How to Nail an Acting Audition 2023
Jan 12, 2023Three acting audition tips that work in 2023
Sometimes our minds get all gunked up and negative when we think of acting auditions, right? Here are some powerful audition tips for actors:
Acting Audition:Tips for acting
It's not always easy to then go into the room or turn over on a self tape is it? Here are 3 acting audition tips that will help you get unclear and unstuck. Fast.
Acting Tip 1 : Lose the word audition from your vocabulary
Banish it - because it makes you think of negative thoughts like fear and anxiety and worry and...ugghh!!
Words are anchors and they have DEEP emotional effects.
So...
Change the brain context - Let your brain KNOW you're OK
Make your brain think you are doing something you like, something you love and something you are comfortable with.
Instead of thinking "I am going in for an audition..." or "I've got this really important audition coming up..."
which triggers anxiety or worry or worse...
Say...
"I am meeting some colleagues or friends for a friendly chat..."
Your brain will go AH HA!! I see, I get it...We are going in for an easy warm relaxed chat which changes the... CONTEXT.
Get the idea?
Self tape tips
Acting Tip 2 : Own it, Name it and Claim it.
Go for the secondary level of scene NOT the first level. Not the first acting choice you make, challenge yourself :
Dive deeper, make deeper connections...
Become the character then when you feel confident with lines and the way the scene goes then:
Add an Acting ACTIVITY
Like eating something, or Playing Cards, or linking paper clips or whatever works...for YOU. Use your imagination and choose something appropriate to the content of the acting audition scene.
It occupies your conscious mind and leaves you more engaged and deeper in the scene.
Here's another video filled with Acting tips and Self tape tips
Acting Tip 3 : Come from a place of abundance not scarcity
Open your mind to what is possible not closed to what is not.
"I choose" means you are open to possibility and change and transformation
"I want" means you are closed and attached to scarcity, which is fear based because it means you do not have it.
Remember:
8 Key Tips for Nailing Your Next Audition by Ken Lazer
Actors are always asking me, “Do you have any advice on how I can improve my auditions?” Here are eight key tips that could help make your audition stand out from the competition.
1. If there are sides, try to get them in advance. Either familiarizing yourself with or memorizing your copy is a crucial key in nailing your next audition. The better prepared you are, the better the performance you will give, and the better the impression you will make on the CD for future auditions.
Sometimes the copy or sides are available only at the casting—in which case you really should get there in advance, pick up the copy, and leave. If you’re lucky enough to get the copy or sides in advance—even just the day before, take advantage of that opportunity and learn your scene.
2. What would the character you’re auditioning for wear to the casting? If you’re auditioning for the role of, let’s say a doctor. From my 23-plus years experience, when playing a doctor, I have found that wearing a white lab coat helps give the clients the illusion or a better idea of what you would look like if you were shooting the scene on set.
3. Is your hair/makeup camera-ready? This is an important point I cannot stress enough. I’ve had female actors come into an audition for me with a shiny face and messy hair. During rain or the summer humidity, it can be a challenge. Some actors think “Oh, it’s OK. If the client likes my audition I can look better on the callback.” Sorry, my friends. No. First impressions are important.
A producer or director sees your audition and how you on their monitor, thinking it’s the best you’re going to look. You need to make sure you know how to wear natural camera-ready makeup and how to make sure your hair looks great. No stray hairs, no frizz. Think to yourself, How would I look if I booked this?
4. Would your character be using any props during the audition? Referring back to the doctor example: What things would a doctor have on them? Of course depending upon the scene, it could be a clipboard and pen, or a stethoscope around the neck.
Props help make your character look more realistic. Thus, helping your audition stand out from your competition.
5. Get to the casting 20 minutes earlier than your audition time. If you were lucky enough to get the copy or sides the day before, you are already prepared. But it’s a good idea to get to your audition about 20 minutes prior to your appointment time.
Don’t sign in until five minutes before your audition time though. If your name is on the sign-in sheet and the CD is going by the sign-in sheet, you could be called in earlier than expected. If you’re not prepared, this could hurt your audition. Instead, check your hair and makeup again in the restroom, then follow step six.
6. Go over your copy/sides in quiet place again before signing in. You’re there 20 minutes before your appointment time. You’ve checked your hair and makeup. Now it’s time to focus, meditate, and calm your nerves. See in your mind how your audition will go.
Practice the copy in a private corner away from everyone. Don’t socialize with your competition. This is a business. You want the job. You need to prepare.
7. Have at least two different ways of performing the scene. Whether you get the copy the day before or get the copy the day of the audition, always plan out at least two different ways of performing the scene. Be prepared to listen to the CD for notes and adjustments.
Sometimes, after you do the scene, a CD might say to you, “OK, let’s try it another way,” and not give any direction. So having that backup way of doing the scene differently will be beneficial.
8. Ask the CD or camera op what the framing will be. Is the framing headshot-style? Waist up? Full length? Depending upon the framing, this will determine how much movement you can do. If it’s headshot framing, movement is restricted. Arms and hands won’t be seen.
