With pretty much the entire entertainment industry shut down right now, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to work. Everyone is experiencing the same stoppage of work and we are all trying to find ways to not feel as far away from our careers. Some people are doing acting classes over Zoom, I’ve had friends who have been doing script readings and performances on different live video platforms, and some people are creating their own solo work (or work with other people they live with). I haven’t really done a lot of those things yet, but they are ideas that I have been exploring.
But right after the social isolation started, I heard of friends who were still getting auditions because we can do self-tapes. I’ve done self-tape auditions before, but they have always included someone else working with me because I need a reader and someone to run the camera. I wasn’t too worried about how to do a self-tape in isolation until I got an audition notice from my agent.
This audition notice wasn’t for a specific project or part. It was a general. A general is when a casting office auditions actors to see who they like and want to keep in consideration for the future. When casting offices work on multiple shows that may have dozens of minor characters each episode, it’s good for them to have a shortlist of actors they like so they can get them scheduled for an audition right away. Generals aren’t as common as they used to be, so to get one was really awesome! And I’m hoping that maybe this time will lead to more.
I have a pretty decent self-tape setup at my house, but it’s not perfect. Fortunately, perfection was not required for this one. I have my tripod for my iPad (since that is the better camera), but I didn’t know how I was going to have a reader or someone to make sure I looked ok in the video frame. But I had recently gotten a ring light to use since I was doing a lot more video chats and wanted to not be backlit. The ring light had a tripod and a holder for a phone, so I realized I could have a friend on Facetime on my phone, put that on the ring light tripod, put that tripod behind my iPad on the other tripod, and then they could read the other lines and check how I looked on camera.
It was a really weird setup and I regret not taking a photo of it, but it did the job. My friend Andie was the one who was on Facetime as my reader and she did a great job making sure that I was word perfect with the script and that I looked ok on camera. I did struggle a bit with acting against a phone screen instead of a person (and I had to put a post-it on my phone to cover up where I was on the screen), but after a few takes I got used to it and it was fine.
Once that was done, I immediately sat down to edit it. The editing was pretty simple since there were just 2 parts that I had to combine. I just had to find the best take of each part and put them into one clip. I’m glad it was an easy editing job because it’s been a while since I’ve edited using iMovie.
And as soon as the editing was done, I uploaded it to the casting site to send it off to the casting director. I didn’t want to procrastinate on that because I might start thinking I didn’t do a good job with my audition and want to do it again. I try not to have those regrets after an audition and you really don’t get do-overs when you go to an audition in person. So I try not to let myself get into that headspace for a self-tape.
I actually would love to have another self-tape audition during isolation so I could feel even more confident in my self-tape skills. But I also hope that things can open up again soon so we can get back to a more normal life. So if this is the only isolation audition that I have, I’m so grateful that I had it. It really made me happy and allowed me to focus on my career for a day instead of everything going on in the world.
You Might Also Like
Self-Taping At Home (or Auditioning In Yoga Pants)
Audition Horror Stories (or Sometimes I Like Things To Be Boring)
Audition Prep (or Taking My Career Seriously)
Upgrading My Self-Tape Set Up (or 2 Auditions In 30 Minutes)
Self-Tape Saturday (or Turning A Video Shoot Into A Photo Shoot)
Another Day Another Audition (or This Is The Life I Love)
