YouTube Nation: The Natural Actor's Audition
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

YouTube is fascinating, be it clips of television shows, people involved in dangerous stupid stunts, folks airing their opinions, re-edited music videos to political ads, etc.

The other interesting thing about it is that I can tell when people are auditioning. I don't mean to put them down, I am certain that their feelings and what they are stating is authentic.

It's just that people who've attended acting school have a method of expressing themselves in a way in which normal people do not.

Some signs of an actor: long pause(s), structured "rants", the ebb and flow of dialogue that seems rather rehearsed, the deliberate 2-3 second stare into space (down and off to the left / right), and monologues that may sound familiar. You've heard it before, because the "actor" is reciting lines from plays / movies.

No crime in that. Authenticity is hard. Yet, the doctored stuff is easy to spot.

Those scenes with phony, hectoring, quarrelsome people pretending to be angry over nothing. How can I tell it's fake? The slight gestures they make to each other: the head nod, the long pause, and extended eye contact. You have the next line... Those little signals actors give one another.

Harmless fun, but some of these amateurs should say they are auditioning.

How to tell the real from the fake? When people look directly into the camera, close your eyes and listen. Don't they sound like they are on the phone talking to you?

A natural flow and chatty tone is real. Very few actors can really emulate that.

Labels: actors, auditioning, internet, YouTube

posted by GoldenAh
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