps invented) back-story combined with a defined emotional arc can be a really informative combination for you. All this scene-work will help you find your way as you prepare to perform. When it comes to your performance, remember the camera will pick up what you’re thinking. Learn to internalise and how once the subconscious is in play, the micro-expressions your body makes as your perform will be totally and utterly believable. If you “wear” your performance, then this externalisation will make you look “stagey”, “over the top” and totally unbelievable on camera. (If you're a bit lost here, have a look at my blog post on the difference between stage and screen to help you out). Pay attention to your posture and what your body is doing. Are you slouching, lowering your head or fidgeting? Is any of you overwriting what your character would be doing? Would your character sit like that, stand like that, move like that? Don’t break character at the end of the scene. I’ve seen Actors nail a performance then break character as soon as they can to say thank you for watching. Don’t do this! If you have to have a scene reader (assuming you’re not performing a monologue) then try to get someone at least age-appropriate to read in for you. I’ve heard a child reading the part of a seasoned Police Detective off-camera and, well no matter how good an Actor you are, that mistake is just going to take the viewer right out of the scene. If you're asked to pick your own monologue, try not to choose a passage that is already extremely well known, e.g. a passage from Batman as Joker, or from Apocalypse Now as Col. Kurtz etc, .etc. You'll never be able to distance yourself from iconic performances that already are in the public psyche and at best you'll come across as an impersonator and at worst, well... One last tip (perhaps the most important one): Before you post any clip, may I suggest you watch the clip with the sound turned down and ask yourself “do you believe?” Then ask yourself is this clip as believable as it can be or are there still signs of the actor "forcing" the performance? Be objective and be analytical. (I've a separate blog post that goes into this in detail). Watching any performance mute is the acid test of that screen performance. It removes the narrative from the equation and forces us to evaluate the non verbal communication. Acting to camera is all about internalisation because, as in life, it’s what we think rather than what we actually say that is the majority of the message that we communicate. This is why we’re told by behavioural scientists that anything up to 80% of what we’re communicating is actually via body language. If someone is “acting” then they will be forcing that body language and in doing so, their performance will appear forced or even fake. In life, our emotions leak out of us in what are known as “micro-expressions”, tiny little expressions that dance across our face as we are talking and listening. These micro-expressions come from a place of truth and it’s super, super hard for us to knowingly fake them. Consider the camera as a mute, passive and intimate observer to social interaction. It just sits there and watches….can’t add to the dialogue, can’t do anything, just watches and judges... As an acting exercise, sit in a coffee shop or bar and watch the way people are communicating. Don’t listen to what they are saying…just watch the body language. (You’re unlikely to be able to video these conversations but there are plenty of examples of documentaries on the internet of ordinary people taking without knowing that they are being filmed). Now go and look at any screen acting that you like, from monologues and self-tapes from struggling actors to big budget films with "A" list stars and watch the scene with the sound turned off. As you watch, ask yourself, “do I believe?”. So, before you submit that monologue or self-tape, watch it again with the sound turned off and ask yourself, “do you believe or is that person ACTING”. If you see evidence of that person “acting” (what old-school BBC-trained Directors like me call “the wheels turning”) then you watching someone “act” not “believe” what they are doing. Re-shoot the monologue/self-tape and try to stop “acting” and start “believing” instead. The end results will be far more effective at encouraging your audience to suspend disbelief.

