How To Create an Amazing Self-Taped Audition

How to produce a great self-taped audition casting directors and directors will love.

Self-taped auditions is quickly becoming the go-to for casting directors across the country. Instead of an actor having to travel to a casting director’s office, actors can simply shoot their audition from the comfort of their living room. However, this relatively new audition process puts more pressure on actors to produce a high-quality product in order to land a role in a movie or TV show.

What is a self-taped audition?

Self-taping auditions mean you tape your own audition and the video file is sent to the casting director. In this modern era, actors are being asked to work from home, and professionalism should be the same whether in the casting director’s audition room or an actor’s living room. Check out our acting audition tips here.

How to create a self-taped audition:

• Follow the self-tape instructions by the casting director. If there are none, here are some basic rules to follow:
  • Your auditions should be filmed on a blank wall or a (blue to grey background). Do not have a blank wall, hang a clean, ironed bed sheet. There should be no props, furniture, or books in your video audition.
  • Camera
    • You should want to use an HD camera. Nowadays, an iPhone camera has the video quality to film a professional self-tape audition.
    • You should frame the shot from your chest to about 3 to 6 inches above your head. Ensure the camera is not angled upwards or downwards.
  • Lighting
    • A light kit from Amazon including an umbrella or softbox lights can go a long way in making your auditions look more professional.
  • Audition
    • Most casting directors require a slate at the beginning of the audition. If the casting director has not asked for something specific, actors should follow the following format:
      • “I’m [Actor’s Name], reading for [The Role]. I am represented by [Talent Agency]. I am [Height].
      • Some productions require a video audition slate including a full body shot, which means widening the frame of the shot to show your feet to your head, and then turning left to right.
      • Finding a Reader
        • Ensure your reader is a strong actor without an accent. It is important for your audition to shine and the reader should not be a distraction.
    • Submitting a video audition
      • If the file is small enough, it can be sent via email. If the file is too large, try finding websites including YouTube to send large files.

Why are self-taped auditions so popular?

In relevant news, more and more actors are being discovered all over the world due to video auditions. With videotape auditions, technology has allowed for nearly anyone from basically anywhere to audition for a role in a movie, TV show, web series, or even a commercial. Video auditions or self-submissions, have become so normal, so much a part of the casting, that many producers and directors would rather see you on tape than in real life.

In a interview with the professional casting director, Cami Patton, she reveals that the HBO mini-series ‘Band of Brothers’ literally changed the way Hollywood moved and operated.

It all began with “Band of Brothers,” says casting director Cami Patton. “When we did ‘Band of Brothers,’ we were shooting in England, and we were trying to match actual people. We had a lot of biographical material. We had pictures of the real people. We had interviews with them (when they were) older. We were trying to do a service to their natural accent and come as close to them as we could. And we had to find the majority of the actors in Europe,” she says.

“(British actor) Damian Lewis had been in New York doing ‘Hamlet’ with Ralph Fiennes, and that’s how he got on our radar. We weren’t specifically looking for a lead. We really actually went into it thinking the ‘core’ guys would be Americans and everybody else could come from anywhere – as long as they could do the accent. We’d seen everybody, and he blew them all out of the water.”

From that point on, she says, it was a natural progression. “You have access to casting directors all over the world, to agencies all over the world. People’s ease with – and with being able to self-tape with equipment that is decent enough that we can actually see what they’re doing and what they look like. All of that has sort of evolved in the last 10 years to where it’s just gotten easier and easier, with every given production to be able to find those people from everywhere.”

Continue Reading:

How Video Auditions Have Changed Hollywood Forever