Audition techniques: 10 rules
Good acting alone is not enough in an audition; you also have to make the casting team's job easy. These ten things help in every audition.
Preparation
- Read the whole scene, not just your lines. Understand what the character wants and what stops them.
- Know your lines so well that you don't have to think, so your attention stays on your partner.
- Find a true reason for the character. In Yogesh CineAct this is called Self-Linking: connecting the character's emotion to something real in your own life.
In front of the camera
- Keep the slate (name, height, city) short, direct and warm. It is your first impression.
- Keep your eyeline just beside the lens, unless you are asked to look straight into it.
- Listen more than you speak. In a close-up your reaction shows most.
- Don't force the emotion. Don't Do, Let It Happen: the camera catches a fake emotion at once.
Self-tapes
- Light from the front, from a window or one simple lamp; a plain wall behind you.
- Phone at eye level; a quiet room or an inexpensive lapel microphone for sound.
- Record two different takes, and send the file in exactly the format and name you were asked for.
After the audition
No single audition decides anything. Watch each recording yourself and fix one thing. Casting teams remember the actor who keeps getting better.
Practice in class
Month two of Indian Films Academy's cinematic acting course has a full module on auditions and self-tapes: real scripts, the camera and a correction on every take.