You are being engaged as a professional from the moment you are cast until the film is on screen. Remember the phrase “fail to plan, plan to fail”. Spend all that time before the shoot in prep and do all the research you can. Assuming you’re given the whole script in advance, study it in detail. Even if you’re just given a few sides, as an actor, learn how to break a script down from an actor’s perspective and how incredibly useful that can be to you as you build your character. If your character is painfully two-dimensional, shallow and badly written (this does happen!), then take this as an opportunity to flesh out your character and bring in elements to help make that character more three-dimensional, real and believable. You may have only one line and your character may be nothing more than a cypher, but the more you believe that one line the more truthful your performance will be and that one line may well be the thing that gets you noticed. Oh and of course, LEARN YOUR LINES and be prepared for last minute changes. Scripts often evolve as we shoot and so it’s not uncommon for new sides to be issued, even as late as the day of a shoot. Get so good at learning lines that new sides do not throw you at all. Learning lines is a fundamental skill all actors should have mastered in their early days of training. But a word of warning, you’ll most likely be doing all this prep in isolation. Remember to remain open so that you’re able to take direction on the shoot. This means that when you arrive on set, you should be prepared and know your character and the narrative arc intimately. Be so across your character arc that you can comfortably play an entirely different scene from the one scheduled without a problem. Then pace yourself during the interminable delays all shoots have from an acting perspective. Use that time. Save your energy, you’re going to need it. Be ready to perform whatever scene you’re asked to perform in an instant and spend that day in constant awareness. Like in any other professional environment, ask when you don’t know, or are unsure: everyone is working hard to accomplish what the schedule requires and the budget caters for and deliver the best result possible, so consequently they’ll want you to do a very good job. The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask. Finally, the first time you’re engaged as a professional actor, when someone else is paying you to act, you’ve made it. From here on, it’s just a question of quality and frequency, factors that will be greatly influenced by your attitude, your approach and how much hard work you continue to put in... You’ve been engaged as a professional. Continue to be that professional at all times. In doing so, you make your own luck. Happy New Year everyone and let’s make 2020 the year when it’s OK to ask questions. The more you know, the better your vision will be. Let’s all try to get 20:20 vision for 2020 and let’s all be professional out there!

ALWAYS keep acting until after someone says “cut” and if someone or something makes a mistake in a take, even if that someone is you, stay in character and keep acting. It may turn out to be the best take of the day. You may be asked to “cheat” a shot by being far closer to your screen partner than you would normally be expected. This is often because of the restrictions of various lenses and is commonplace. (And never ever underestimate the value of having that pack of breath mints to hand). Always listen to the other actors in a take and react accordingly, even when it’s not your shot. One of the most important things Editors look for is what is called “Reaction Shots”. If you just stand there, waiting for the next line to be delivered instead of listening to those lines/actions etc and reacting accordingly, you’re just a static object not likely to be of interest to the Editor and miss the opportunity of giving that Editor extra material to work with. Become the Editor’s best friend by giving all the extra material they can use. (You’re also likely to end up with more screen time in the final edit if you do). Think twice before saying something like “I don’t think my character would say this/do this”. Especially if you’re working with a Writer/Director. You may have read the script a number of times over the last few weeks but chances are, someone took years to write it, sweating blood into every line. Perhaps they know your character arc better than you? Be aware that you may only be on the set for a day but for some this will be the culmination of years of investment of time, energy and experience, perhaps even blood, sweat and tears. A great deal of planning and preparation will have been (or at least should have been) carried out in the months (perhaps even years) before you walk onto the set. Think of yourself as being a guest in someone else’s home, even if you are in fact an extremely welcome guest. Don’t act as if you own the place – you don’t.

