For Actors

Self Tapes - Part 1

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 17:25:56 GMT

General Tips

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.

What I Expect Every Actor To Know Before Walking On Set: Part 5 of 5

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

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!

What I Expect Every Actor To Know Before Walking On Set: Part 4 of 5

Sun, 13 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

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.

What I Expect Every Actor To Know Before Walking On Set: Part 3 of 5

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

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!

What I Expect Every Actor To Know Before Walking On Set: Part 2 of 5

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

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.

What I Expect Every Actor To Know Before Walking On Set: Part 1 of 5

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

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.

What Is An NDA?

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Don't EVER break an NDA

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.

To Fluff, or Not To Fluff, That Is The Question...

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Is it true that fluffs and me holding the script in a self-tape show that I'm "open to accepting direction?"

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.

Self Tapes Part 2 - Technical Hints

Sat, 22 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Technical Hints

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).

Learn about the Rule of Thirds and how you can position yourself in the most powerful part of the frame.

Look at the image below:

In a nutshell, it is possible to divide a frame into thirds with two equal horizontal and two vertical lines. Where these lines then meet is an aesthetically pleasing part of the frame and because in the West, we read from left to right, as we scan an image our eyes will prefer to land on something of interest that is at the intersect of the top horizontal line and the far right vertical line. If you position your eyes here, then they are in the strongest part of the frame.

Also, if you look off Camera Left, then you’re looking into what is called “negative space” and that motivates the eye-journey of the viewer into that area. You’re basically projecting your performance into an area of interest by doing this.

And choose a simple (preferably blank) background to perform in front of. Distractions in the background are an enemy to the Actor.

You don’t need to buy a fancy camera - your phone is fine, so long as you use it right. Remember, most modern phones have far better technical spec than the digital cameras we called "professional" 10 years ago.

But do buy yourself a tripod that you can mount your camera on and make sure that the camera is the same height as your eyes. (I did say this was super-important!)

Make sure we can hear you. Don’t rely on the internal microphone of your cameraphone or DSLR. Get yourself an external microphone and learn how to use it. This doesn’t have to be an expensive piece of kit – it can be a cheap and cheerful microphone with a cable attached to it that plugs into your camera. Once you’re “wired for sound”, you will be able to whisper and we’ll still be able to hear you. (Bit more on Sound at the end of this post).

Since we’re talking about kit, learn a little about lighting. You’re an Actor not a Director of Photography but spending a little time getting to understand a lighting setup designed to best cover a performance is a REALLY good investment of your time

Look here the BBC Academy post here that is pretty easy to follow.

Whilst we’re at it, LEARN HOW TO FIND YOUR LIGHT. This is pretty well Screen-Acting Skill 101 and every single Actor with screen-ambitions should know how to do this.

Be wary of Ring Lights. Ring Lights sit around the camera lens (hence their name) and they always create a ring-like pattern in the eyes. This can be very distracting for the viewer as it’s totally unnatural to see this and also, well the eyes are the most important tool for any Screen-Actor so why would you want to add an unnatural artefact to them?

My advice is try not to use a Ring Light if you possibly can – it’s likely to do more harm than good.

You’re going to have to learn a little about editing. Don’t obsess about this. Even iMovie is good enough for all that you need. Just learn how to edit the rushes of what you’ve shot so that you cut up the footage at the start of your performance and then end on either a cut to black or a fade to black (my own personal favourite). There is a school of thought that you may wish to include some sort of Slate Shot before your performance but personally, I hate Slate Shots. Others don't. Research what is the preferred version whoever your submitting to likes. My own request is a simple title card that identifies your name, your agent (if you have one), your union status (if you have one) and some way of contacting you. And that card needs only to be 5 seconds - long enough to read, that's all. Then cut up your performance allowing perhaps 2 seconds for the shot to register with the viewer before you start speaking. At the end of your performance, I'd suggest a ½ second fade to black. But these are my own personal favourites and I specify this usually in my cast calls when I send out the sides for Self-Tapes. Be aware that others prefer different submission formats. You're going to have to do your own research here in order to make sure you deliver EXACTLY WHAT IS BEING ASKED FOR.

Don't be frightened of learning basic editing skills. It's pretty easy to do something very basic and there are loads of apps and programs designed to make editing easy. In fact, the market-leader Adobe have just released an app called Adobe Premiere Rush that looks pretty easy to learn. It's here .

