Technical perfection is only half the battle in a self-tape; the real challenge is maintaining the spark of a live performance through a lens. Renowned acting and voice coach Mel Churcher \u2014 who has spent 30 years coaching screen professionals and working as a broadcaster \u2014 understands that the constraints of a home set-up can often make a performance feel rigid. To land the role, you must find a way to stay technically precise without sacrificing your creative spontaneity.<\/p>\n
Here are some of Mel\u2019s tips for finding freedom in self-taping:<\/p>\n
Read everything in the scenes you\u2019re sent out loud \u2013 even all the bits that you\u2019d normally cross out as an actor. For example, read directions like,\u00a0\u201cShe smiles soulfully,\u201d\u00a0out loud because you\u2019re getting the viewpoint that they\u2019re seeing the scene from.<\/p>\n
Read carefully so that you start to find that world, who you are, why you\u2019re mentioning someone, and why this has happened. People sometimes say things like,\u00a0\u201cBut it\u2019s just chit-chat.\u201d\u00a0Nothing is chit-chat! It wouldn\u2019t be sent to you otherwise.<\/p>\n
Look at what is actually happening. Are you attracted to each other? Are you trying to get a job? Are you wondering if they\u2019re the person that scratched your car last night? There\u2019s a reason somewhere \u2013 which you\u2019re going to have to find.<\/p>\n
There are many times when I\u2019ve worked with someone one-to-one on a self-tape, and I\u2019ll say,\u00a0\u201cWhere are you?\u201d\u00a0meaning literally, physically. Are you on a beach, are you in a hotel room, are there people around you, are you in a safe place? A lot of people forget about where they are physically. We\u2019re really different when we\u2019re in a restaurant and there\u2019s noise and other people, as opposed to how we are in the front room of our flat.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a journey somewhere in the different scenes you get sent. If you\u2019ve been sent two or three scenes, what\u2019s different about them?<\/p>\n
Has your role grown? Were you innocent in the first one, and now knowledgeable in the last? Were you in love in the first one, and out of love in the last? What\u2019s happening, and how is that changing the role for you through these scenes?<\/p>\n
When doing self-tapes, framing is very important. Your camera needs to be around eye level. If it\u2019s too low or too high, it\u2019s going to look strange. Your eyeline to the real or imaginary person needs to be not too far off the camera. It\u2019s fine for the odd moment if you see someone come in, but if it\u2019s actual dialogue, it needs to be somewhere the viewer can still see your face well.<\/p>\n
The only difference is when you\u2019re filming your intro. For this, you should shoot it full-length. You might want to play around, have the camera a bit lower, etc., but for your close-ups, you want your camera around eye level.<\/p>\n
I love improv. If there\u2019s something you mention in the text that happened before, then that\u2019s something you should act out. If you\u2019re talking to a woman and say,\u00a0\u201cDo you remember that vow that we made that we\u2019d never get married?\u201d\u00a0ask yourself when you made that vow and what did you do?<\/p>\n
Do it now. Imagine her there and make that vow. Now, when you say it, it\u2019s real to you. We can use these little improvs in so many ways.<\/p>\n
In the script, your role tells a story of something that happened to them, even if it\u2019s a little one like,\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ll never guess what happened! When I came back from that supermarket, that man followed me, and then he said\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
If you act it out like a pantomime, when you tell it, you\u2019ve got pictures in your head and you remember that it feels so much more real. If you\u2019re filming a self-tape about breaking up, you can\u2019t break up unless you\u2019ve loved someone \u2013 so it\u2019s worth remembering that person two years ago, and how happy you were, how much you loved, what you loved about them, what you said and did. And now, it\u2019s broken and you\u2019re there.<\/p>\n
With self-tapes, you\u2019re given the responsibility of being crew: a camera person, a lighting person, etc. You\u2019ve got your kit ready; you\u2019ve got your reader arranged, now take some test shots to check that everything\u2019s working correctly.<\/p>\n
Then, I\u2019d suggest going into another room, or into the garden, for five minutes. Do a warm-up, then come back into this imaginary world like you would on a set to do a scene. Don\u2019t worry about things like whether the camera angle\u2019s okay \u2013 just focus on your work as an actor.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s so important and can be hard to do but create the other people that you\u2019re interacting with in a scene. Think about who they are and what they\u2019re giving back to you.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re going to do a part in a movie, I would say never think about what\u2019s going to come back to you \u2013 just react as it does \u2013 but in a self-tape, you have to cast all the people in that world.<\/p>\n
You can use people that you know from life, but it depends on the situation. My advice is to choose an actor in your head that you think would be right for that role. Then you\u2019ll need to work out what their reaction to you is when you\u2019re batting with them, so that you can respond to their reaction internally.<\/p>\n
If we are by ourselves, we very rarely speak. We expend an enormous amount of energy to create a thought and turn it into words. It could be a very gentle thing \u2013 like welcoming someone or stopping the postman \u2013 but the fact that we vocalise our thoughts means we are bouncing off the outside world. That\u2019s hard to do when you\u2019re doing a self-tape on your own.<\/p>\n
