Many actors find themselves wanting more work. (Yes, that’s a joke – almost EVERY actor wants more work, right?) If that includes you, one way of branching out is to learn the value in a taped audition. Agents, casting directors, and producers want to see what a talent has to offer and one low budget way of seeing the most submissions is to accept an audition via email or DVD. Being live may give you a better advantage of using that natural charisma and being able to respond to direction and/or show versatility, but when you can’t walk through the doors, a taped audition is second best when done well.
Before focusing on the nuances of nailing a taped audition in order to get the live audition opportunity, we should become pros at the technical side of taping. Let’s start with what is needed in order to submit a taped audition. A short check list should include a quality video camera, a way to edit the video captured, and a tripod.
Every day new devices are put out on shelves that allow us to capture video. Some of these technologies are better than others. Phones and lower end handy video devices are likely to not have great resolution. Sure, the director may think you are a good actor, but if they can’t see who you are because the picture is grainy, they are most likely going to pass. Video capture quality is imperative to making a good impression, so be sure your image isn’t going to be pixelated or blurred when viewed.
A tripod is also necessary in order to make a professional audition video. Camera angles are important to flattering your features and capturing a shot that isn’t going to make the director sea-sick. Everyone appreciates having a friend willing to hold a camera to support your dreams, but the bottom line is that no one wants to watch a shaky scene. Tripods don’t have to be expensive or fancy, but they do have to be a part of your taped auditions!
Last, but definitely not least, is the video editing. Mac computer come standard with iMovie software to edit videos. Your PC may have video editing software on it, too. Finding the software isn’t usually the challenge. Becoming a good editor is where most talent stumble. It may take a while to learn, so start practicing now! Asking a friend to edit for you can cost you valuable time, which is everything in the casting process, so don’t rely on other people for something you have the ability to learn and do yourself. Editing may also require certain cords to attach your camera to your computer, so ask for help at your local Best Buy or Radio Shack. If your camera turns the file into a digital format for you, great, but you still have to learn how to edit together the best takes.
Most industry professionals prefer taped auditions in a Quicktime format (the extensions .mov should follow the file name). Every request will have it’s unique specifics on how the video should be edited, so be sure to follow directions!!
At the Oscars on Sunday, Hailee Steinfeld, the 14-year-old star of the Coen brothers western "True Grit," will vie for Best Supporting Actress with four veterans, including Melissa Leo ("The Fighter") and Helena Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech").
Ms. Steinfeld has faced plenty of competition already: she beat out 10,000 young women for the part during a massive search that had casting directors handing out fliers at rodeos, placing ads in small-town newspapers, and soliciting audition videos on a public Web page that read "no experience necessary."
The Academy Awards turns films and movie stars into enduring icons. The Oscars are just as famous for its high fashion moments. WSJ's Elva Ramirez speaks to celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch about his favorite Oscars gowns of all time in the attached video.
More than 70 years after Lana Turner 's mythic discovery at a lunch counter, Hollywood is on a souped-up hunt for fresh faces. New technology is allowing casting directors to put out the call—and instantly filter the results . . . "It doesn't cost the studio anything to say, 'Look everywhere,' " says Joel Lubin, co-head of motion picture talent at Creative Artists Agency.
Ms. Steinfeld had an agent, but her biggest role before "True Grit" came in a Kmart commercial. Casting director Ellen Chenoweth says it was critical to cast a wide net because of the unusual demands of the Mattie Ross character, a no-nonsense adolescent who talks in arcane frontier-speak.
"One of the challenges was to find a girl who could pull off the straightforwardness of the dialogue. A lot of them just sounded like Valley girls," says Ms. Chenoweth. In the audition videos, most girls failed to fully enunciate the word "cotton," she says. "That was a red flag. Next!"
Unknown is a relative term. Jennifer Lawrence, the 20-year-old star of the gritty Ozarks drama "Winter's Bone," is making her Oscar debut in the Best Actress category, but she's hardly walking in off the street. She moved from Kentucky to New York City with her mother at age 14, and made the audition rounds (including for "Twilight"). She built her resume with a handful of indie films and television parts, including a recurring role on a TBS comedy, "The Bill Engvall Show."
Some in the industry say that massive casting hunts are often more about marketing hype than finding true unknowns, especially if fans are buzzing on social media sites. Atlanta talent agent Rebecca Shrager landed 14 actors in the coming remake of "Footloose," most in supporting parts. But her clients have had a tougher time snaring the coveted lead roles when filmmakers conduct national searches: "They always say they're going to find someone that way, but when it comes right down to it, they almost never do. To me it feels like it's more about getting some energy around the project."
Now in high gear: the quest to find a young woman to anchor "The Hunger Games," an adaptation of a dark tale of survival and camaraderie that has a serious grip on young readers. The novel by Suzanne Collins opens a trilogy (8.8 million copies in print) about a dystopian future in which kids are picked by lottery for TV stardom followed by a gladiatorial fight to the death. Production on the film is scheduled to begin in the spring, but first filmmakers have to find their Katniss Everdeen, the fiery heroine, an expert archer.