Regarding backgrounds:

There is a trend amongst self-tapes to use a blue background. The shade of blue is chosen to match the blue we use when shooting "Blue-Screen".

The reason we shoot in a "Blue-Screen" studio is so that we can replace the background with anything we want in post production. This background replacement process is called Chromakey and is widely used. Originally, this shade of blue was chosen many years ago because the average Caucasian skin doesn't have this shade in it. However, over time, more and more people of colour were in front of the camera and it was noticed that a black skin does in fact have an element of the colour blue in it. Consequently, this blue shade was replaced to that of Chromakey Green (as below) simply because not that many humans have any of that particular shade of green in their skin tones (unless your Shrek that is!)

(Interesting point here - if you look up Chromakey in Wikipedia, you'll see that the entry suggests that blue was changed to green because, and I quote, "Green is used as a backdrop for TV and electronic cinematography more than any other colour because television weathermen tended to wear blue suits". Moral of this is not to trust everything you read on Wikipedia!)

When we shoot in a green screen or blue screen studio, it is super-important to position the actor away from the background so that any light reflected from the background doesn't spill onto the actor.

So many self-tapes that I've seen where the actor is in front of a blue or green screen don't seem to know this and the result is that the actor has a sickly blue or green light illuminating them from behind - which is SUPER not flattering.

If you choose a simple black background, be aware that the results may look pretty dark, depending on how you light the background. Likewise, if you choose a white background, then the background may bleach out the image a bit. It all depends on how you light and how you set up your camera.

May I suggest that you think about NOT using either a blue or green backdrop but instead choose a backdrop that is nice and neutral, organic even and something that won't bounce an unflattering shade onto you!

One other point - if you choose to hang a sheet or bedspread or any sort of curtain behind you, make sure that it is held tight and not susceptible to being blown or rippled by any wind. If it isn't totally static, then any ripples or fluttering that the background does because of wind or air conditioning will be super-distracting to the viewer.

Regarding sound: I've lost count of the number of self-tapes I've watched where the actor didn't pay any attention to the sound being recorded.

1) Make sure the area where you are recording your self-tape is QUIET!

2) If at all possible, don't rely on the on-board microphone that comes with the camera. These microphones are designed to pick up all sounds and they are really not good at focusing on just the voice of an actor some feet away. Either treat yourself to a directional microphone that is good quality (but be careful with cheap directional microphones as they may not be that much better than the on-board mic). Or, if money is of a premium, try using a simple clip mic or lapel mic like the one below but remember you will probably also need to buy an extension cable so that when you are wearing the mic, you don't have to be restricted as to how close you need to be to the camera. But before you buy, read the instructions that came with the camera to make sure that whatever microphone you buy will actually work with your camera.

Knowledge is Power

Tue, 14 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Trade Press: What is it and why should I be reading this

They say “Knowledge is Power”. Well, the best way to stay up to date with what is happening in Film and TV is to read what is called the Trade Press. These are publications that are specifically created for the industry and not targeted at the general public.

It never ceases to amaze me quite how many actors working so hard to establish themselves in this industry of ours know so little about what a production has to go through before they arrive on set and what has to happen afterwards in order to best position that production to return a profit for their investors. Or even something as basic as which direction is the industry currently moving in? And why should they, they are actors. It’s all about the talent, isn’t it?

Well, the truth is that the film industry is a business first and an avenue for artistic expression second. Let’s not forget that.

Did you know that the global box office revenue is forecast to increase from about 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 to nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and yet the U.S. is currently the third largest film market in the world in terms of tickets sold per year, ranking behind China and India and not the actual market leader any more, with China constantly having its eyes on the West and proving to be not shy of really big investments? Why is this and why is it relevant to an actor wanting to build a career? Do you know how many more projects Netflix are commissioning this year as opposed to Paramount and why and, more importantly, who are behind these projects and what are their contact details? Where are the growth markets? Which projects are likely to happen and which are not? What is VOD and why should we all be excited by what Disney is doing in this space in 2019? Who is the hottest Director on the planet and who is likely to take that crown this year? Fancy yourself as a “Gary Oldman type? Well, who are Gary Oldman’s agents and what are their contact details?

