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”?
If you do fluff or dry, DON’T do the “Apology Cabaret” as I call it!
You’re just attracting attention to the fact that you are insecure about your script. Far more importantly, you’re diffusing your energy, feeding your nerves and breaking your focus – therefore increasing your chances of another fluff. By apologising, swearing, dancing about or punching the air, you are directing your focus at the mistake, rather than how to get past it. This can result in what Psychologists call a “Diagnosed Problem” – in other words you begin to tell yourself that you don’t know that bit and you will probably stall exactly there again. So you will. I’ve seen actors crash from a simple “fluff” to what I call “Hitting The Wall”, which is an ever-increasing spiral of panic resulting in them being unable to finish their audition at all. Even if they manage to stumble through a complete take, their confidence is so shaken that the audition is really not worth the time spent on it.
Everybody in the Audition Studio is there to support you and wants you to succeed, but we have a schedule to keep to and there are probably other actors waiting who are better prepared and are entitled to their fair share of audition time.
The technique below takes far longer to describe than it should to execute. Practise until it is effective for you without attracting undue attention.
A Recovery Strategy
First, STOP. . . just STOP!
Immediately BREATHE OUT and HOLD your breath out briefly, possibly closing your eyes while you do so. A good Reader will leave you be until you open your eyes and. . .
BREATHE IN and re-connect with the Reader, using just a gentle hand gesture which implies “Line?”
Why? By emptying your lungs briefly, you deprive your body of energy and calm yourself. Breathing in then provides the energy you need to concentrate on the steps to recovery. Not speaking prevents you from saying anything stupid or pointless which could lead to further distraction. Concentrating on following the steps in this process shifts your focus away from the mistake and onto doing something positive to recover from it.
The Reader should then give you the preceding line, the stalled line, and the next line, whether yours or another character’s reply. Just LISTEN! DON’T INTERRUPT by trying to jump in and finish the line.
Breathe normally, perhaps repeating what you have just heard.
Why? Our brains remember things by making synaptic connections and the more connections there are to a memory, the easier it is to retrieve. The nest of connections forms a CONTEXT, which is in itself another connection and pathway. In the example above; the preceding line and the next line provide a context with hooks to your problematic line; not speaking allows you to concentrate on hearing properly, and repeating the prompt reinforces the connections your brain is trying to make. Focussing on this procedure distracts you from your panic.
If necessary, reset any props you may be using, and return to your start position if you “made an entrance”. BREATHE OUT & HOLD while you do so, then turn around, BREATHE IN, while you communicate to the cameraman / Audition Director by a simple nod of the head that you are ready for another take. You should then get an “Action!” to start the scene as soon as you are ready.
Notice that throughout this process you have not spoken a word that is not in your sides, unless you have a question to ask which is relevant to the scene and /or your script-based reason for fluffing it. The best time to ask – if you must – is probably just before you return to start position.
If you fluff again and it becomes apparent to me that you are shaky about the words in general, I might suggest a Word Read – and I do mean READ.
The Reader will come to you and hold up their copy of the script. You will then both read aloud the whole scene from the printed words on the page at a fairly fast pace and with no attempt at performance. Do NOT lift your eyes from the page to try to recite the lines from memory. (You’re doing this exactly because you don’t have a memory of the lines, remember?) Unless it is a very long scene, I will ask you to do this at least twice, preferably three times in quick succession with no unnecessary chat. We will then go straight into another take.
Why? Because stimuli from the different senses are stored in different areas of the brain, by actively reading aloud you are adding connections to both the visual and auditory areas in the brain. Repetition enhances those connections, and focusing on this procedure distracts you from your panic. Since stimuli are first stored in rather shallow short-term memory, it is best not to add “noise” to it by chatter which is irrelevant to the present context – which is to get you through your audition.
Hopefully, this “boost” should connect with your fundamental acting skills and whatever scene study you have done to emerge as a performance to get you through the audition. I have actually uploaded a Callback audition in which the actor fluffed, recovered, went back a line and completed the audition without the need to cut the camera and re-start. The Director was perfectly happy with the take – it was fundamentally a good “Read”, the “adjustment” he had requested was evident, and the calm way in which the actor handled a momentary fluff was in fact seen as assurance of his professionalism. (Yes, he got the part, and No, Auditions are never edited!)
If you do “hit the wall”. . .
On rare occasions I may offer you the chance to step outside to calm down and work on your lines on your own. Whether this happens at all is dependent on several factors:
Do we have the time? Since you’ve been thrashing about, we’re probably at least one slot behind schedule, so the next candidates on the list must get preference. You may have to wait out for several slots before we catch up enough time to re-do your audition.
If you have been consistently well prepared for your auditions, it is more likely that I would cut you this slack. I am perfectly aware that actors are not automatons – illness, fatigue and personal upheavals can knock the most dedicated of professionals off-balance.
[That said, actors have delivered excellent auditions, after which we have discovered that they have climbed out of a car crash, been shot at in an attempted hi-jacking, or suffered a family bereavement on their way to the Studio. No kidding! I can only express awe at such grit!]
If you consistently have trouble delivering a smooth audition, you seriously need to take stock of your situation. Whether you trace the cause to insufficient or inefficient preparation, or to chronic “Audition nerves”, you need to work at solving the problem before you do your reputation further damage.
Quite apart from the specific issue of Audition preparation raised at the beginning, everything in this post in some way touches upon a bigger issue – the need to constantly work at being “acting fit”, especially during periods when work is scarce. Simply reading books (or Blogs) about acting or doing the occasional course is not enough – any technique requires practice.