Self-Tape Tips
UBCP/ACTRA hosted a webinar panel made up of the busiest casting directors in town. Members could ask questions, get information and hear directly from them. This document was created with the feedback from the webinar in relation to the casting director’s tips for self-taping.
SELF-TAPE TIPS
SOURCE: UBCP/ACTRA
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Best Practices for Self-Tape and Virtual Auditions
The following industry best practices have been developed to provide a reasonable and sustainable solution to the growing number of challenges placed on Performers in relation to self-tapes.
BEST PRACTICES FOR SELF-TAPE AND VIRTUAL AUDITIONS
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SOURCE: UBCP/ACTRA
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Shooting your self tape
The most important thing is that we see you clearly and hear you clearly. You do not need complex lighting, expensive cameras, or microphones. Odds are, if you purchased your phone in the last five years (I’m guessing that’s all of you), it will shoot a decent self-tape.
Here are some tips to help:
Make sure you are well lit (neither obscured in dim light or washed out in overly bright light). Ideally you want your primary light source at around your height, aimed at your face. A bright light source behind you will cause you to be a dark silhouette. A bright light source directly above you will cast shadows on your face. If there is a window in the room where you are shooting yourself tape, natural light is usually good. Overcast days are best, if it’s sunny, having a blind to diffuse the light would be a good idea.
You don’t need expensive lighting equipment. A simple, cheap ring light is usually sufficient. If you are serious about pursuing this as a career, an investment of around $150 will get you a couple LED panels which you’ll be able to use for years.
Try to get your camera at eye level (whether you are sitting or standing). Get a tripod for your phone or stack up some boxes to raise its level.
Shoot in Landscape Mode (phone horizontal), unless otherwise specified in the instructions. You can shoot your slate in Portrait Mode (phone vertical) if you are asked for a full body slate, but should always turn your camera back to Landscape mode for the scenes.
Try to eliminate any distracting background noise.
Try to film without any visual distractions in the background. Like a blank wall. Many actors have purchased backdrops – they are not essential, but help if you don’t have anywhere clutter-free to shoot your audition.
If there is dialogue, have someone read the other lines for you – you can position them beside the camera. You do not need a professional actor to read with you – a partner or roommate will do. You can even have someone read with you over zoom if you live alone.
Wardrobe – usually we include wardrobe notes in the self-tape instructions. Most of the time for commercials, wardrobe is the kind of things most of us already own – casual, business casual, exercise clothes, etc… Sometimes we may ask for a specific colour (for example, a blue shirt if you are auditioning to be a Best Buy employee). Please don’t go shopping for new clothes for an audition. Do your best with what you have.
SOURCE: MANN CASTING
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Props
If you are using anything in the commercial (like a phone, laptop, cooking utensil, etc) it is usually a good idea to actually have something in your hands. If you have the thing you are interacting with, great! But don’t go out and buy props – use anything you have on hand that can reasonably stand in.
If your character is eating or drinking anything, it is important to have something to eat or drink. You can just use water for whatever you are supposed to be drinking. If you don’t already have the food that you’re supposed to eat in the commercial, then try to find something that is a reasonable stand-in. Like if it’s for a hamburger, a couple pieces of bread will get the point across. If it’s french fries, some potato chips are a decent sub. But please do have something – anything is better than nothing! There are few things weirder than watching people bite air.
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Wardrobe
Usually we include wardrobe notes in the self-tape instructions. Most of the time for commercials, wardrobe is the kind of things most of us already own – casual, business casual, exercise clothes, etc… Sometimes we may ask for a specific colour (for example, a blue shirt if you are auditioning to be a Best Buy employee). Please don’t go shopping for new clothes for an audition. Do your best with what you have.
SOURCE: MANN CASTING
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If we’ve missed something or you’d like to see a topic added, we’d love your feedback.
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Framing
Usually we will include how we would like you to frame your shot in the self tape instructions. If it is not included, then here are a couple guidelines to help you decide how to frame your shot.
NOTE: For long format projects (TV and Film) it is usually recommended to shoot all dramatic scenes in a medium-close(head and shoulders), and only widening to a medium if the scene is comedic and there is a degree of physicality to the performance.
Most of the time, for commercials, we’re going to want your camera framed in a medium shot. A Medium is around from your waist to the top of your head. Don’t include tones of space over your head – nothing interesting is happening up there!
