How To Cry On Cue

You’ve landed a great dramatic role, but you have to cry on camera. What do you do? If you have trouble crying on cue, that doesn’t mean you’re not a great dramatic actor or actress. Trust me, some of your favorite celebrities who have been in the business for years still have trouble getting the tears to fall.

Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your big dramatic moment. Try a few of these and you’ll be sobbing in no time:

• Think back to a sorrowful time in your life. For some actors, simply finding a powerful impulse for crying works like a charm.

• Open your eyes wide and resist the temptation to blink. Exposing your eyes to the air using this tactic can help your eyes begin to water.

• Cut up onions or wave the fumes from eucalyptus oil near your eyes just before your scene.

• Use eye drops.

• Is there a scene in a movie that gets you every time? Bring your IPod or portable DVD player and watch a sad scene right before your big performance.

• Study other scenes where actors have cried convincingly on camera. By mimicking their body language, facial expressions, and vocal cues, it may help you to get the tears flowing when you need them to.

Be sure to practice these methods before your performance in front of a mirror to make sure you appear authentic. If you’re still unable to cry, try the scene a different way. Instead, have the character attempt to fight back tears, which can be equally compelling onscreen.

For a list of dramatic roles currently being cast, visit http://www.EliteCastingNetwork.com today!

The Cutting Room Floor

You’ve auditioned for 20 roles and you’ve finally booked one! Hooray! You show up on set to shoot your scene and when the project is released, you gather all of your friends together to watch your Hollywood debut. But wait a minute! The television episode or film comes to an end and your scene is missing. What happened? Oh no! You may have been a victim of the cutting room floor.

This happens more often than you may think. The cutting room floor is a term that refers to where footage ends up when the director and editor decide not to use it in the final edited version. (These days all editing is done using computers, so the footage doesn’t actually end up “on the floor” anymore – but you get the idea.) Many new actors who experience this are often devastated. It can be a huge letdown to have worked so hard to finally book your first role and then not have it immortalized on screen. But don’t let it get you down. Just because your scene wasn’t included doesn’t mean that the director didn’t like your performance. The project may have been running long requiring some scenes to be cut to fit within time constraints. And sometimes once all of the scenes are shot, the director may decide that some scenes are no longer as relevant to the story.

Even though your scene may have been cut, there’s still a lot that to be happy about. First off, you booked a role and not only are you now a working actor but I’m sure you probably met a lot of really great people in the process. Secondly, these days when most films are released on DVD, footage that was not included in the final edited version is often available to watch in the Extras section. So you can still see your performance and you can still use the footage on your reel!

Most experienced working actors don’t get upset if their scene gets cut. They know that it’s part of the business and they know it’s only a matter of time before they book another role. So are you ready to book your next job? Of course you are! Visit http://www.StarSearchCasting.com today and check out our casting notices. I bet there’s a role of a lifetime out there with your name on it!

Learning From Your Mistakes

I was talking to a Star Search Casting ( www.StarSearchCasting.com) member not long ago and she was telling me about her first vocal audition. She’s a pretty good actress already, but she decided to try her hand at musical theatre upon encouragement from a friend. She picked an audition song and she practiced until she felt comfortable with the material. But on the day of her audition, she completely froze. “It was so weird,” she said. “I’ve had lots of auditions before, but during my first vocal audition, I suddenly felt completely out of my element and my nerves got the best of me.”

While she was able to get through the audition, it wasn’t her best performance. “I had a lot of trouble with the notes, and the arrangement. I wished I had picked a simpler song because many of the areas of difficulty became even harder to nail because I was so nervous. My voice began to crack, I forgot the words, and what should have been just 16 short bars, became the longest audition of my life.”

Needless to say she was very disappointed and she didn’t get the role. But that hasn’t stopped her from trying. It was a learning experience and she’s excited for her next vocal audition. I asked her, based on her experience, what advice she’d give to others embarking on their first vocal audition. Below are her answers:

• Sometimes it’s better to opt for a simple song. Especially if it’s your first vocal audition, it’s best to choose something that is easier to grasp, that you’re sure to nail than to gamble with a song that’s intricate, and could lead to mistakes that could cost you the part.

• Make sure that the song is within your vocal range, and that you sing in a key that suits your voice. You may have to experiment a bit before you feel totally comfortable.

• Choose a song that you enjoy. It’s easier to perform when you’re genuinely having fun with it.

• Make sure you sell it. Your personality is as important as your vocal skills.

• If there’s a pianist, feel free to talk briefly to him or her to discuss the tempo, or any other concerns you may have.

• If you’re bringing your music, make sure that it’s cued and ready to go.

Check out Star Search Casting for vocal auditions http://www.StarSearchCasting.com. These are some great tips, so go ahead and put them to good use!

Picking A Monologue

Every actor should have a monologue that they can perform for agents, managers or casting directors. It’s a great tool to showcase your talent, and impress industry professionals who are in a position to help you take your career to the next level. It’s very important that you put a lot of thought into selecting a monologue. You’ll need to commit it to memory and rehearse it until it’s perfect – which will take a lot of work. So you want to make sure you pick something really great the first time around.

You’re probably wondering how you go about picking a monologue that helps you shine. Here are a few tips that will help:

• Pick a monologue that showcases your strengths. If you’re great at comedy, then pick a comedic monologue. If you’re a dynamic dramatic actor, then you’ll want to pick something that allows you to show your dramatic range.

• Make sure your monologue is age appropriate. While you might do a really great job at portraying an 80 year-old woman when you’re only 16, you want to pick a role that you could actually book in the real world.

• If you select a monologue that’s an excerpt from a full-length script, be sure to read the entire script to completely familiarize yourself with the character.

• While you want to standout, don’t opt for monologues with foul language or make use of obscene gestures. You want to wow your audience, not offend them.

• Shy away from monologues that require you to use a dialect for the duration of the performance, especially when performing for agents or managers.

Once you’ve selected your monologue and mastered it, it’s time to start performing it! Take a look at the list of managers and agents on our website ( www.StarSearchCasting.com ) - we’ve got thousands located all over the U.S. and they’re waiting for you to blow them away! Be sure to let us know how it goes!