08/11/2024
Auditions, submissions and thoughts on feedback
I’ve had a few requests for feedback on submissions and selftapes, so I hope this newsletter might be of some interest to the actors amongst you. I’ll post it on the page too – so please feel free to comment and add your opinions.
Generally, I don’t think asking for specific feedback on an audition from a CD is all that valuable to an actor – though I understand the desire for feedback. Normally the CD is up to their eyes in work and won’t have time for individual feedback. They may not have kept any tapes from those who have not been shortlisted. If they do offer feedback, it is highly likely to be generic. It will probably be some variation on “I really enjoyed watching your work. You gave a lovely performance and technically I have no notes*. On this occasion there were other performances that were “more right” for the job we are casting. We will keep you in mind for other roles in the future”.
*(there might be something, but most actors who have got to selftape stage know how to do selftapes)
All of this feedback will be TRUE in pretty well every case. Occasionally it’s possible that they are just being polite but if your tape was bad they may not tell you.. How will you know that this generic response is the whole truth? Are you much wiser for it? Will it help you with other self tapes?
The additional problem is that if you ask a CD for feedback and they give you anything that isn't generic, it is highly likely that you will want some aspect of it clarified, or that you really need to discuss it with them. They definitely won't have time for that!
I think actors are looking for reassurance – which is perfectly understandable. But would you have submitted the tape if you didn’t think it was pretty good and what was asked for? I think it’s probably more useful to ask for reassurance and feedback on your acting from a teacher or coach whose job it is to offer honest feedback to help you to progress. I also think it’s useful to practice selftapes and get used to assessing for yourself what "works". Manuel Puro’s courses are brilliant for this (I’m not on commission). Watching other actors’ tapes and assessing them is such an enjoyable way to learn. If you haven’t come across the courses before, I recommend investigating them. https://www.purocasting.com/the-acting-habit
The best positive feedback you can have from a casting director is to be invited to audition for another job.
Anyway, here we go – a few thoughts on submissions and selftapes. Yes, that was just the preamble.
If you've read my posts on Actors UK, you'll know that brevity isn't my strong suit.
I’m an actor. I submit for jobs all the time – or my agent does. If you ever get the chance to be involved in casting, I thoroughly recommend it. You learn so much when you receive lots of submissions and selftapes all at once! It has certainly given me plenty to ponder and lots of things to remember for the next time I tape for a job. Here are some thoughts which might be useful to some of you – especially if you don’t yet have very much professional experience.
Submissions:
Most of your submissions were great but:
1. Don’t apply for something without reading the instructions. Don’t let enthusiasm lead you to rush the submission (I’ve been guilty of this and it’s so easily done). If the instructions say “no attachments” – please don’t send attachments with your email. The likelihood is that your submission will be disregarded if you do. It is very easy to have an online CV these days (check out Casting Callback).
2. If you are sending a photo in the body of your email, please send a small one! It should just be a thumbnail reminder for the person casting and I will be clicking on your online CV link where I can see your headshot. Check the file size before sending your email. I had several emails where I was just looking at someone’s eyebrow on the screen when I opened the email because the photo within the email was so enormous.
3. Remember that any job that pays anything (even as low paid as this one) is likely to attract quite a lot of interest. Don’t give the caster a reason to discard your submission without even reading it.
Don’t apply for every role in the breakdown unless you genuinely could play any of them. There were two male and two female roles here with different playing ages – it is fairly unlikely that you would be suitable for all four of them.
4. It’s nice if you express enthusiasm for the project in your submission but the honest truth is (in my case) that I only skim read the submission email and go straight to your online CV/photos and showreel. Other casters might be different. A few lines confirming what is asked for in the casting breakdown is lovely and shows me you’ve bothered to read it. An essay almost certainly won’t be read. Don’t agonise over exactly what you say or how you phrase anything.
5. You NEED a showreel these days. There is honestly no getting round that unless you are writing to someone who already knows your work. A selftape type showreel is very much better than nothing. There’s another article/newsletter coming about showreels.
Thoughts on selftapes.
None of this will be news to most of you, but maybe some of it will be helpful to some of you.
Everyone casting will have different views, but I suspect that a lot of these opinions will be common to lots of people who cast actors – including many more experienced casting directors.
Getting asked to record a selftape means that someone casting saw something in your application they liked. Count it as a success! If you didn’t get a recall after you have submitted a selftape, this doesn’t mean your selftape was bad. I received some wonderful selftapes during casting for The Hunt for Hairy and Mary – but some of them were more suitable than others for the characters being cast. I know you all know that. It’s still important for you to remind yourselves of that from time to time.
What makes a good selftape?
One where you can be clearly seen (especially your eyes), where there aren’t too many distractions and where you can be clearly heard. Technically, that’s about it really.
