camera obscura – auditions over
auditions were this past sunday, and the duke city shootout folks were kind enough to videotape them all and post them online. i must say i was worried at first whether or not i’d be able to find the right actors in new mexico, but after having seen the auditions, i’m really excited by my potential leads!
i’ve only taken one intro improv class, i’ve never tried acting, and i have no other performance experience so i’m not really qualified to say, but here are some things i noticed in good actors:
- they are good listeners. mediocre actors seem like they’re just waiting to deliver their next line. the good actors are alive when they’re listening. they’re present. they’re reacting, letting things register before they react.
- they are subtle. good actors have more control with small nuances of expression, movement, and voice. it’s film acting, not stage acting. a lot of actors were too big, too cartoony, too loud, too flat.
- they use and inhabit physical space. good actors don’t just recite lines, they become a living character. the sides i sent out had 2 characters sitting in a car which really limited movement, yet the good actors were able to find a way to express themselves through movement, and to play with the space between themselves and the other character.
when i saw someone good, i knew right away, often before they even started the actual scene. they just have this presence in front of the camera, and when you find it, you recognize it as something really special.
we’re going to schedule callbacks and have the top 4 actors pair up to see how they play off each other. i want to use that time to let the actors meet and get to know each other, and i plan to have them do some improv to explore the characters’ relationship.