How can you best position yourself to be part of this industry if you don’t know what is going on beyond the set that you’re standing on?

You can learn so much more than you know already for free! I do mean free. No cost at all but your time. Information that will prove vital to you as you try to move your career forward - stuff they don’t teach you at drama schools.

The film industry trade press (the “trades” as they are known by) are a series of publications, newspapers if you like, that are created for the industry by industry specialists. There are basically three main players and each one of them offer free, daily emails with news breakdowns, analysis and discussion. You can subscribe to get these emails sent to your inbox every single day for nothing.

These three leading players are, Screen Daily, Variety and Hollywood Reporter (with Hollywood Reporter also running an excellent YouTube channel).

To sign up for these free email news alerts go to:

Screen Daily:

https://www.screendaily.com/home/how-to-sign-up-for-screen-international-newsletters/5129771.article

Variety:

https://www.varietyinsight.com/free_news_alerts.php

Hollywood Reporter:

http://link.hollywoodreporter.com/join/38o/thr-signup

And the excellent Hollywood Reporter YouTube Channel is here:

https://www.youtube.com/hollywoodreporter

(Be advised that it costs money to get full access to all the various pages of some of these bodies but you can still get the daily newsletters for free).

There are two other online resources you ought to consider, one is free and one costs but is truly worth it (remember, the cost of subscribing should be a tax-deductible expense assuming your accountant knows what he or she is doing).

The free one is here:

https://www.the-numbers.com

It’s a breakdown of how much money projects are actually making and is core to the function of the industry. A very well-known and extremely high profile Producer I used to work with once said to me “it’s ALL about the numbers” and the long line of awards he has proves that he’s 100% right here.

The one that costs is IMDb Pro, the link for which is here:

https://pro.imdb.com

It costs $149.99 a year to subscribe to this pro version of IMDb (the Internet Movie Database) but consider this: IMDb Pro is the number one resource that so many of us working in the industry use as a research tool. It won’t get you cast in anything and for the love of God, please just ignore the “star ratings” as these are so easy to manipulate that no one ever bothers to take them seriously. But if you’ve an audition coming up, you can find out what other projects the Director has done before, who the Production Company is, what source of financing they may or may not already have in place (that’s a REALLY good way of judging a project’s viability), who their lawyers are, who are the key Agents involved, who other Casting Directors may or may not be, who is already attached to the project, etc, etc. You can also get direct contact details of pretty nearly every single player in the industry (this information isn’t available on the free version of this website) and SO much more. Oh, and currently, you can get one month free if you sign up today.

I’m forever telling actors to be snipers not machine-gunners. A sniper will do their research, stalk their “prey” and choose their moment very carefully having built up a complete picture of what they prey is doing at any moment and why. So learn from this, do yourself a massive favour and start each and every day reading the trades. EDUCATE YOURSELF. No one else is likely to do that foryou.

Do I Believe?

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

How to easily judge an on-screen performance

A really effective way of judging a performance to camera is to watch it with the sound turned down and ask yourself, “do I believe?” In doing so, you remove the dialogue (and almost always the narrative as well) from the equation and instead you have no choice but to focus instead on just the body language.

Really effective 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.

(More about micro expressions here ).

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 to big budget films and watch the scene with the sound turned off. As you watch, ask yourself, “do you believe?”

Self-tapes and monologues are nearly always performed to some eye-line off-camera, not direct down the barrel of the lens. 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 the “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.

Incidentally, I was taught this technique many years ago at the very start of my directing career when I was being formally trained by the BBC. Back in those days, we shot on film (digital hadn't been invented yet) and this meant that the sound was always recorded separately (shooting on film meant that the camera with the film in it wasn't actually able to record sound at the same time. So the sound was always recorded separately and that's why we used clapperboards, even when shooting with just one camera, in order to provide a sync point for both sound and vision). Each night, the film rushes (that's the technical name for the exposed film that we'd shot during the day) would be sent away to the labs for overnight processing and the following morning, we'd start the day watching what were called "Dailies". In order to save time, it was standard practice NOT to dub the audio onto these dailies and so we'd be watching everything we'd shot the previous day mute (i.e. without any sound). Now remember the whole video playback thing hadn't also been invented yet so this would be the first time that you would actually see what the camera had seen.

By removing the sound, not only did we remove the dialogue but we also were able to focus completely on the physical performances of the actors and key to this was their body-language.

