Auditioning - How to Do Great at a Cold Reading
We have been giving away some tips about auditioning in last few weeks. But, we noticed that most of them are aimed to aid you auditioning on a theater production. Being an actor is a lot like being a temp worker. While auditioning for a role, you will be competing with a lot of prominent actors – it could be at least a six other actors or even as many as 6,000 actors. Preparing an audition for a theater production is basically easier than for a film, television, or commercial ones.
In a theater production, you should have been handed a script outline, containing the specific role and dialogs, weeks before the real audition. Thus, you will get sufficient time to memorize your lines perfectly. However, in a film, television, or commercial audition, you are expected to cold reading a script that you have never seen before. This method is called “cold reading”. Despite of the predictable awkward moment, the director seems more interested in what sort of personality we perform as the character. These are few things you can do to pass the nerve-racking audition through a cold reading.
Pick the Line and Memorize As Much As You Can
The first thing you should do is pick up the script, gain the basic understanding, and commit to memory as much dialogs as you can. At first you probably can only memorize a few words but over the times, you will get used to remember few lines in a glance. Keep your face out of your script while you are saying your lines – this is acting not reading.
Pay Attention While Other Actors Performing Their Lines
While other actor doing his lines, it surely creates some spaces for you to peek at your script and read your part. This is a fatal mistake at auditioning. Acting requires action and communication. Listen to your fellow while he is performing his lines. After he finished, you can read your next lines within few seconds and respond him by looking straight on his eyes. In addition, if you find it hard for you to remember your lines instantly, you are able to utterly repeat the process until you remember the entire lines. Keep remember to stay in your character by not looking at the script.
Draw Less Attention
This is a simple trick but it works well when doing a cold reading. Hold the script using your left hand, at your chest level. This will ease you while memorizing your lines since you do not have to bury your face deeply in the script. Apart from that, this gesture will look like your body’s natural extension. The less you draw the attention of the casting director, the wider chance you open to get the role.
