Coaching Tips for Strong Self-tape Auditions

Framing should always be horizontal, and typically the only exception to this is when you do a full body slate. We suggest that for most auditions you are framed tightly from just above the top of the head to the middle of your chest. Casting occasionally will ask for a different type of framing, although this is rare, keep a watchful eye on the casting notice to make sure your framing is in compliance with what casting is asking for.

Optimally you want to designate a quiet room to tape in that has little or no distracting background noise. 

The background for your audition should be white or gray or blue, uniform in color, and should be plain with no distracting texture or decoration .

Adding some depth to the shot will create a richness and texture to the look of your audition.

It is advantageous to try and find a room where you can position yourself a minimum of a few feet off the background. And the camera should be far enough away from you so as not to distort your face. 

It is important that you light yourself well for your audition and a typical three point lighting set-up is optimal, with a key light, a fill light, and some sort of back light. 

There are many videos online that you can reference if you’d like to explore easy ways to well light your audition. 

Natural lighting also works well, if you’re in a space that provides enough even natural light. 

Eyes are the window to the soul, and the most important thing is that casting can see the expression coming through the eyes. 

The camera that you are using should be mounted on a tripod or placed securely on a table or platform so as to create a steady shot. 

Optimally it is best to position the camera at eye level, although we want to remind our actors not to look directly into the camera, but to position your reader as close to one side of the camera or the other. 

In certain circumstances, casting/production may ask for subtle adjustments to the typical camera set up, so please keep an eye on casting notices for any specific requests. 

If your audition is a scene, a good reader is a necessity. It is best if your reader is competent with scripts and is in the ballpark with character and content. You don’t have to have an award winning actor or paid service working with you, however a good clean read will always help your audition.

Also we believe it is important that your reader’s voice is equal to or slightly lower than yours, as you don’t want your reader to steamroll your audition. Your reader will likely be closer to the camera. Depending on your camera and microphone set up, you may want your reader to take a step or two back behind the camera so that their voice does not dominate the audition. 

Casting shouldn't see the reader. The reader always needs to remain out of the shot behind the camera. 

It is wise to watch your video to check for good clean lighting, no distracting noises, a good strong eye line and clear and well balanced audio. 

Additionally you also want to ensure that you have smooth transitions into and out of your audition, and that your work starts immediately and or very close to the beginning of your tape. It is important that you avoid any lag times. Casting is very busy and wants to see your work pop off the screen right away.

There is no need to fade in or out, or do anything tricky. It is best to submit  a tape with  good clean cuts. 

Casting will typically let you know how to label your takes, and as this varies from casting office, we ask again that you pay special attention to the casting notice. 

Typically you do not want to costume your auditions. Instead, you want to wear clean solid clothing that hints in the direction of the role you are auditioning for. It is advisable to choose a color palette that is flattering. 

The light will always find the brightest thing in the frame. You want the focus (and light) to be on your face and not on your shirt or top. Therefore, it is our strong suggestion that your main wardrobe (shirt, blazer, top) to be a dark or rich color.

Bags, glasses and phones are typically accepted props in any audition if required by the content.

Typically light or natural makeup only and your hair should be clean and flattering around the face. Bangs or hair covering your eyes or too much of your face should be avoided. As always, there are occasional exceptions, in the event that casting wants you made up in a special way, they will let you know.   

On rare occasions, casting may ask for some type of casting or prop work, so please keep an eye on the casting notice for any unique instructions. 

One mistake that new actors may make, is to have unnecessary movement in the audition and or wandering feet. It is important that casting believes that you can hit and stay on a mark, so it’s often wise in an audition to mark the floor with tape (or something else) and really plant one or both feet on that mark.

Typically and it should be noted that even if the scene says that the actor exits or enters, you want to stay on your mark in frame, as you never want casting to be looking at an “empty” actor-less frame.

It is wise to be familiar with the material. Casting typically has no problem with you holding the sides, although there are occasions where they will ask that you be off-book. Otherwise it is acceptable to hold sides. 

However, being off-book says a lot about your work ethic and also ensures that you won’t have any distractions or expressive restrictions created by holding script in your audition. 

Our audition workflow, the Innate Audition Solution, is designed to be a process that efficiently creates ownership of the material with the likely outcome that you will be off-book when you’ve completed the work flow. 

If you’d like to learn more about our audition work flow, and the ways in which we coach our actors to submit booking auditions, please click here.

There are a lot of audition preparation basics that can be accessed online: character, situation, project, genre, time-frame etc. However we are not advocates of self-coaching. The Covid lockdown and casting’s transition to accepting self-tapes created an environment in which actors believe that they can self-coach their auditions. This is entirely false, and could be very detrimental to your career. 

Professional athletes, performing artists, martial artists, and many actors have coaches, for a reason. That reason is because it’s impossible to be subjective and objective at the same time--especially when you are in the learning stages of a craft. 

We understand affordability and timing plays a role in craft and career decision making. However we believe it is important to offer these general ideas for you to consider as you commence your career, and shoot and submit your auditions. 

If you'd like to learn more about out Innate Audition Solution and how we utilize our proprietary workflow to train our actors to create winning submissions, please reach out to our coaching team.