There are some roles that we all love to play. They are easy to sink your teeth into and run with.
Unfortunately, they are the least common types of roles around.
Because “art imitates life”, chances are that 9 times out of 10 you are probably auditioning for roles that are more like the people you run across in everyday life rather than character roles.
So, even though it’s a lot of fun to work on and prepare for character roles, it is of the upmost importance that you focus on everyday roles first.
Here’s why…
Your performances should have you connect with the audience in a genuine way. When a performance comes off as in-genuine, it makes the audience disconnect and detracts from your performance.
The tricky part about this is that, since actions don’t play out on screen the same way they do off screen, they have to be amplified. Striking a balance between amplifying your actions to play well on screen vs overacting is a skillset that you must master, if you want to make big career moves.
One of the quickest and easiest ways to measure how your actions are playing out on screen is to… play them out on screen.
Pick a scene that you are interested in calibrating and set up a camera. Be sure that it captures at least a three quarter shot so that you can also see what your hands are doing, as those movements should also be a bit exaggerated and amplified.
Now, play the scene as you normally would. Then, play the scene out again but amplify your actions by 50%. This might make you a bit uncomfortable at first, but remember actions are muted when they come through a lens.
Watch the two scenes back and see which version of your scene is closer to what you would consider a stellar performance.
Don’t get your industry friends involved just yet.
If your amplified performance is closer to your ideal, but it plays a bit over the top, redo the scene but don’t mute yourself all the way back down again. Dial it back by just a bit (maybe 10%).
When you watch the scene back, take an honest assessment of where you are in comparison to what you consider to be a good performance.
Are you still way over the top? Tone it down a bit and redo the scene.
However, if you are anywhere near where you would like to be, this is where you should get your industry friends and contacts involved.
Because you are your harshest critic, you may feel that your actions are either too exaggerated or too muted when in fact they may be spot on.
This is why an objective, neutral opinion would be useful at this point. Whoever you decide to get an opinion from should be someone that can deliver “hard truths” without fear of hurting your feelings or damaging your relationship.
I always recommend that you provide them with some guidelines on what you want them to provide feedback on. You want more feedback than a simple “that was great.”
Ask them to provide feedback on your facial expressions, your hand movements, your vocal tonality, and anything else you felt unsure about. If you thought that a certain part of the scene was questionable, ask them about that specifically.
Here’s something that is key, to lock in your level of performance once you arrive at a good level. Replay the scene at least 10 times. After three or four times of doing this you will feel like it’s overkill.
Remember that this phase of calibrating your performance is about changing behavior, in essence, so you have to go beyond what you would normally do to ensure that the behavior sticks.
Here’s where it gets tricky again. Because your actions are seen differently through a lens than they are in person, you also have to calibrate your actions to play well in a room. After all that’s how most of your auditions will take place.
Repeat the exercise, but this time do it in front of a mirror. It should also provide about a three quarters view of yourself.
Do the same thing again: get close to where you think a good performance would be then involve an industry friend or contact. To differentiate your audition performance from your on screen performance, here’s what to do.
When you have arrived at a satisfactory performance with feedback from a third party, play the scene at that level again at least ten times. This time, however, you need to lock it in with a “state trigger.”
This could be a hand clap, a foot stomp, or anything else that will put you into the proper state of mind. You will be doing this anytime you are going into an audition, so pick something that you can do quickly and without making a scene in the room.
By doing the scene at least ten times and locking it in with a “state trigger” every time, you will creating an association between that trigger and the mental state that you were in when you locked it in.
It helps you to leverage one of the most important tools you have access to, your industry reputation and will fine tune it to make sure that your reputation matches your goals and potential.
You might be highly skilled at auditioning, but you also have to make sure that you have enough opportunities too.
As actors, we like to practice our craft but it’s important to put in the time and effort to market ourselves to the industry in order to create opportunities.
I like to say “if they don’t know you, they can’t hire you.”
This means that one of your primary goals is to get on their radar.
Don’t wait until you think your audition skills are “ready” to start putting in the work to create more of them. Start before you even feel you are ready. If you are lucky enough to get an audition and opportunity before you are ready, then at the very least it will give you a hard deadline to get there.
If you want some help with that check this out and remember that I am always only comment or an email way.
After all, my goal is to….
See you at the top,
Scott