How to Turn Your Audition Trash into Audition Treasure
What if you used every bad audition as a kind of audition technique class?
(By Carmichael Phillips)
(Photo: Thought Catalog/Unsplash)
Let’s say, your recent audition was an epic fail. I mean, an EPIC FAIL! You couldn’t shake your audition nerves. You lost your place in the sides during your audition. Your choices seemingly did not go over well. Your audition strategy proved ineffective. You didn’t face the camera. You weren’t in the moment.
It was one of the worst auditions you’ve ever done!
Convention wisdom says, “Let it go.” Your industry friends will advise you to move to your next audition like it never happened. Your instincts will tell you to put it out of your mind and not dwell on such a catastrophic event.
But that is conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom is not etched in stone. Conventional wisdom is meant to be challenged.
Instead of simply blowing off a terrible audition, what if you turned your audition trash into audition technique treasure? What if you used every bad audition as a kind of audition class?
Here’s the idea. Rather than blowing off your disappointing audition and putting it out of your mind, why not use it to improve your audition skills? Why not use it to make yourself a better actor and better auditionee?
Try this:
First, Forgive Yourself
First, go home and calm down. Remind yourself that it’s only one bad audition. It truly is not the end of the world. Half of the other actors who auditioned alongside you also thought their audition went terribly wrong. And the other half are probably delusional!
Forgive yourself for your lousy performance.
Next, Recreate Your Audition
Now, having picked yourself up off the mat, do your audition over. Take your sides and use your living room to recreate the audition room. Pretend you just arrived at that audition location. Prepare as if you are doing the audition all over again.
Correct your mistakes. Remember everything that went wrong in the real audition and do it the way you should have done it.
Finally, Put Your Improved Audition on Tape
Of course, you’ll want to be sure you’ve recorded your new and improved audition. By recording yourself, you can literally see yourself improve. You can see what works and what doesn’t.
You can discover other flaws in your audition game that you never even noticed before; things like auditioning with your head down while looking at your sides, instead of looking to camera, or auditioning with low energy.
Professional athletes do it. Why not actors?
Your favorite athletes do this all the time!
Before professional football players hit the field to practice, they spend hours studying tape. They pour over their negative plays, their poor form, their bad techniques, bad angles, dropped passes, bad throws and all their mistakes.
Baseball players who strike out study tape. They examine why they struck out, why they swung at a bad pitch, their bat position, batting stance and the timing of their swing.
Basketball players study tape to examine their shooting motion and shot selection.
And after thoroughly reviewing what they did wrong, a magical thing happens: THEY CORRECT THEIR MISTAKES.
Actors can use this same trick. See yourself making your mistakes. Then, take steps to correct and improve.
That’s how you turn your audition trash into audition treasure.
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