Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Week 12- Taking Stock
This week we are at Midterm review. We have been practicing mock interviews with casting directors and bringing
new monologues before the class. What have you learned about yourself during this process? Why should a casting director bet on you and take a risk by casting you for a project?
Do you have everything that you promised on your
resume?
As you sit on the other side and watch your peers, do you learn anything helpful about being in the room? What mistakes have you seen? What have you
thought about that can help you be more successful in the audition process? Are your materials tight? Do they represent what you
want to show to casting directors? If so, great. If not, time to buckle down and get to work.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This week has definitely been very interesting and a very good learning experience for me. Probably the one thing that I saw that is the most important is to have the ability to keep the casting director's attention. If they check out of the audition, they aren't going to want to cast you. They will forget about you. So I've learned that I need to be interesting. In what I say about myself, in the monologues I choose to do, even how I hold myself in general. You could lose a director's attention just by having bad body language. During my audition the comment about my shorts gave me an interesting insight. I never really realized what a simple piece of clothing can do to affect the entire audition. I don't know how I feel about how I want to come off and use my assets to my advantage or strictly make them focus on my acting. I will have to think about that one some more. I mean, if you've got them, use them.. right? Anyways. I also learned that I need to open myself up during my monologues and I think that this is what has been my problem with all of my monologues. I subconsciously feel vulnerable and my mind doesn't like it and will put a layer over myself. I need to work on not doing that. I know that its okay to be vulnerable because it makes it raw and real. Working on "The Laramie Project" piece really helped me because I finally felt like I was breaking through and tightening my audition pieces and it really felt great when I did something well.
ReplyDeleteI am very suddenly experiencing the enthusiasm to find and work monologues, at a slightly unfortunate time. I have very little voice from my allergies/cold/sinus infection, whatever it is. But no matter! I'll work some next week when given the chance. As I've said before, this semester is about facing the only fears I have left. I'm not a person who shrinks, and I freaking refuse to shrink before these monologues.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I say "enthusiasm to find and work monologues," I don't mean that I'm finding them easily. I've been scouring plays for them, and yet consistently marvel at how good everyone else's are. I did a monologue from Oleanna freshman year, and I think I'd like to tackle it again with a couple of years' maturity under my belt (or so I'd like to think). It's a different part of the scene that Danielle's doing. I loved Anna's and Jackie's monologues and would very much like to steal them for a time in which we're not competing with each other. How does everyone find these? I read and read and still can barely find one that isn't just a girl ranting about or idolizing some guy.
I grabbed one from the movie Blood Diamond and worked it today. I'm going to keep looking for contemporary monologues, preferably ones that show some contrast to my usual characters. I actually struggle with these more than classical. Shakespeare doesn't make me shake. I love to go Wilde (aren't I punny? no). But hand me a girl declaring her love to some dandy in the 21st century, and I don't know what to do with my hands.
Do I have everything that I promised on my resume...I meant to say in the last blog post that I feel like part of my college career has been trying to add random skills to my resume. I pick up accents pretty easily, but one has to practice to stick boxing or foreign languages or juggling up there. Wiggling eyebrows, however, comes naturally :)
I'd like to be able to stick some form of dancing on there, but unfortunately, "crazy sweaty gyrating at an electronic show" doesn't qualify. Even if I am good at it.
The most important thing I have learned about myself in the last week has been that my package is not together. I have a habit of never memorizing a song unless I absolutely have to, which means that the only stuff I have on hand is all the classical music I have to do for voice lessons. Also, I still don’t have a good contrasting monologue to go with the one from The Adventures of Nervous Boy. I think my resume is honest and I think I am a pretty strong actor, but I need to tighten my audition materials so I can show that. Watching everyone else has definitely helped a lot. It reinforces how important confidence and energy are and developing a rapport with the director/producers. Something I’ve learned from this class is to be true to yourself. I think we’re all pretty entertaining, confident people when we’re around our friends or family, and I think bringing that self to an audition is half the battle right there. I have my work cut out for me, and my goal is to come out of this class 100% differently from how I came into it.
ReplyDeleteDoing the mock interviews with me sitting as the casting director I thought was so beneficial, because when I or my fellow casting group members were asking the questions I could see the actors that were confident in their answers and I could really see that some actors had rehearsed there “about me” part. I also noticed the people that seemed guanine and the people that maybe where forcing the entrance. I now see why confidence is such an essential attribute to have since it makes a casting directors feel like they are taking a less of a risk, because; at least in my mind, an actor that has confidence will make bold tactics when it comes to giving a performance. When it comes to my résumé I feel that my fellow class members have given me more confidence to put things on my résumé that I would have never done before, for example, I would never in a million years would have put that I can sing country music, but after I did in class I found that the members of the class said good things and really made it fun to do. that gave me more confidence to put that on my résumé.