This technique worked so very well for years and years and kind of got forgotten when sync-sound became so readily available with digital playback.

If you don't believe me, consider this: I travel a lot and not always do I speak the language of wherever it is I am. However, I can function pretty well in nearly every social situation I find myself in, even if I don't know what on earth is being said, just by watching the body language of those around me.

Animals can read body language really well too. That's why some dogs growl at a stranger who approaches you as you're out walking your dog, or instead just wag their tail, even before that stranger has said a single word.

You can test out my theory by watching a foreign language film with the sound turned down. I guarantee you that if the acting is any good, you'll be able to make a good guess at the plot by just watching...

If you still don't believe me, as an experiment, next time you're asked to submit a self-tape, before you send it out, watch it back with the volume turned down and try REALLY hard to be objective. Don't see yourself on screen. Instead, pretend you don't know who is talking and what they are talking about. Then ask yourself "do I believe ?" Can you figure out the core emotions behind what is being said? Does the person talking express any micro-expressions or are the expressions forced or even unnatural? Then show it to someone you trust, someone who doesn't know the narrative of what you are performing, someone who hasn't just watched you tape that self-tape. Then ask them what do they think the core emotions of the performance are. Does that trusted person tell you the emotional arc you were trying to perform or not? Do they believe?

Follow The Instructions To The Letter

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This isn't rocket science, guys!

I do my own castings and have done for years. I recently put out a Cast Call for a project and got over 1000 submissions. The Cast Call was very specific with detailed instructions, including a request to submit with a self-tape of specific material I included in the Cast Call.

Of the 1000+ submissions, guess how many self-tapes of the specific material I got?

27.

So that is less than 3% of all the Actors who applied actually managed to get their application right.

If you don’t follow simple written instructions at the casting, what sort of message are you sending? How astonishingly unprofessional were those 97% of Actors submitting themselves and not even bothering to comply with the simple requests of the Cast Call.

Come on guys!!! If you don’t act as a professional, professionals like me are not going to consider you as a professional.

I get that you all want to work. We all do. But for the love of God, please try to be a sniper and not a machine-gunner. Don’t apply for everything you see as a knee-jerk reaction when you don’t fit the brief and can’t be bothered to follow the simple instructions in the Cast Call.

Instead, hunt for your targets, be selective, prep, take very careful aim then fire when you are absolutely certain that you’re on target.

If you want a career, BE A SNIPER, NOT A MACHINE-GUNNER.

A Word Of Warning Regarding Social Media

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The dangers of the hashtag #setlife

Writer/Director here with a word of warning…

Be VERY careful when you post anything on social media that links you to a project.

If you sign an NDA (a NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT), then legally you simply cannot talk about the project to anyone (not even friends and family) whilst you are bound to that NDA unless you have the permission of Production. This includes showing pictures of you on set, you holding the clapper board, the script title page (hell, even a page of the script with you reading it) - anything at all that links you to that project. (All the above examples are taken from today’s feed on Insta with the hashtag #setlife.)

If you break an NDA, then at best you’ll get sued at worst, you’ll likely never work again as an actor.

But if the project doesn’t issue NDAs, then it’s still not such a good idea to put a picture up that shows the script or other sensitive details without the permission of Production.

I’ve said this a number of times before but I still see evidence of actors being dumb with their postings, almost daily. Currently, there are 4.4 million posts on Instagram with the hashtag #setlife. If you look at them, it's pretty clear to me that I can identify some of the projects that the shots were taken on. I doubt if every single post has been cleared for publication.

The higher up the tree you go, the more you will find that confidentiality is super important and one thoughtless post on Insta or Facebook can cause you untold damage.

It’s just not worth taking the risk. Maybe if the hashtag #setlife was changed to #careersuicide people would start to learn the oh-so-important lesson that if you want to be taken as a professional, then be professional…it’s not too much to ask, is it?

A Suggestion Regarding Selecting Material For Your Monologues

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

There was only one Heath Ledger...

When it comes to selecting your material for your monologues, may I please suggest that you try to avoid any and all monologues that are well-know and are from a film, a TV show or a play. (I've lost count of the number of "Joker" monologues I've been sent).