Oh. This one matters! Please learn to label/rename your tapes if you don’t yet know how to do this. This will please every CD you ever send a tape to, I promise! Your name and the character name is usually what’s required, but check any instructions given. Once your tapes are saved in a folder, they are separate from your email. If you haven’t labelled them and the CD has forgotten to rename them for you, it will be a tape with a totally useless filename of a bunch of letters and numbers.
If you can compress your tape before sending it via Wetransfer, that will likely be appreciated too. Huge files take time to download and those doing the casting are only going to be watching your tapes on a smallish screen most of the time. There are lots of compression apps available and the quality is still pretty good with compressed files. MP4 seems to be a bit easier than .MOV for sending on to others. You can’t send a .MOV file via WhatsApp, I discovered. It’s not difficult to convert (which is what I did) but it’s one more job. Not a deal breaker by any means, but just thought I’d mention it. I’ll try to remember to specify MP4 for future castings.
What you wear. This didn’t matter all that much for most of these characters, though I appreciated the subtle choices many of you made. Don’t dress against the character. My advice would usually be “what would this character choose to wear out of the clothes I have in my wardrobe? What would they be most comfortable in?” If possible, try not to wear something the same colour as your background.
Props. Sometimes they’re helpful. Sometimes they can be distracting. It’s a judgement call. If the character is supposed to be holding something and it’s integral to the scene – don’t mime. Find something to at least signify the thing you are supposed to be holding. On the other hand, beware of bringing in props if they’re not essential because we may well end up watching the prop and not you.
If there is some traffic noise, or a dog barks, or a door bangs, don’t discount it if it’s otherwise your best take. Most CDs will happily ignore very minor “noises off”. Don’t forget to put your phone on airplane mode while you are filming.
If you can have a plain background, it makes it easier to focus on you and your acting – but if you are not in your usual place or your circumstances make it impossible, then just do the best you can to minimise distractions in the background.
Try to ensure that your eyeline is level with the camera lens. If you are filming in selfie mode this can be harder to judge, so check it out before the first take. Place the person you are speaking to in the scene just slightly to one side of the lens. You probably won’t be looking down the lens on set, so try to avoid doing this in a selftape (unless instructed otherwise, or unless the character is in “presenter” mode).
I want to see your version of the character. How would you behave in these circumstances? Remember that the CD has selected you from lots of other possible candidates, so they already like the “essence” of who you are for this character. Character descriptions might help you tweak your performance, but in the end it’s what YOU bring to the tape that’s truly interesting. We need to believe the person you are portraying in the tape really exists. Don’t try to second guess what is required. No-one can do “you” as well as you can.
Don’t do too many takes, you’ll drive yourself mad! Prepare as well as you can before you start taping. Don’t submit more than one take unless they are really different (unless you have been asked to do so). Lots of the scenes were short and several people sent more than one take. I don’t mind this, but if the takes you send are only subtly different it’s really a waste of everyone’s time. If you are struggling to decide between two fairly similar takes, the likelihood is that either one of them will be just fine. Toss a coin if necessary. :)
Do try to learn the script for a self tape for a screen role if you possibly can. It is likely to make a difference to the spontaneity of your performance and you’ll probably feel more relaxed. I know it’s not always possible. Don’t worry about being absolutely word perfect, it’s not a memory test.
Many actors submitted strong, imaginative tapes. Some of you enlisted the help of adorable dogs – and I loved seeing them. It was an example of you being able to work with dogs so I understand why you involved them. The tapes were terrific. In the end though, it really didn’t make a difference as to whether or not someone was shortlisted. I believed those who said they were happy to work with dogs, whether or not a dog appeared in the video. Not including a dog in the tape certainly didn’t disadvantage anyone. I think this is a lesson we could all take into the bizarre demands of some commercial tapes. In the end, you’ll get picked (or not) because of you – not because of the particular ingenuity of a tape. If you enjoy doing these imaginative and creative tapes, I’m sure people will enjoy watching them – but people still get hired from simple ones.
The ident:
This is a chance to provide the information outlined in the instructions but it is also a chance for us to see you separately from the character in the tape and it is a part of the audition – just as the chat in person would be. I need to remember this and work on showing a happy rather than extremely grumpy face when I’m asked to provide a landscape video of a full length shot of me walking up and down! I know the ident is a very artificial thing to do; don’t worry about slight fluffs or hesitations – no-one is judging your presenting skills. Just try to give a relaxed and friendly and open version of you. It’s great if you look down the lens for this – because then we get the impression you are talking directly to us.
Finally:
I learned so much (as an actor) from watching all the tapes. Thank you for all the effort you put into them. One of the things I’ve learned – and will do my very best to remember - is to trust that the person viewing will see the little things – that there is no need to “signal” anything. Let the thoughts land and the thought processes just happen. There’s no need to show that you are listening. If you just listen honestly, we’ll see it.
Helen Grady
Cactus Patch Productions
