Developing excellent acting skills, especially in professional level acting classes in nyc, can help build a great foundation. A solid auditioning technique is also paramount however and acting classes in nyc do not always include this in their curriculum. Audition tapes are a big part of the process now. Auditioning via tape does not mean you need to spend lots of money on a professional production. Just borrow or rent a camera, enlist the help of an aspiring director friend and follow these simple rules.
Everyone knows what a bad lighting job can do to someone’s appearance. Strong shadows falling in the wrong places can eliminate your chances of producers watching the tape all the way through. Too much light an you look completely washed out. Anything that takes away from your performance is lethal and bad lighting is one of those things. A well lit subject is one in which the lighting just “disappears.” A professional acting program, especially acting classes in nyc, should have someone on staff that has experience producing tapes. A diagram of a simple lighting plan is something they can help you with.
Two or three small lights will do the trick. Lights can be placed on either side of the talent to help illuminate the face. Then a third light can be used to fill in the background. Some audition tapes have chosen to leave the background dark. Just be sure the overall tape is not too dark, or the contrast too great between your face and the background. Every camera has a White Balance feature that needs to be set.
Light sources, such as lamps, professional lights and daylight all have different temperatures. Incandescent lights are yellow, daylight is very blue. Let’s say you set up the lighting, and you are also near a window. A mix of light sources is possible but, the camera must be “balanced” to correct for these color differences. The white balance feature is used to make this correction quickly and automatically. Just place something white in the approximate place where you will be standing and hit White Balance. If you do not use this feature the color will be completely off, especially your skin tones. Forget to do this and skin tones and all other colors will be “off,” which is very distracting.
How you sound is also very important. If you cannot be heard clearly, or if there is distracting static or white noise, you have wasted your time. No one wants to sit through a tape that they can’t hear. Keep the mic as close to the talent as possible. Renting a good quality microphone is a good idea, as the camera mounted variety are usually prone to pick up lots of static and stray noise. Let’s face it, acting is a form of communication and you cannot communicate clearly if you can’t be heard. There are plenty of good acting classes in nyc that will help guide you through this process.
With these basics in place now is the time to think about content. Preparing for a live audition is slightly different than preparing for a taped one, of course. Preparation can be made easier if you’ve studied Meisner acting techniques with trained coaches. The discipline of Meisner acting is one that helps create riveting, unpredictable performances, which is what you strive for. What you leave “out” of a performance is just as important as what you leave in, according to expert coaches of Meisner acting nyc. Cramming every emotion and gesture into a performance will always seem false. The key to great acting is what you don’t present, but leave simmering underneath. Audiences like to work, think, and look for clues which is a way to engage them in your performance.
At times, actors are asked to include something very specific, but it should still have your own ideas incorporated. More often, casting agents and producers ask for monologues not scenes. Prepare something that plays to your strengths, of course, be it comedy, drama or character driven. However, keep in mind that the best actors have developed strong skills in all of these genres and use it all. Tragedy and comedy always work together, for instance and its good to include a sense of both. Enlist the teachers of acting classes in nyc, or wherever you study, to review your practice tapes and incorporate their suggestions. Professional actors are always open to direction, certainly as an up and coming actor it’s smart to remain open to input regarding your audition tape.
The Maggie Flanigan Studio provides acting classes in nyc for serious actors. To learn more about nyc commercial acting classes visit the studio website.