"It's not that we won't consider incredible actors in this age group, but we're very much open to the people who've never been seen before, who could walk in the door and announce themselves," says Alli Shearmur, president of motion picture production for Lionsgate, the film's co-producer.
In an industry eager to create the next "Harry Potter" or "Twilight" series, also adapted from books for young readers, some filmmakers say that famous faces could deter audiences with images of the protagonists fixed in their heads. "There's so much youth-driven stuff going on right now, studios are willing to take chances on unknown actors in many of these roles" because the title is the box-office draw, says Adam Schweitzer, co-head of motion picture talent at International Creative Management.
Inside an art-deco office tower in Los Angeles, casting director Debra Zane puts Katniss candidates through their paces. The script is secret and hasn't been finalized, so actresses read dialogue typed out from the book. On hand is a Nerf bow-and-arrow set, one of several toy weapons Ms. Zane bought from Amazon.com to help actors slip into character.
Ms. Zane says about 50 actors have tried out in person for role of Katniss (though she declined to name them) and that so far they've come through traditional channels. They have included ascendant stars, clients of persuasive talent agents, or actors Ms. Zane has encountered during past jobs.
In an office across the hall, however, submissions are literally piling up from Katniss hopefuls working outside the system. Several plastic tubs hold waist-high stacks of puffy envelopes with handwritten addresses from places such as Swan Lake, N.Y., and Cedar City, Utah. Ms. Zane opens a box from South Korea containing glossy headshots and a neatly penned three-page letter. From another envelope (one that did not include any photographs) she reads from a typical pitch, "I want to be that girl. I can be her! I just have to dye my hair."
Ms. Zane's staff is opening every piece of mail, she says, but she's skeptical that a star is waiting to be discovered in the pile. "If you have that thing, you do find your way here," she says, referring to Hollywood.
Hollywood is throwing out an ever-wider net, and some unknowns are breaking through, but getting discovered remains as much of a long-shot dream as it was in Lana Turner's day. Casting director Billy Hopkins faced a seemingly impossible task: finding an overweight African-American teen with the acting chops to carry the 2009 drama "Precious." For nine months he and his team scouted high-school theater programs and cased urban haunts such as McDonald's before first-time actress Gabourey Sidebe showed up at an open call and won the part.
"It was a blessing and a curse, because now everyone wants to do them," he says, referring to searches for unknowns. "You're not going to be able to find a one-in-a-million. It's just stupid."
One of the fashion industry's newest break-out photographers shares an interview during New York's Fashion Week. Meet Richard Guaty, fashion model turned photographer. Find out what makes a model a model in Richard's perspective and how his "late in life" start launched his career!
When you’re behind that lens, what are you looking for in a model? What I mean is, what makes a model a model?
For me it’s kind of funny, I can go through the comp cards, much as I’d like to--Polaroids help, it’s a little more raw and real--I know how photos can make a model look like a fantasy; that’s my job, take them out of the real world, make them look extraordinary, so it’s really helpful to finally meet the model. When I’m working with the model it’s more of an absolute feeling that I get more than when I’m sorting through photos; when I’m meeting a model it’s a feeling I get from the girl or the guy, if they have something more than just sitting there and giving good angles, which you now they have, but somehow I create a capacity within a strange place—we’re both strangers—to make them comfortable, to give me something where someone else looks at that photo and they’re like wow, what were they thinking? And how did they give you that look? And that look is that feeling. And that’s kind of my job; I create that comfortable space where they can give me that good feeling. So for most models what I look for is basically someone who can pretty much just come out of their shell can give me some sort of really strong feeling. And for me a lot of times my work is, I’d say, emotional, in a way—on a basic level, it’s nothing too extreme—but emotional in a real sense, pretty raw and real.
I know you were a model at one point. What was that like?
Back in—I’m actually 31 now—I started modeling when I was…it was pretty late! It was just one of these things: my friend was a photographer, and I had another friend who was a booker, and they both kind of said, ‘hey you can still make some money. And you know you’re 22 years old, so you not gonna be a supermodel or anything, but you can definitely make some money.’ So I took some snaps, got signed to the fashion board on VISION in Los Angeles--a boutique agency--so the whole modeling thing for me, I actually didn’t like it at all. It was one of those things where I kind of had to really look at myself, and you know it was going good, but it was one of those things I definitely wasn’t passionate about it, so I was just kind of going through the motions, and that what you can’t do, that’s pretty much contrary to what I was just saying, you need to be there and bring something to it so I did that for 2 months and found my way out.
And Photography? How did you get into that?
One of the photographers who became my friend--her name was Beatrice Neumann, she’s a really great Austrian photographer--I hung out at her studio a lot in Downtown LA, and kind of just picked up that camera and started shooting, and from that minute took it really seriously. She noticed that. And from there on out it was pretty much all kind of a lot of work ahead that I saw, a lot of obstacles, but super fun.
Awesome! You’re pictures are beautiful. Who are some of your photographic inspirations?
I like different types of photographers. For kind of raw and real, I like Hedi Slimane; David LaChapelle for the opposite, for kind of wild story telling. And I like Norman Jean Roy, very clean, honest-looking genuine work.