If waist up, you have more visible movement with which to play. If full length, maybe you can walk into the scene from off camera if it makes sense to do so.
Bonus tip: Be positive and friendly—especially to the casting assistants. See you at the studio!
So you can see there are some differences between the US way of doing things and the European way...but we meet in the middle when it comes to great acting, right?
CLICK on pic: FREE Self Taping Training
How to Nail Your Drama School Audition
Joe Richardson from the Guildford School of Acting audition panel gives us his insight into nailing your drama school audition...
At Spotlight’s recent Open House, Joe Richardson led a session on the kinds of things you’ll need to ace your drama school audition. If you’re thinking about getting some formal training, we have lots of great advice and first person stories on different types of training, drama schools, and more.
Choose something appropriate
This should be a monologue from a play - not a song, or a poem, or anything else! It can often be either classical or contemporary, but be sure that it’s definitely a piece from a play that you think represents you as a performer well. Show yourself in the best possible light! And don’t start off on the wrong foot by choosing something from a different medium to adapt into a monologue, if there are specific criteria. You might think you’re setting yourself apart, but chances are this will backfire. Show you can follow instructions and work on something that presents your craft at its best.
Work with others
In any movement workshop or similar, a willingness to work with others and collaborate is vital. This means leading and following as appropriate, observing those around you and noticing what’s going on. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to show your willingness to be a part of a creative team.
Make the space yours
For the time in which you are performing the monologue, make the space your own - take ownership of it. “The space is yours, this is your room - you’re not renting it for two and a half minutes,” says Joe. Take command and show your confidence in the space.
Don’t demand feedback
A lot of drama schools won’t give any, unfortunately. This is because of the huge numbers of people who are seen, as well as the fact that you’re very likely to get a whole set of conflicting advice - chances are it won't be all that useful to you. Try not to feel too worried about what their feedback might be. It can be hard to accept, but the reality is that there isn’t always going to be clear and constructive feedback on your work as an actor.
If you’re directed, take it on
On the other hand, if you are given some direction or feedback, show that you’re open to it. Since trainability and adaptability are important to your success in drama school, don’t just ignore direction if it’s offered. Demonstrate to the panel that you’re willing to take the advice and/or critique and adjust accordingly - they may ask you to repeat a section of your monologue in a different way. Even if you don't nail their directions, showing that you are willing to give it a try is vital.
Don't be afraid of mistakes
“We’re looking for people who can be trained,” says Joe. So openness, being responsive and being adaptable are way more important than perfection. Even if you do make mistakes, it’s not the end of the world - show that you are willing to try again, keep going and work through it. The ability to be trained is vital in ensuring that you show yourself as a good candidate for drama school.
Just go for it
The panel will be looking to see that you are willing to go for it and aren't too worried about looking silly, or doing too much self-monitoring. If those voices are already creeping in at the audition stage and holding you back, drama school will be very tough! Be ready to get stuck in to both your monologue and any other kinds of workshop or ensemble-driven auditions.
Transcript of video
This is the number one tip. This is it. Here we go. It's called lose the word audition from your vocabulary. Banish it. Banish the word audition from your vocabulary.
Cheers, just going to have a cup of coffee while you think about that, and the reason I want to suggest this is because I've coached over 2000 actors now. Every single one of them that I speak to says pretty much the same things when it comes to the word audition. If I ... And I'm going to test it out with you now. If I ask you now, when I say the word audition, right down in the chat roll, what do you think about? What do you feel inside your body when you hear the word audition? Just drop it down. Drop it down in the comments now. Just drop it down there.
Now, what I hear most of the time when I talk to people, I hear words like ... Just so you know, words are what we call anchors. If you hear a negative, you can have negative anchors and positive anchors. If I say the word audition to most of the people that I've coached, most of them hear words like fear, worry, stress, anxiety, hopelessness. I'm never going to get this, which means I feel like I'm not worthy or something like that. They the word audition connects to negative feelings inside actor's minds and body.
So what I want to do is to suggest that what we do to spin this around is to change the context that your brain understands what ever it is that you're going in for. So if you think about it like this, the context that your brain is looking at an audition, when you use a negative word like that is fear, stress, worry. That's the context. So your brain thinks, "Okay, what I have to do is to create that anxiety, create that worry, create that context."
So what I want to do is to suggest to you this, this is what you can do. You can change the nature of the context. And I'm going to share my screen now and will this work? Let's see. Oh, there it is. That's it. A plus BC, add positive brain context. This is all you've got to do. A plus BC is all you need to remember.
Add positive brain context and that will change the way that you think about things. So instead of thinking, "I've got this audition was going to make me feel bad," what I want you to do to think about something like ... something that your brain feels positively contextualized.
Something that you like doing, like chatting with friends, like enjoying a lovely rehearsal, like having a good time. So instead of going into the audition saying, "I'm going into this audition on, I'm really scared," you can say to yourself, "I'm going in for a meeting, I'm going in for a chat with some friends." And your brain will re-code that experience based on this new context that you give it.