Learn about framing. If you can’t see the camera, it can’t see you. As a screen actor, your frame is your stage. In the same way you know the difference between Stage Right and Stage Left, Upstage and Downstage, learn the basic framings or shot sizes and what they are called. It’s not a good look to stare blankly at the DoP when he says he’s framing for a MCU and is busy telling you where you're safely in frame. You should have been told all this in your basic training but if you weren’t, the different frame sizes you need to know are basically BCU/ECU (Big Close Up/Extreme Close Up), CU (Close Up), MCU (Medium Close Up), MS (Mid Shot), MLS (Medium Long Shot, sometimes called a “Cowboy”) and LS (Long Shot) as well as perhaps a Single (that’s just one actor) and a Two-Shot (two actors in frame) as well as a POV (Point of View shot) and an OTS (Over The Shoulder) - don’t know these? THEN LOOK THEM UP!). This leads onto my next point: Have a profound awareness of these different frame sizes and how to adjust your performance accordingly. The frame is your stage – you really need to know how to play in the frame and what its constraints are. One element of this is what we call Depth Of Field – this is the technical term we give to how much distance towards and away from the mark you’re given that will allow you to remain in focus without anyone having to adjust anything. On a high level shoot, it’s the Focus Puller, (often called the 1st Assistant Cameraman) who’s job it is to keep you in focus during a take. With smaller crews, this task falls to the Camera Operator. Do yourself a massive favour and get an understanding of what depth of field is, how to use it and why this can be vital to you. Inadvertently drifting out of focus or surprising the Focus Puller can really hurt you on set and can render your take useless in Edit later. An actor may also be given instructions as to where they are “safe” in frame. This means at what point of the frame will you be out of shot (what’s known as “breaking frame”). If an actor inadvertently breaks frame during a take (i.e. drifting out of the frame without knowing it) then that can render that take useless. If you’re given advice as to the frame dimensions, learn to use it. Know how to find your light, even if it’s just daylight. All those lights are there for a reason. Find out which ones are dedicated to you and be aware of them. Be aware of the importance of eye-lines and how you may be asked to perform to a spot on the wall. Know how to find your mark without looking down. This is easily achieved by walking backwards from your mark to the 1st Position, counting your steps as you do so. Then to hit your mark from your 1st Position, all you have to do is count your steps as you walk. Know how to walk over camera tracks without looking like your stepping over a dead body. You may well be asked to wear a radio mic, even if the sound of the shot is also been recorded with an external microphone held by the Boom Operator. Learn how to wear a radio mic without letting it pick up the noise of your costume rustling. And if you are wearing a radio mic, remember to check with someone in Sound before going to using the bathroom. Many a Sound Recordist has grown tired of fishing radio packs out of toilet bowls!

Never walk onto an uninsured set. EVER! Details about the relevant insurance policies should be in your contract and also on the Call Sheet. In addition, they should be posted somewhere on the wall of the set/green room for all to see. Also, Production are required (and usually this is a legal requirement) not only to carry insurance but also to carry out a Risk Assessment for every shooting scenario and should also hold Safety Briefings for each set. The Risk Assessment is a document and should be made available, usually pinned on the wall next to the insurance details. Be wary of Productions that are not complying with basic Health and Safety policies as well as their legal responsibilities regarding set safety. Always listen to every single word a Stunt Coordinator says and if you don’t understand something, say so. When it comes to stunts and set safety, there is no such thing as a stupid question. If you EVER see someone bullying someone or making them feel uncomfortable, report it to the Producer. He or she will know what to do. Be VERY aware of Health and Safety on set. If you’re being asked to do something that feels dangerous, or if you see any sort of risk on set, REPORT IT! Any responsible member of Production will thank you. How the other cast and crew perceive your behaviour, professionalism and talent will be such an advertisement. Producers are always risk adverse so if you shine at a shoot by being professional and constantly on point, the positive word of mouth that your behaviour will generate will really help your career. IF YOU SIGN AN NDA, DO NOT POST ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE PROJECT ON ANY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM OR TALK ABOUT THE PROJECT TO ANYONE. It’s called a “non-disclosure agreement” for a reason and is legally binding. If you break an NDA, at best you’ll get fired, maybe sued and finally possibly never work as an actor again. Confidentiality has never been more important than it is today and projects go to great lengths to protect this. This leads onto the next point… If you do feel compelled to post something on Social Media about the project regardless of if you have or haven’t signed an NDA, do yourself and the project a massive favour and double-check with Production before you post ANYTHING. And if you have signed an NDA, best not to post anything at all. Better safe than sorry. Oh and always say thank you to the crew at the end of a long day/night shoot. ALWAYS.