Anyone attempting an iconisitic monologue will, at best, never be as good as that known actor's version simply because you won't have the production values to support you (this is NOT a comment on whatever talent you may or may not have but a reflection of the resources at your fingertips).

Of course the very real danger is that you'll just come across as a bad mimic and that is not good!

The monologue doesn't have to be from a film or TV script. In fact, literature is packed full of magnificent monologues.

So go to your favourite author and choose from their catalogue of work instead of trawling for scenes from a script… Your monologue will be original and the chances are whoever you perform to may not actually know the passage of text. This methodology can only be an advantage for you as they won't have any other frame of reference apart from your talent.

(Incidentally, literature, by definition, tends to have far better developed characters than many scripts and so you're likely to have far more backstory and character history to draw on as you develop your performance).

Stage vs Screen

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

3,000 years vs 120 years

What is the big difference between stage acting and screen acting? From an audition perspective, is a monologue that you've seen work so well on stage adjustable or even applicable to the screen? If so, how? How does an actor adjust their technique for the two different worlds? Is it all a question of "size" or is there something else that I'm missing?

I could write a book about this but will try to keep this short:

Acting to camera is a VERY different skill from acting on stage. This is because stage and screen are two very different media.

On stage, you need to be seen by " the cheap seats" and you are also some distance from even the nearest audience member. So, in short, actors have to "wear" their performances or they just won't be seen or even heard.

Meanwhile, in comparison, the camera is a mute, passive and intimate observer of inter-personal interaction - it's the third person in the room during a dialogue between two people.

In life, Behavioural Scientists say that up to 80% of what we understand is not what is coming out of someone's mouth but is instead the non-verbal communication, little micro-expressions that dance across our faces as we talk and can only be seen when the person we are talking with is close to us. This is why if you're in a foreign country and don't speak a word of the local language, you can still make yourself understood if you have any communication skills. We think about what we are trying to communicate and the words just sort of come. Sometimes we have a prepared speech we want to say to someone but often we're just talking. And yet somehow we still communicate. You have to thank the micro-expressions for that and it's this desire to communicate something that comes from both our sub-conscious as well as our conscious mind. It's the sub-conscious mind that is driving the micro-expressions and the conscious mind that is driving the narrative. In addition, some of us are better at thinking before we open our mouths (controlling the conscious mind) but many of us are still trying to practice that skill! And some of us are "born listeners" (again the conscious mind) but again, some of us are not... However, some of us are really, really good at lying and in doing so can dictate to the sub-conscious how to manage those pesky little micro-expressions that can give away what we're really thinking, or in the case of bad acting, not thinking but "acting, darling, acting our little socks off" as someone I used to know liked to say.

Consequently, at its best, screen acting is internal and not just "a smaller version of stage acting". If someone says "do you what you do on stage, but just make it smaller" then they are an idiot and don't understand the massive difference between the two worlds. And if someone says "you can't be big on camera", go show them Al Pacino and tell them from me that they are an idiot too!

Remember, the skills of stage acting date back over 3,000 years to Ancient Greece and even today, we are prone to use phrases that were born in that time ("deus ex machina" for example). Whereas the screen is at best 120 years old and modern filmmaking techniques date back perhaps to the mid 1970's when cameras became more mobile. In fact, digital technology has only been around since the mid 1990's and so the whole way of filmmaking is constantly evolving and will continue to do so...It's got a long, long way to go to catch up on stage acting techniques so go easy on yourself if you find screen acting hard. It is and it is evolving at a great speed.

Look at the work of Buster Keaton - perhaps the biggest movie star of his time. Would you say his approach to screen acting is the same as Daniel Day Lewis or Kevin Spacey or Meryl Streep? Of course not. Would you be able to replace Kevin Spacey with Buster Keaton in Se7en as John Doe and still be as moved? And don't say "well, Buster Keaton was a comic" take it from me, comedy is hard! And besides, Kevin Spacey can be extremely comedic if he wants to be and has even done Stand-Up.

What I am trying to say is that it's the approach the effective screen actor has to the lens that has evolved over the last 120 years because the technique of image capture has evolved so very much too.

But the stage is still the same stage it was 3000 years ago and there's been a LOT more time for study.

This means that there are a multitude of stage acting techniques, dating back to the days of Ancient Greece and even beyond, that we can call upon, all have different strengths and weaknesses but a drama student can learn so much from so many different techniques and in time, cobble together their own process. I've been a professional director for nearly 30 years now and in truth, no two actors I've ever worked with have the identical self-same process. That's part of the joy of my job.

