PHOTO: We will also be screening the Teen version of this film.
For more information about Acting in Columbus and the classes and workshops we offer, visit our website:
Acting in Columbus presents the Advanced Acting for Film Student Project 'TO STAND ALONE' Sunday December 5, 2010 7:00pm.
PHOTO: We will also be screening the Teen version of this film.
UPCOMING AUDITIONS
TV
FILM
PROJECT: Untitled short dramatic narrative on the themes of forgiveness and second chances. A father and son face a crisis together, confront past mistakes and discover forgiveness and hope. Shooting with a cine-modified Canon 5D DSLR for Blu-Ray and web viewing in high definition 35mm look.
THEATRE
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PROJECT: Untitled short dramatic narrative on the themes of forgiveness and second chances. A father and son face a crisis together, confront past mistakes and discover forgiveness and hope. Shooting with a cine-modified Canon 5D DSLR for Blu-Ray and web viewing in high definition 35mm look.
Auditions will be scheduled individually December 1 – 10 To arrange an audition, contact producer Bob Bates via e-mail: bob@bates.tv
BREAKDOWN
Main characters: Have a two minute dramatic monologue prepared to audition for either of these two principle roles.
ACTORS NEEDED at various times, including night-time, overnight shoots for principles. Shooting Dec 20-23 in Westerville/Columbus. There is no pay.
JEREMY, 18-25 white male, slight build. A drug addict with a two-year habit. A troubled guy who’s made bad choices. A sensitive, articulate, and loving guy. Jeremy is Tom’s son. Shooting over four days (with night-time shoots) Dec 20-23.
TOM, a rugged 40-55 white male – an equine veterinarian, haunted by bitterness and an unforgiving heart. A man of few words and afraid of emotions. An outdoorsy, manly type, unable to express feelings. Shooting over four days (with night-time shoots) Dec 20-23.
(Hay fever warning: shooting in a working barn. If you’re allergic to hay, barn dust or horse hair, this could be a problem – antihistamines?)
Supporting roles:
DREW, a 20-yr-old white male, a drug addict and a bad influence on Jeremy. Drew is a bad egg and instigates the crisis that sets our story in motion. Shooting one overnight (sometime TBD Dec 20-23). A prepared monologue is recommended to audition for this role.
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS MEETING LEADER, a 30-50 yr-old male or female of any ethnicity, an earnest, caring professional who’s been clean for years. Shooting one short day, most likely daylight hours, sometime TBD Dec 20-23. No monologue is necessary.
GRANDMA, an 60-80-yr-old white female – Jeremy’s grandma and Tom’s mother. No lines. Shooting one short day/evening, sometime TBD Dec 20-23)
Extras:
Narcotics Anonymous Meeting attendees – a mix of seven men, five women, all races, ages 18 to 60. No lines. Short one-day shoot TBD Dec 20-23.
ACTORS NEEDED AT A LATER DATE, EARLY 2011 -- short one-day shoot, no lines, a simple "home movies" shoot:
GRANDPA – 60-70 white male, a spry outdoorsy guy. Tom’s father and Jeremy’s grandfather.
JEREMY (AS A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY)
To arrange an audition, contact producer Bob Bates via e-mail: bob@bates.tv
For more info rmation about the producer and work samples, visit:
http://www.vimeo.com/user2878781/videosTHEATRE
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AUDITION TIPS
How to choose a monologue
Most auditors will want you to perform two monologues, of contrasting character, for a total of two to four minutes. Choose monologues from characters that are closest to your experiences and age. Do not choose a monologue with violent behavior patterns and vulgarity. The auditors do not want to hear or see such a monologue. Show them talent, not a violent temper tantrum. Use your own judgement when it comes to content of a monologue. Would you like to sit in their place and watch you perform this monologue?
Contrasting monologuesWhat are contrasting monologues? Two completely different characters from two different plays and play genres. One classical and one modern piece is the norm. Make one a comedy and the other dramatic. One character may be slightly psychotic (if that fits your personality...) and the other character may be a complete Mamma's Boy. One character may be a love-struck fool, the other a hacker nerd who let loose a devious computer virus. Contrast is day and night. Not shades of gray.
Wanna know a secret?
Be friendly and personable.
Walk into the room with confidence. Introduce yourself. If they ask questions before you begin smile, relax and answer them. Take your time. Present yourself well. This is your time and your audition. They want you to do well!
Most auditors will want you to perform two monologues, of contrasting character, for a total of two to four minutes. Choose monologues from characters that are closest to your experiences and age. Do not choose a monologue with violent behavior patterns and vulgarity. The auditors do not want to hear or see such a monologue. Show them talent, not a violent temper tantrum. Use your own judgement when it comes to content of a monologue. Would you like to sit in their place and watch you perform this monologue?
Contrasting monologuesWhat are contrasting monologues? Two completely different characters from two different plays and play genres. One classical and one modern piece is the norm. Make one a comedy and the other dramatic. One character may be slightly psychotic (if that fits your personality...) and the other character may be a complete Mamma's Boy. One character may be a love-struck fool, the other a hacker nerd who let loose a devious computer virus. Contrast is day and night. Not shades of gray.
Timing is everything
Keeping your monologues under the time limit is the way to go. If you run over, you will be stopped. They will not let you continue past the time period stated. Do not abuse this. To be honest, if you can give them great stuff in less time, the better. You do not have to use your full four minutes (or whatever) for your monologues. They will appreciate your brevity. Trust me on that one.