When self-taping, we\u2019re obviously concerned about doing a scene right, but think about who you\u2019re bouncing off.<\/p>\n
Most of us think in metaphors quite a lot. We know we get manipulated by politicians, advertising agencies, everything, but we can use it to our advantage. In this work we\u2019re doing, we might have to have some deep loss, and I don\u2019t think you need to look at your own loss. Instead, you could use some kind of metaphor, like \u2018being punched in the stomach\u2019 or \u2018aching with loneliness\u2019. If you find that, then you\u2019re the person that\u2019s happened to, and you don\u2019t have to think about it \u2013 it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n
We have to work quite hard to give ourselves enough pictures, enough details and enough safety, that we can start to believe in this world we\u2019re creating and actually respond to it \u2013 and the imaginary people in it freely. All these rules make us terribly tight and tense, if we\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n
I miss a lot of freedom when I watch self-tapes. I miss the feeling that people can, as in life, look away from the other person, gesture, talk about\u2026 People can feel quite restricted, and it\u2019s a hidden danger when filming self-tapes.<\/p>\n
When people play self-tapes on whatever device they\u2019re watching on, you often see the actor jerk into action really fast. When acting on self-tape, you might have a strong scene where you\u2019re yelling at someone, screaming something like, \u201cYou mustn\u2019t do that!\u201d<\/p>\n
It can be quite disturbing for the people watching your self-tape back, so I would suggest finding a gentle moment before you launch into action.<\/p>\n
Suppose your scene is haranguing someone and telling them off. There could be a moment where you look and see, for example, a photograph on the wall, and now look what\u2019s happened, and then go into the text. But don\u2019t look too far away from the camera. What happens then is the casting director sees somebody relaxed.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a moment to come into the scene with you. A moment where you\u2019re in the imaginary world, in the role, and just having that second before the words happen. It helps to take them in with you \u2013 rather than you going all out at them.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t overdo props as you don\u2019t want to distract the casting director from you. If you have a cup of tea, you don\u2019t want to leave it there, but if you\u2019re setting the scene of being in a caf\u00e9, then you could have a little sip of the tea at the beginning, or when they ask you something that you don\u2019t want to answer. It makes you feel authentic.<\/p>\n
Some casting directors like props, and some don\u2019t. Either way, we must remind ourselves what a self-tape is for. What\u2019s actually happening with a self-tape is you are allowing people to see you at work so they can imagine you in the role. It\u2019s about the acting. That\u2019s what you\u2019re doing it for: you want them to cast you.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not about,\u00a0\u201cOh, they\u2019ve got really good lighting.\u201d\u00a0But equally, if they say,\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t really hear that. Gosh, it\u2019s hard to see them,\u201d\u00a0then that\u2019s no use either. You want the self-tape to be good technically, so they can see you, but the purpose of doing it isn\u2019t to showcase your production skills.<\/p>\n
In the end, you need to find the freedom, and if a prop that\u2019s mentioned or is right for the scene \u2013 like that glass of wine or that notepad you\u2019re supposed to look at \u2013 and is used carefully and minimally, it makes you feel safer, as well as setting the scene.<\/p>\n
We lock eyes with people we\u2019re talking to for very particular reasons: to heal them, to help them, to make sure they\u2019re telling us the right thing. But as soon as we get a new thought, we look away. So, don\u2019t be afraid of that.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be afraid of using the space. If you\u2019re talking to someone and they ask you a difficult question, maybe you need to look away before you can answer them. That moment makes it feel so much freer; so much more real.<\/p>\n
When you send your self-tape, how do you choose which take to send? Give yourself a break, then come back and watch your takes to decide.<\/p>\n
Which one interested you the most? Which one surprised you? That might be the one to send. The one where you aren\u2019t suddenly worrying too much about it because you get drawn into the story \u2013 that\u2019s the one.<\/p>\n
You really do need to label. If you\u2019re not told what to label your tape, then label it with your name, the role and the project, so the casting directors they can file you correctly.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth testing out your self-tape by sending it to yourself to check its labelled correctly, as sometimes that can get lost between naming the file on your device and sending via\u00a0WeTransfer. Even when you\u2019ve labelled it on your phone, send it to your computer and check that it comes in labelled and hasn\u2019t gone back to the default file name. If it has, relabel it on your desktop and send it off again.<\/p>\n
You can find more\u00a0information and advice about self-tapes<\/a>\u00a0on our website.<\/em><\/p>\n This article was written from notes taken at Mel Churcher\u2019s \u2018Finding Freedom within Self-Tapes\u2019 session at\u00a0Spotlight\u2019s Open House<\/a>. If you\u2019re a Spotlight member and would like to sign up for future events like this one, check your membership email settings to ensure you\u2019ve opted into receiving our newsletters.<\/em><\/p>\n