And yet actors just "adjust" their process for the screen, some to great success but some not so... This doesn't surprise me. Actors don't get that much access to skilled filmmakers when they are training and for good reason...we experienced filmmakers make a lot more money-making film than teaching screen acting as a guest lecturer somewhere!

And that's before we start the conversation that on stage, the actor is in control of the timeline. How and when they deliver their lines, how and when they control and demand the attention of the audience is completely within their own hands. The play starts at the start, goes through the middle bit then ends, usually with a curtain call and hopefully applause. The stage is an actors' medium.

In contrast, a screen actors will rock up on set, shoot scenes completely out of sequence from the narrative, spend hours and hours hanging around waiting to be called and then have moments in front of the lens where it all has to come together at once. Then, often with no chance for retakes, the film/TV moves on to the next setup and that actor is left wondering "was that OK?" Of course, that actor is completely oblivious as to what happens next, NEVER gets to sit next to the Editor as the film is being edited and probably doesn't hear anything at all until the film or TV programme is broadcast. Directors like to think the screen is a Director's medium and sometimes it is. But often it is also the Editor's medium and ALWAYS it's the Producer's medium because the Producer is the money and filmmaking is a ruinously expensive undertaking.

Remember, we have words like "stage craft" that are in the Oxford English Dictionary but the word "screen craft" has yet to make an appearance.

Also, consider how different the audience are in the two worlds of stage vs screen. How many of us settle down in front of the TV and graze Netflix, Amazon or Hulu trying to find something worth watching? How many Studios pack the opening of a film with as much as possible so that Act 1 is usually over by the end of the opening titles and we're off into Act 2A within minutes of the film starting? "Channel-hopping" is a massive issue for programme providers and they spend a huge amount of time and money coming up with strategies to try to limit this. However, in the theatre, have you ever seen someone get up from their seat, leave the theatre and go to the one next door the moment the curtain goes up, just because the play next door may be more worth their attention?

The audiences of stage are VERY different from the audiences of screen, especially the small screen and with the evolution of big screen TVs, well the small screen is getting bigger and bigger all the time.

So of course stage and screen are two different worlds.

Consequently, next time you settle down in front of a camera to perform something, be it a monologue or a self-tape or even something on a set, try to switch off the natural instinct to "act" and instead, focus on "believing". Focus on internalising the thoughts, just THINK IT and let your body take care of itself. Then watch your performance back with the sound turned down and ask yourself "do you believe?" You may be surprised as how "stagey" you look, how your acting your little socks off and not really communicating anything believable.

Size Isn't Everything

Sun, 11 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

How to be BIG on screen and get away with it

There is often-said comment that stage acting is “big” and screen acting is “small” and that when acting for camera, "you do what you do on stage, you just do it less".

This is actually not a good way of considering the difference. If you don’t believe me, go look at Al Pacino. His performances can be, well, “big” and yet he is an absolute master at screen-acting. How does he get away with being so “big” when he chooses to be and yet remain one of the best screen actors of all time?

I could write a book on this subject but instead I’ll try to be brief.

It’s not a question of size.

Consider this: In super-simplistic terms, stage acting is EXTERNAL. An actor has to be seen by the cheap seats and so is encouraged to wear the performance.

In contrast, screen acting is INTERNAL. The camera is a mute, passive and intimate observer of social interaction and it’s nearly always up close and personal to the actor. It’s the third person in a room when just two people are talking. Consequently, as in life, it’s what we think as opposed to what we say that matters (hence the science of studying body language). That’s why the quote “Just think it and the camera will catch it” is so relevant.

If we explore this theory, then the size of the screen performance becomes irrelevant. Instead, if the screen performance comes from a place of truth, the actor actually “believing” what they are saying with the thoughts and feelings associated to that belief dominating their subconscious, then the body-language that will be triggered will be truthful and may well be really “big”.

However, if that actor is forcing the emotion, then they may well not be utterly “believing” that emotion – how can they be if they have to force an external performance?

If you don’t believe me, try this experiment which I often carry out when I find myself trying to illustrate this point to a group of actors who are transitioning from stage to screen.

