The medium is a cruel one that sees every fake note and every discomfort, and there’s nothing the camera loves like authenticity.
In a first analysis of reading the text, it’s worth asking ourselves how to avoid an automatic interpretation.
Watching many auditions, the director is looking to dwell on personality. He wants to see your heart,
without apprehension, fear, flattery or strain.
An interesting audition is one with a conflict between the characters, and that’s the immediate thing we need to find — what drives one
against the other; that’s where the magic is created. It doesn’t always happen instantly; sometimes it’s a process and an observation, and sometimes it’s worth finding an additional voice to give us a different and interesting perspective.
When it comes to beginning actors, the tendency is to give a chance to auditions, so the burden of proof on them is doubled and redoubled. To leave a strong enough impression that, even if the role doesn’t fit, the casting director will remember that actor for another role or another project.
These days, most auditions at the initial stage are done from home, without a casting director or director — no concessions.
The audition must be consistent, moving, special, funny — something that catches the eye right from the start.
So what are the chances??
If the talent agency and the casting director have chosen to send an invitation to an actor, there’s always a chance of passing the audition, as long as it’s truly good. You have to abandon all the cynicism, the anxieties, the frustration and the statistical calculations, and give your maximum every single time.
Casting an actor involves quite a few professionals who need to be unanimous that this is the perfect actor for the role. The casting director has his own judgment in filtering candidates, the director reviews selected options for each role, and together with the franchisee they decide in a decisive meeting.
A good cast is the key to the success of any project, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Not infrequently you see a cast that repeats itself, and there are plenty of reasons for that. Every producer and director needs to feel confident that the actor will deliver the “goods.” The natural tendency is to cast actors who have already proven themselves and can be relied on… In fact, this is the thing the casting director needs to be at ease about — that the actor can carry the role and that it suits him. In recent years, more and more people are discovering the advantages of a fresh and talented cast, and it doesn’t hurt the popularity of the series — quite the opposite, as we’ve seen in series like “Alumim,” “HaMefakedet,” “Ta’agad,” and more…
What are the golden rules?
Two good takes that are completely different from one another will suffice, so it’s worth paying attention to our choices when sending the takes, watching them after shooting the audition and not waiting for the deadline at the last moment… It’s worth passing the audition to a second opinion for feedback, and only after we’re entirely at peace with the submission do we send the audition.
Don’t send under any condition “just so they’ll see us.” Sometimes it’s better to forgo sending an audition than to leave a “bland” impression — that will make it very hard for the agency to generate additional quality auditions for you.
The text is not a contract — you can improvise, rewrite, add or omit here and there; it’s not an oral exam on memorization or regurgitating material, but rather energy, an interesting take on the text, and acting that develops during the audition itself.
There are quite a few cases in which it was precisely what the actor brought to the audition that ended up being used on the shoot day itself, and there’s no greater compliment than that.
Unlike theatre, there’s no need for props, but styling and the look do matter. This can help more than relying on the imagination of the director or casting director. The more we invest and don’t spare effort, there’s a chance we’ll stand out more than the rest.
A camera is like a gym
Imagine you’re inviting a professional into your home — a technician, for the sake of argument. Would you want to summon someone who really wants to try and has amazing motivation, even though he has no training or experience? Or alternatively, a professional who worked in the field but hasn’t touched it in a long time and now simply really feels like coming back?
The answer seems clear… A camera is like a gym. You see results when you maintain skill, persistence and movement. Or, as we like to say — success is a sequence of many actions.
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