"I'm going in for an interview with some friendly, warm colleagues. I'm going in for a lovely chat with friends." And soon as ... Or you can even include the act, "I'm going into act in front of and with some really warm friends of mine." And as soon as you give the brain that context, the brain latches on and changes the way that you experience that particular thing.
Are you familiar with Backstage.com and Project Casting...?
So do let me know what you think about that. Drop down what your thoughts are about that and whether you're going to try this out, check this out for yourself. You can use it in any situation. It works in any situation whatsoever.
So the next thing I'm going to do, so the second tip here for your acting auditions is this, own it, name it, claim it. And what I mean by this is most actors, I've coached a lot of people with their audition sides and things like that, when I say, "Okay, let's have a look at this, what are you going to do," let's say they've got a ... they're going to ... What most actors do is what I call first level pass through.
They go the first level and that's what they put down as their self tape or as their audition. And that first level, let me give you an example. Let's say there's a situation which is a conventional one. We've all seen a hundred times. There is a doctor, a male or female, doesn't matter, doctor and a patient and the doctor is coming in to talk to the patient to deliver some bad news.
Let's say that's what the scene is. And the scene is literally the doctor has to inform the patient of the bad news. Now, when I work with that, they take what I call the first level. And the first level is always, that the doctor and usually, if it's a man, they tend to put on a slightly deep voice and that's the first level because they're going to deliver something very difficult to the patient.
And it works for women too, exactly the same thing. Same rules apply. You do the top level of the scene, and that's all that you do. And when you do that, which is great and that is in there, that has to be contextualized. That's obviously got to be in there. That's great. The problem that you're going to have with that is out of the, let's say there are 30, 40 people up for the role that you're going for, the casting director is going to see 31 first level performances.
You've got to change that. You have to change that and what you got to do is think in a new way. Take your first level and then think next level. What's the next level? How can you add something to the background of the character? How can you add something to the day of the character, to the urgency of the character, to the desire of the character. Something that makes it even more important.
Maybe there's an obstacle that's happening that's really difficult that we don't know what it is. You see, when people say to us things like, "Do something unusual and something surprising," we tend to think, "Oh, you mean do something surprising." But no, what's surprising is when you go counterculture, when you go against the first level of the scene.
I've got an example about this. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about this and he was saying that a friend of ours, who was an actor over here in Dublin went up for a film. And what he did was he played the scene exactly what it was, a first level seen, which is a slightly psychotic man in a bar talking to a stranger wanting some information. And what he did was he ate food as he did it.
Now think about this, if someone's playing a really dodgy, critical mad, slightly insane character. And if you're eating food at the same time that you're doing this, you're just What does that do for you? How does that change the way that you think about the scene? Do you get the idea?
Let me know what you think about that. Drop me a line under here. Let me know. What do you think? I think it's great. I hope you liked that. That's a really powerful one. I use this all the time and it works, guys. It really, really works.
And the final thing we're going to talk about today is what I call the scarcity and the abundance mindset. When actors talk to me about what it is that they want as an actor, they want more work, they want more money, they want better roles, they want to get up to the next level, they want to create a better character.
Whenever actors use the word want, they're coming from a position of scarcity because whatever you want, you don't have. When you don't have it, you're sending a signal to your unconscious mind. And very briefly.
By the way, if you guys like this kind of thing, I'm going to do more of these, totally free ones and I will explain more and help you understand much more about the way that brain works because your conscious mind is only a fraction of what it is that you're aware ... or what you can use.
Some people even say that we use 1% or 2% of our conscious mind, whereas our unconscious mind is another 98%. When you can start to activate that, imagine what you could take into the audition room or onto yourself tape or on stage.
This is what we want to do. So if you give the wrong instruction to your unconscious mind from a scarcity point of view, "I want to have a good audition," that means I lack a good audition. I don't have good audition. That means it's not working well. And your brain codes that as, "I don't have this," which means there's a reason for that. "I don't have this because," usually in my experience, "I'm not worth it." That tends to be what's under the bottom of this.
So I'm suggesting choose what you want. Come from a position of abundance. Come from a place where you already have whatever it is that you want, that you're feeling good and choose to have a good interview or a good meeting with friends. You get the idea, choose to have a good meeting with friends that you're already enjoying.
Get the idea?
Fantastic. Okay guys, thank you so much for coming along today. That's the very first of these. You can see my ... over here now, the website's up here and if you've got any questions write to me at [email protected]. Come along to the website. Love to see you there. And thanks so much. Come and share the videos that ...
Oh yeah, just a reminder, if you share this, the person who shares this the most by the end of the week gets a full lifetime access to Total Audition Magician and a coaching call with me.
So thank you so much for coming along today guys. And please spread the word. And if you've enjoyed this, let me know and if you've got any questions, anything you'd like me to cover in further broadcasts, do let me know and I'll speak to you all very, very soon.
Bye guys.
With love x Nick
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