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The Casting Director And An Actor's Dilemma In Auditions
- Everyone on this earth is a deviate and has a distinct personality. An actor has to play a character, but everything is ultimately filtered through actor's body and mind.
- From an audition point of view, the process can take as little as few hours or as long as for days. The casting director's objective is to find a right actor to fit into a role, he/she has visualized. You got your lines and analyzed it, then studied the character, set the objectives of each of your lines, recreated the character's profile from your sense memory, have put yourself into character- his physical attributes, voice, rhythm, mannerism etc...
- But you are not alone. There are may be 30 or more who got an audition call for the same role and if all of you think on the same lines and prepared for the audition in a similar fashion, changing your psyche and other attributes as per the character, then why a casting director should call 20 or 40 aspirants and select one out of so many?
- He/she call may be one or two and finalize?
- Therefore what is hidden? When you do not know what is in a casting director's mind, what can you do?
The Secret Of Being Unique
In an audition when everybody is speaking the same lines forcing themselves as a "character', trying to perform in the same way, it becomes a monotonous exploration for a casting director. What a casting director may be looking is a character conceived by him or the story writer "with a difference" or "with sparkle".So what you do?
- Firstly, find out what attributes of you match with that of a character and what do not (congruent and non congruent with the character)
- Secondly, push those traits of you not matching with the character into background (remove)
- Thirdly, develop matching attributes with varied emotions or attitudes
I got 10 lines of an angry man reacting to an abuse. I know the character has to be a bit loud and the rhythm of speech has to be faster with exaggerated facial responses. Now my voice is thin, rhythm slow but I'm good at expressions. I would not be silly to change my voice tone nor rhythm. Will focus on developing my expressions further, will speak with my low voice slowly, may be with hissing through clenched teeth.
Don�t be afraid of your instincts. If you�re trying to please everyone, you can easily lose what is special about you and end up pleasing no one. Always stay within the parameters of what�s organically honest for the role, the scene, and the world you�re portraying, but if a choice strikes you as particularly funny or poignant, don�t be afraid of it!
Obviously, those choices won�t always be on the mark for what �they� want, but you aren't a mind reader and we don�t expect you to be! Casting directors simply want you to come in with a well-defined, intelligent performance. If you�re right for the role, then the director will guide you from there.
In this way, in your career, perhaps you may lose some roles but it should not discourage you. The same guy "YOU" will get you roles that for sure will make your career
This is truer for Bollywood auditions
(However, this does not mean that you should stop imagining about "IF" I'm that person or you should forget about your own life experiences or your "observations" and preparing for an audition. All I'm saying is to be in a character maintaining your individuality)
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