A medium shot is useful for commercials because it is close enough on your face that we can see your eyes, but wide enough that we can see what you are doing with your hands – often in commercials you are interacting with the product in some way.
Another useful frame is a medium-close (around your shoulders to the top of your head). This is a good framing if you are a spokesperson speaking to camera or to a reader beside the camera, and there isn’t much in the way of physical action. The nice thing about a medium-close is that we get a really great shot of your face – but pick a slightly wider frame if there seems to be a lot of physical action.
A medium-wide (around your thighs to the top of your head) can sometimes be useful if the scene is really dynamic – like if it’s a commercial for an SUV and the action is you loading your camping gear in the back. It’s harder to see your face in this framing, so unless you notice that the action has you constantly moving in and out of frame, I’d go with a medium.
A wide shot (from your feet to the top of your head) is typically only useful if what you do in the spot is really dynamic – like we need a shot of you playing basketball or something like that. Sometimes we ask for a slate in a wide shot – wide shot slates are useful so that the wardrobe department knows what clothes to buy to make you look the best once you book it. If you can’t get your camera far away enough to get a wide shot, then you can turn your phone vertical to capture the slate – but please remember to turn it horizontal for the scene!
SOURCE: MANN CASTING
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Processing your self-tape
Watch your scenes after you film them: Can you be heard clearly? Can you be seen clearly? Did you perform the scenes according to the instructions?
If you are happy with the result you are ready to get the scenes prepped to send in. Some casting houses prefer you to combine all your video files (your slate and all scenes) into a single video file for the submission. Some prefer it all separate. Some prefer the slate in front and scenes in the back. Some prefer the scenes in front and slate in the back. Familiarise yourself with some simple video editing software so you can combine videos if necessary.
You should always label your video file with your name and the project you are auditioning for (example, johndoe_projectfinancial.mov). Some casting directors require files be labelled in a specific way – look for the instructions.
Almost all cameras and video editing software will create .mp4 or .mov video files. Either are acceptable.
You do not need to add any title cards to your audition, either at the beginning of the audition or in between takes. It’s fine if you do wish to include a title card at the beginning of the audition, but please keep it under 3 seconds in length. If we need any of the info, we can pause it.
SOURCE: MANN CASTING
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Sending / submitting your self-tape
There may be a link to upload your own video, or you may be asked to send it to a specific email address.
Don’t try to attach a video file to an email – they are almost always too big and your phone will squash your video to make it fit 20MB.
Use a file transfer service like wetransfer.com to send them (it’s free)!
Unless otherwise stated, don’t upload them to Youtube – we put all the files on our own video cloud hosting service and we cannot download from Youtube.
If you are getting an error message because the file is too large, you may need to compress it. There is a simple video tool called Handbrake that is free and fairly easy to use that can compress the file size to something manageable.
SOURCE: MANN CASTING
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If we’ve missed something or you’d like to see a topic added, we’d love your feedback.
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What happens after you submit your self-tape?
First, we review all self-tapes we receive and decide who to send on to the director and creative team from the advertising agency. Usually the reason a video gets culled is that we cannot see you clearly, hear you clearly, the incorrect video file was sent in (usually because it wasn’t labeled), or the scene was otherwise not filmed correctly. If you remembered to watch your video before sending it in, then odds are you will make it past this step.
The director and agency creatives will review all the tapes submitted. They will select some percentage of them to be brought in for a recall (which will either be in person at our office or virtually over Zoom). If you are selected, we’ll let you know when your audition is scheduled for and send you a link to the Zoom meeting.
If you have not been selected you will hear nothing from us – go on with your life! Don’t get discouraged, not everyone is right for every role… and if you are serious about pursuing this, then it’s time to get used to not booking jobs. Even the most experienced actors audition for way more jobs than they book.
If you have been selected for a recall, try to make your scheduled time work. If you have a commitment that you cannot get out of, we can sometimes make some accommodations in the schedule. Sometimes the schedule cannot be accommodated – don’t stress out. It’s not ideal, but we’ve had actors Zoom in from storage closets at work or bathrooms in airports. Just try to find somewhere quiet and private. As long as we can see and hear you clearly, we can make it work.
SOURCE: MANN CASTING
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If we’ve missed something or you’d like to see a topic added, we’d love your feedback.
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