Avoid "telling a story"
Try to choose a piece of the monologue where you are speaking to someone actively, but with little to no interruption from the other character. Try to avoid "telling a story". There are a hundred and one monologues where the character is telling a story of what happened to them at a party, or on a hunting trip, or on the subway... you get the picture. Or worse, they are telling a story about what happened to someone else! Don't do it. It is boring. You want your character to be active, not sitting and telling a boring story (out of context) to some other character who is also probably bored. My advice: Stay away from them. Make sure that it is a monologue that you like. Nothing like going into an audition with material that you are uncomfortable performing. This is your audition. Choose your monologues well.
Practice..please!
I cannot emphasize this point enough: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Sorry for shouting there, but I had to drill that in. The more comfortable you are performing your pieces, the better. When you walk into that audition you must be ready to go at the drop of a hat. Forgetting your lines is bad, very bad. Practice.
Wanna know a secret?
The best monologue you could ever choose for yourself is from the play or plays in which you have just recently performed. Hunh? Didn't think of that one, did you. If you happen to have been in a play or are currently in one, why not use a monologue from the character you are portraying? You've been working on it for weeks, performing in front of a live audience, use it! All the work has been done already, just get up and "perform" your snippet for the auditors. Also, put that monologue in your repertoir to pull out at a later date.
Be friendly and personable.
Walk into the room with confidence. Introduce yourself. If they ask questions before you begin smile, relax and answer them. Take your time. Present yourself well. This is your time and your audition. They want you to do well!
How to prepare a monologue
Step1 Read the entire play from which your monologue comes, several times.
Step2 Memorize the monologue thoroughly.
Step3 Break down the character. What does the character in the monologue want? How will the character get it?
Step4 Make sure you are communicating. Imagine the person you're speaking to in the monologue, and keep them in your mind's eye. Imagine their reactions, and see the other person in the piece. Remember, monologues are really dialogues in which the other person doesn't speak.
Step5 Practice performing the monologue first to an inanimate object. Then perform it for a trusted professional, such as a fellow actor or an acting coach, and get feedback.
Step6 Try performing the monologue in several different ways. Be prepared to perform it more than one way at the audition.
Step7 Time yourself and make sure the monologue fits the length acceptable for the audition (usually one to three minutes).
Step1 Read the entire play from which your monologue comes, several times.
Step2 Memorize the monologue thoroughly.
Step3 Break down the character. What does the character in the monologue want? How will the character get it?
Step4 Make sure you are communicating. Imagine the person you're speaking to in the monologue, and keep them in your mind's eye. Imagine their reactions, and see the other person in the piece. Remember, monologues are really dialogues in which the other person doesn't speak.
Step5 Practice performing the monologue first to an inanimate object. Then perform it for a trusted professional, such as a fellow actor or an acting coach, and get feedback.
Step6 Try performing the monologue in several different ways. Be prepared to perform it more than one way at the audition.
Step7 Time yourself and make sure the monologue fits the length acceptable for the audition (usually one to three minutes).
PLANNING AN ACTING CAREER
The theatrical landscape facing an aspiring actor has changed radically since I first arrived in New York. That being the case, I offer the following guidelines for the new aspiring actor in 2010.
1) Learn the craft. Enroll in a good acting class. Get into a few stage plays. If acting on stage does not figure into your career plans, take a deep breath and do it anyway. There is no substitute for learning the basics, and stage is where you learn them.
2) If you are under 19 years old, your best bet is to get into a university that has a drop-dead wonderful theatre department. A broad liberal arts education is a tremendous asset for the professional actor. It is a truism that there is no such thing as a dumb good actor.
3) Regarding stage vs. film: Acting is acting is acting, regardless of where you do it. There is not a different kind of acting for film than there is for stage. The difference is in the limitations of the mediums. You will see a lot of advertisements in trade publications telling you that acting for film is a unique form of acting. Don’t believe it.
4) Be realistic about television. It is a sales medium, not an artistic one. If you make a career that is based on television, you will be in the sales business more than the acting business. The reason television shows exist is to deliver good-humored consumers to the commercials. The few “quality” programs on TV are generally not moneymakers for the networks. They are carried for the prestige factor.
5) Be curious and aggressive about new technologies. Performance capture, for example, is here to stay. The character Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” was digital, acted by Andy Serkis and converted into computer code. There presently are no schools that I know of teaching actors how to work with performance capture, so you will have to be a pioneer. Volunteer, get onto the set so you can see how it is done. If I were starting out today, I would pay particular attention to the ways that live action film is merging with animation and the ways that multimedia is being used in the theatre. Look into video games.
6) Yes, get a good talent agent. But remember, talent agents are going to go where the money already is being made. They will not be focusing much on developing technologies, which is all the more reason why you should do it yourself. You do not need a personal manager until you have a career that needs to be managed.
7) Promote yourself on the Internet. Build your own website, write a blog, network on line.
8) Treat your career like the business it is. Make yourself a five-year plan. You should get up every morning and do something constructive to build your career. The worst thing you can do is sit around and hope that an agent or casting director will call you.
9) If you need to support yourself with a regular job, just about any job in which alcohol is served will pay better than a desk job. You are not going to be able to work a conventional coat-and-tie job and pursue acting at the same time. Your acting career must be your top priority, and you make everything else fit with that.
10) If you are ready to begin pursuing professional acting work -- that is, acting work that pays money -- you should seriously consider migrating to New York, Los Angeles or Chicago because that is where the most acting work can be found.
Until next month...
Be safe!
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Michael Caine - Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making (The Applause Acting Series) Revised Expanded Edition
A master actor who's appeared in an enormous number of films, starring with everyone from Nicholson to Kermit the Frog, Michael Caine is uniquely qualified to provide his view of making movies. This new revised and expanded edition features great photos throughout, with chapters on: Preparation, In Front of the Camera - Before You Shoot, The Take, Characters, Directors, On Being a Star, and much more."Remarkable material ... A treasure ... I'm not going to be looking at performances quite the same way ... FASCINATING!"- Gene Siskel
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