ReplyDeleteWow, well being on the casting directors side was very interesting for me. I know my resume says that I do dance but I haven’t done it in awhile so I don’t feel very comfortable doing it anymore, so I will be removing that until I begin my dance classes again over the summer to get back in the hang of things. I don’t really feel like I have any other special skills or talents. I need to begin to expand my horizons more so I can be more interesting. I feel like I have started to get my confident when talking with casting directors and I think I have a good “tell me about yourself.” I begin to lose my confidence when I start to do my monologues. This is because I don’t feel confident in my monologues because I’m lacking a connection with them. Something I have learned is always be prepared because it is the most awful feeling to be that person who crashes and burns in an audition. I know when I was playing casting director that I seemed like I was checked out but I was actually paying attention, so just because a casting director doesn’t seem like they are interested it doesn’t mean that they aren’t. My materials definitely are not tight and I need to work on them more. I am currently right now trying to find a connection with my material and I failing to do so. I think that they are great material for me, but I would like to find something that is funnier because I find that comedy is my strength.
ReplyDeleteI loved being a casting director. Being able to watch what works, what doesn't work, and what sort of work is "true work" to put into a piece is amazing. I love watching some of my classmates transform and become dynamic characters, than return to singing a song or doing a dance. It is great as well because at the end of the day we are all helping each other out, which is something we won't necessarily experience outside of this bubble University setting. A casting director should bet on me because I have a plethora of skills that are unique; I am bilingual, I tap, I compose music, I do photography, graphic design, website design, fight choreography (certified), dance, sing, act, gymnastics, etc. etc. I feel that in auditioning me a casting director can trust that I am dynamic, fresh, willing to take direction, make unique choices, and learn a new skill if necessary. I think it is one of my best traits that I have a lot of skills; I depend on this all the time during auditions and reads. I think the biggest and really only mistake I see as a casting director is lack of preparation. It shows and is a bad habit. I don't know any great professional actors that I've worked with or watched that aren't consistently on their grind and consistently doing something in pursuit of the dream. Dreaming and wanting is NOT anywhere near enough in a world where we are submitting alongside 1500000000 other people who are dreaming and wanting as well. I feel that I always have to look towards tomorrow, towards the next job, towards the next opportunity, towards the next skill....until I get what I want . My materials are almost tight; another couple tries and they should be ready to roll!
ReplyDeleteAs I’ve mentioned before, the process of presenting new monologues and practicing mock interviews with casting directors has really helped me better understand my strengths and weaknesses. Nicole has said from day one that this class would be a waste of our time (and hers) if she simply told everyone, regardless of the quality of their work, that they were great. This approach used to intimidate me a bit but now I completely understand what she means and I appreciate this element of our class. If she sugar-coated her feedback, that wouldn’t help anyone because we need to know what we can do better and how we can improve upon those things. If Nicole didn’t give me her honest opinion on my work, then I wouldn’t know my strengths and weaknesses as well as I do now.
ReplyDeleteI think there are many reasons that the casting director should risk casting me. I’m professional and arrive on time. I’m low-maintenance and don’t need to be the center of attention. I come prepared with my lines memorized and I’m ready to work. I’m a good actor and I take direction very well. Overall, I’m very easy to work with. My resume and my materials are tight and I believe they illustrate everything I want the casting directors to know about me and my skills.
Our class has greatly improved their audition skills since the beginning of the semester. One of the things we can all (myself included) work on is confidence. The last time I presented my audition materials, Nicole told me that I need to walk into the room in a way that says to the casting directors, “I am everything you want and I’m going to show you why.” I’m working on taking that to heart because as we all know by now, the audition starts the minute you walk in the room and doesn’t end until the door has closed behind you.
I love all of the improvisational work we do in this class. I believe it has lead me and other students in the class to some of the best discoveries in the class about our work. Doing the mock interviews is great because it lets you hone and sharped your skills a little as an actor when you are going to an audition, but improvising as a casting director also helps with the confidence factor because you can see a multitude of feedback from non-existent, to negative, to impressed. I think my work is tighter but I need new pieces to work on. Because i have been bogged down with school and other projects I haven't been able to find one piece that I look and think "that's totally me." I love how honest all of the exercises are. I know my work can be super put together and I know I can book jobs. I just have to find more time and get in a groove with it and set myself up for success.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I loved playing the part of the casting director! There is definitely a lot of power in that role. I know that there should be some equal footing in the actor and casting director, director, etc. But I am not Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. Those actors might have their directors and casting directors chasing after them, but when I personally walk into the audition, I kind of have to suck up. I am not fake or overly nice, but I definitely am on my best possible behavior. As for the monologues, I have a come a long long ways. The material I chose this semester compared to last semester was so much harder and had a lot more depth. I have come a long ways this semester and worked up the courage to tweak my monologues which has been a big weakness for me.
ReplyDelete