Audition Clinic

Recovering from fluffs

Why do “fluffs” happen in an Audition? The most obvious reason has to be lack of preparation, or “shallow” preparation. Of course you can wriggle a bit and point to a distraction in The Room, or the traffic jam on your way to the studio, but the harsh fact is that the more clearly you understand the character and the more securely you are anchored in the character the easier it will be to recall the dialogue, which should flow naturally from the character’s reaction to the “given circumstances.”

Every actor is going to have the occasional fluff or “dry” – that is not the problem – the problem is that very few have a strategy for recovering from a dry or bad fluff and too many behave in a way which makes their situation worse.

OK, so it’s too late, you’ve fluffed already… how do you avoid getting into some unscrupulous Casting Director’s “Christmas Party Reel”?

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Er… What’s a Rembrandt?
Believe it or not, that question was was actually asked by a mid-twenties man in an audition. Let’s be clear, this was not a disadvantaged youth from an informal settlement, hampered by a dysfunctional education system. This was a youth who had spent several summers in Europe and came from a good school in one of Cape Town’s affluent suburbs.. Continue reading →

Eye-lines

An audition is about YOU! It is about how you as an actor portray your character in relation to the others in the scene, who are always “off screen” in an audition. Christa always starts our Audition Workshops by saying “An audition is it’s own thing!” This means that just as performing on set is bound by certain conventions, an audition has its own conventions. An audition is an artificial experience – but then again, piecing a film together shot by shot is a very artificial and technical way to tell a story.

Drama, whether on stage or on film is not Reality, but a selective representation of reality. Being able to immerse yourself in the imagined world of a character is an ability devoutly to be wished for – with the proviso that it has to work to your advantage in an Audition.

One of the adjustments you need to make to “reality” is to set eye-lines to other characters which do not deprive you of “face time”. Continue reading →

Clothing

On set, the character’s dress will be determined by the Wardrobe department, but for an audition you need to give it some thought. Please, don’t DARE arrive for an audition in fancy-dress, but at least be aware that doing an audition for a Diplomat or a General in beach thongs, baggies and tee-shirt, apart from making the wrong visual impression, is not going to complement the mental attitude you require for that more disciplined kind of character.

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Posture, Gait & Stance

Part of the modern actor’s problem with posture arises from the fact that we live in a very casual era, particularly in South Africa. We spend most of our time in easy-fitting clothes and shoes. Social egalitarianism permits us to behave relatively casually in most social and business situations. As an actor however, you need to be aware of how to use your body to portray the character’s emotional state or attitude.

Perhaps because “Movement” training gets too little attention at Drama Schools, perhaps because simply getting the words down during a busy audition season is such a preoccupation, too many actors forget the importance of Posture, Gait & Stance, even given the limited movement available in the audition studio.

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The Text Message pings are either from your Mobile company selling you a special deal on midnight to morning call-packages or from a company trying to sell you aluminium guttering for your third floor bedsit. The phone rings less often, WhatsApp boings & tinkles no longer disturb your shivery doze. . . . unless fellow actors are asking whether you’ve been to Auditions they haven’t been “Requested” for….
Yup, sounds like a Cape Town Winter!
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