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Tuesday, April 2, 2019

The Handicap of the Taped Audition


When did the disembodied talking heads that pervade TV acting performances become a description of human behavior?  It's so pervasive that it has crept into film performances as well.  Is this inaccurate interpretation of human behavior what has influenced the handicap of the taped audition?

Taped audition "rules" are ridiculous and casting directors should know better.  Instead of asking actors to present an unfinished rehearsal from three-page sides, casting directors would find out more about actors if they asked them to just face the camera and extemporaneously relate something about themselves. 

Actors must be able to use their body in performance.  The best taped audition I've seen that confined itself to some of those arbitrary rules was Rachel McAdams' audition for The Notebook.  Notice that aside from articulately playing her action, she worked from her body and listened/processed the ideas of her partner.

If you're called upon to present a taped audition, follow her example as the criterion that defines ground zero.