Of course, your primary concern needs to be the development of good acting skills, which you can accomplish in acting classes in nyc that have experienced teachers and coaches. However, there is one skill you may have to develop on your own if your acting classes in nyc do not include it, and that is auditioning technique. The auditioning process has not begun to include audition tapes. Audition tapes need not be expensive, professionally shot videos. Enlist the help of a director friend, rent a simple camera and follow these rules.

First is lighting, because everyone has seen what a poor lighting job can do to someone's appearance. Shadows look like a ravaged complexion or dark circles under the eyes. Looking completely washed out from lights that are too strong or close doesn't work either. This is distracting and will take attention away from your performance. Nice, bright yet completely unnoticeable lighting is the goal. If you are studying in a professional acting program, or taking acting classes in nyc, there should be someone who is teaching an "Acting for the Camera" class or something similar. Ask for help creating a simple diagram that outlines a lighting scheme.

Two or three small lights will do the trick. Two soft lights can be placed on either side of the camera, about 10' feet or so away, focused on where you will be sitting. Then a third light can be used to fill in the background. There are audition tapes that have dark backgrounds which can set a certain mood and this can work. Just be careful that the contrast is not too great between the talent and background which is distracting. Every camera has a White Balance feature that needs to be set.

This reads the color temperatures of the combined light sources. Incandescent lights are yellow, daylight is very blue. Let's say you set up the lighting, and you are also near a window. A simple white balance button will take care of it. Just focus the camera on a white card or sheet of paper and it should correct for color. If you do not use this feature the color will be completely off, especially your skin tones. You want good clean skin tones, eye color and hair color, so you must not forget this step.

Perfect, clear sound is also critical. Distracting static, muddy tones in your voice, are all ways to kill what might otherwise be a good audition tape. No one wants to sit through a tape that they can't hear. Keep the mic as close to the talent as possible. Camera mounted microphones are not very close to the subject, so looking into the rental of a good quality Lavalier microphone might be worthwhile. Let's face it, acting is a form of communication and you cannot communicate clearly if you can't be heard. Lots of good acting classes in nyc, include advice on how to do this.

With these basics in place now is the time to think about content. An audition prepared for taping has some slight differences. A coach trained in the Meisner acting technique should be able to offer a lot of great tips on how to prepare. An audition tape that is engaging, riveting, and fascinating is easier for actors that have studied Meisner acting. Anyone who has studied Meisner acting nyc will understand that acting is as much about what you leave out as what you put in. Of course, you can't cram every possible emotion that a character "has" into a few moments. The key to great acting is what you don't present, but leave simmering underneath. Doing your job as an actor is not presenting everything and making it easy for them, but drawing them in by making them think about the work.

If asked to present something specific, of course you must. Casting agents and at times producers, will ask for more general monologue audition tapes. Let your strengths dictate your choices but you can also use your weaknesses. The best actors are those that are fluid and can show quickly how capable they are of acting in any genre. Audiences identify easily with a comic figure's dark moments, and like to laugh briefly to endure intense drama. Videotape your chosen material several times and enlist friends and teachers from your acting classes in nyc to review it and make constructive comments. The best audition tapes are those which have had input from lots of sources with the most constructive criticism incorporated.