Don’t waste your energy during the shoot and don’t be afraid of keeping yourself to yourself, quietly zoning out, in “pause mode” but ready to go at a moment’s notice. You’re there to do a job but you’re likely to be kept hanging around for extended periods of time. Consequently, be prepared for this. The night before, make sure you pack a Grab Bag to take with you and include in that bag anything that will help you be both mentally and physically at your very best when called upon to perform. This should include: Whatever helps you to focus on your character including any research material, notes, anything that helps you stay ready… Food, water, energy bars etc because no matter how good catering is, if your blood sugar drops, so does your performance! Some comfortable and warm/cool clothing (depending on climate) so that you don’t freeze or swelter during those long pauses. Breath mints. Something to play music on. Make a character playlist and/or a “downtime” playlist and take a pair of headphones. Powerbank for your phone but be prepared to have your phone taken off you at the start of the day if it’s a Closed Set. (I also have a personal first aid and toiletries kit in my Grab Bag) Be set aware at all times. I call this “setiquette”. Get good at this, fast! A functional set is like an extended family. Know the different roles everyone has on set and the importance of what they do. Always smile at the Grips and the Sparks who may already be running on Red Bull having got up very early that morning to pre-light. Be very lovely to the Hair and Makeup department. They are often the very first on set and usually put the most hours in with little thanks. They also will help you far more than you realise. Same goes for Wardrobe. Be aware of your own continuity. It will make the Script Supervisor’s life easier and really is your own responsibility. Look after your props. Treat them as your own. Be nice to the Runners when they bring you things. Most of the times they’ve put themselves through a great deal of university studies, are working their butts off for little or even no money and are desperate to learn. All that effort and humility deserves respect! Make friends with the Camera Operator. He’s likely to help you by telling you your frame size if no one ese does, if you are nice. If they hate you, then it may well be your own fault. Everyone behind the camera wants the actors to shine and be utterly brilliant - that’s why we are here at the end of the day. But a crew can grow irritated with actors who Lord over them and once you lose the respect of a crew, it’s very hard to gain it back again. Filmmaking is team work as well as hard work. Just be mindful of this at all times. You may be “top billing” but you are no more or less of an artist than many other key crew members. Don’t be a Prima Donna and act like the “star” – it doesn’t do you any favours. Don’t be obviously bored when waiting for your next setup that is being delayed, yet again. Usually, some poor soul is rushing around trying to fix something whilst everyone else is looking at the clock. He or she really doesn’t need the extra pressure of an actor with little set-awareness. Use that time to run some lines, check your costume and make up, go to the toilet, meditate. At the end, if you’re bored between setups, you’re not doing your job! Don’t blindly mess around with other actors between setups or even takes. Other actors, as well as those behind the camera, may not welcome the distraction.

An NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) is a legally binding contract that prohibits you discussing whatever the material that is referred to in the NDA with anyone. The reason an NDA is issued is to protect the confidentiality of the project. Filmmaking is a very expensive business and it’s so easy for a project to lose its value if errant publicity leaks for whatever reason. Also, projects can very easily be damaged severely by early leaks and some projects have actually been killed by this. From the moment you sign an NDA it to the time that it expires, you legally cannot talk about the project with anyone (friends and family included). Of course, this also means you also can’t post about your involvement in the project on Social Media, take selfies at the shoot, let others read the script etc, etc. NDAs are not negotiable. Once you’ve signed an NDA, you can’t then “unsign” it and once your signature is on that document, you have to follow the instructions in the NDA to the letter. Consequently, you have to wait for it to expire before you can relax and talk freely about the project to whoever you like. Incidentally, not all NDAs have expiration dates (yes, that’s true – a certain global Studio is beginning to issue NDAs with no expiration date to protect their property). If you’ve being asked to sign an NDA, don’t think that you’re being singled out. Production has a massive responsibility to protect the project at all costs and so by binding everyone involved to an NDA, it’s just a sign that Production is acting in a professional manner, conducting the business of filmmaking smoothly and efficiently. Break and NDA and at best you’ll just be fired but at worse, you’ll be sued. Your name will also be mud and you may well find it super-hard getting another Production to trust you enough to hire you in the future. So if you’re asked to sign an NDA, read the document carefully, note when it expires and follow the agreement TO THE LETTER.