Put a camera on a tripod, lock it off and point it at a chair. Then connect it to a monitor. Meanwhile, gather as many people as you can to sit in front of that monitor. Once your audience are seated, get an actor to sit in the chair, set up the camera on a close up of the actor and then ask that actor just to THINK about a key emotion (anger, fear, hate, love etc) without letting the audience know what that key emotion is. Watch that actor really, really closely and as soon as you see any evidence of them “acting”, stop them from doing so and tell them just to THINK the emotion instead. Don’t worry about the “size” of the performance. Just get them to THINK rather than ACT. Once the actor settles into that thought, invite the audience to call out what they are feeling that emotion is just by watching the actor on the screen. Once the actor is just thinking of that emotion and not trying to project it, you’ll be surprised how many members of the audience guess the emotion (or an emotion pretty damn close to the target emotion).

Still don’t believe me? OK, watch this and then challenge me on what I’m saying here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tzg_S4NrRQ

Now This Is What I Call A Damned Fine Monologue

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

If you do nothing else today, watch this...

I'm casting a project right now and in the light of so many monologues I am getting sent to me, can I suggest we all look at the following video as a master class in how to perform a monologue to camera.

The video I'm talking about was created by the Royal Shakespeare Company to publicise their stage production of Hamlet, with Jonathan Slinger in the title role and is available here .

May I suggest you watch it twice. The first time with the speakers turned up and the second time with no sound at all. When you watch it the second time, see how it reveals the internal the journey the actor is going through and how much he is doing by thought alone. Watching the footage mute reveals the "truth" in a performance as removing the dialogue stops us following the text and thence the narrative.

This is because Behavioural Scientists tell us that anything up to 80% of what we understand in conversations is actually non-verbal communication - body language. And this body language comes from the subconscious, little micro-expressions that dance across our faces and even our bodies to indicate what we're really thinking. It's the subconscious that reveals the "truth" or not in a performance.

Now go back and watch your latest monologue but turn the sound off. Ask yourself, do you actually believe the performance or are you "seeing the wheels turning", watching someone "act" rather than believe what they are doing?

So many monologues posted here won't pass this mute test.

Be A Sniper Not A Machine-Gunner

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

How to reduce all that rejection...How to reduce all that rejection...

I am casting a project right now and I have a casting call out for a 28-32 year old Caucasian male but I’m receiving submissions from actors who aren’t even of the right gender, let alone the right ethnicity.

I get that you all need work and commend any and all approaches to securing this but just applying for every role going doesn’t do you any favours.

No one actor can play any role known to man and when a Writer/Director is putting up a cast call, it’s a pretty fair bet that said Writer has a damn good idea as to what sort of characters populate their own script.

My advice is when it comes to submitting yourself for a role, don’t be a machine-gunner and apply blindly to each and every cast call you see, just in case. Instead, be a sniper and carefully target your submissions. This way, you’ll get a load less rejection (and who needs that anyway) and you’ll also come across as a lot more professional.

Each applicant should tailor their CV/Resume to make it role-specific and not just banging off a standard CV/Resume to every casting that catches their eye with a short covering letter (in the vain hope that the latter may actually get read). In doing so, each actor would be far more careful in their approach, taking time to make sure that they were applying for a role that they are indeed a “good fit for” and in doing so, submit physical evidence that would back up this supposition.

The consequences of this approach result in far less “cattle-call” auditions, less time wasted creating self-tapes for roles that the actor may not actually be a good fit for and a great deal less rejection. Also, emergent actors without an industry profile would be able to celebrate and build on their unicity when they see that they have personal relevance to the role in question and not be hampered by their lack of credits on their standard CV/Resume.

And also, do your research before submitting. Some Actors have actually taken the time to research me, dig into what I’m doing and then tailor their approach accordingly. This makes them stand out from the crowd, is super professional and damned impressive - far more impressive than a photo-shopped headshot, edited in the belief that it’ll “pop”. To a trained eye, it doesn’t. But a tailor-made covering email with links to relevant and appropriate self-tapes that illustrate your suitability for the role in question and an awareness of the project that I’m currently working on sure as hell do. It’s not hard to research what lies behind a cast call and it astonishes me how few actors actually bother to do this.

You get one chance to make a good impression. Don’t make life harder for yourself. I am really good at remembering Actors and I suggest you be selective in your approach to people like me.