There is a school of thought amongst some actors that when it comes to self-tapes, it's a smart strategy to submit a take where they the actor in question is holding the sides and also has the occasional deliberate fluff left in it that could so easily have been prevented. Now this isn't an excuse to cover for not knowing the lines. Instead, this strategy is being suggested by actors who are already prepared, have broken down and memorized their scene and are more than capable of being off book. Should they desire, they could just as easily submit a completely error-free self-tape that doesn't distract or mask any element of the performance. Instead, some are CHOOSING to leave fluffs in on purpose. The logic is that with them openly holding the script and leaving in some fluffs, this is a "clever device" to show that they are "open" and "easy to direct" because they aren't "set in their ways." This strikes me as an absurd assumption. Any and all actors who call themselves professional, should be able to take direction. It's one of the key elements that makes you a professional. All I see when I see a self-tape with fluffs is that the actor submitting couldn't be bothered (or talented enough) to perform a text in the safety and security of their own room. If they can't function effectively in those circumstances, how in God's name will they handle the pressure of a shoot? Simply put, unless you're completely off-book and error-free on your self-tape, I will most likely pass. This will be because you'll be sending me any one of the below messages: Maybe you couldn't be bothered to get it right Maybe you can't get it right Maybe you don't know your way around a film shoot Maybe you'll be hard work at the shoot Maybe you're so unprofessional you don't think I'll either notice or care that you're not getting the text that I sent you right Would you, if you were in my position, go and champion an actor with a faulty self-tape to a Producer? If you think you would, then you're not working with Producers at the highest of levels who have zero tolerance to risk. So, my friends, DO YOURSELF A MASSIVE FAVOUR AND ONLY SUBMIT YOUR SELF-TAPE WHEN YOU'RE AS HAPPY WITH IT AS YOU CAN BE. Don't think that some clever "mind game" is going to work. The risk is far higher than the reward. And incidentally, whilst we're talking about self-tapes, a word of caution when it comes to paying someone else to tape you rather than you setting up a self-tape setup at home and learning how to use it properly... A self-tape is, by definition, made by the actor on their own. The key to this is the word "SELF" in the phrase "self-tape". So way up the logic of paying someone else to record your self-tape vs. investing that money in yourself instead. If you pay someone else to do it, you won't learn anything. No one my side of the table is looking to hire an actor as a DoP or cinematographer. Instead, we're actively seeking actors who know how to handle themselves on camera WHEN NO ONE IS AROUND TO DIRECT THEM. That's why they are SELF-TAPES. Any half-decent actor can take direction and if you've paid someone else to record your self tape, then the problem is how do I know that you are the one making the camera-aware choices or are you being told what to do by someone else? To a trained eye, it's really easy to spot a self-tape made by an actor who's had to school themselves in basic camerawork. Likewise, it's also dead easy to spot the product made by someone with a DSLR and a basic lighting rig. It can cost a LOT of money to hire self-tape studios. So why not learn how to use your iPhone as a self-tape camera, get a tripod that will hold the iPhone at the same height as your eyes, read up on Three Point Lighting (this link here is the BBC telling you about Three Point Lighting), the use of a clip mic (cheap and cheerful one here ), what sort of backgrounds to use etc, etc...(I STRONGLY suggest you stay away from Green and Blue screens but instead choose a neutral backdrop that compliments your skin-tone). Use this as a way of creating your own home studio setup (which can be surprisingly cheap to do) and in doing so, learn the basics of filmmaking. It'll make you a better screen-actor. 

TECHNICAL HINTS Shoot “landscape” not “portrait” – i.e. make sure you’re shooting horizontal not vertical. All film and TV screens are landscape so shoot for the format you’re going to be performing in. In general, make sure the camera is mounted on a tripod and at the same height as your eyes. THIS IS SUPER-IMPORTANT! Frame yourself in an MCU or Mid Shot, not a LS or a Wide (and if you don’t know what I mean by this image below demonstrates various frame sizes that you REALLY SHOULD KNOW for you).