My First Self-Tape

For our final assignment for Acting for Screen, we were tasked with creating our own self-tape. I chose Lisa's Monologue from the 2000 film Girl; Interrupted. This monologue caught my attention as it was out of the ordinary, had plenty of opportunity for character development in a short time and was a good type cast for myself. I found that it took a couple of takes to get the monologue performed correctly as the first time the camera started rolling, I couldn't find the correct eyeline and it would throw me off my script. To rectify this, I chose a particular point in the room (in this case, it was a window latch) and made this the person I was talking to within the scene. This greatly aided my concentration and allowed me to complete the scene without hesitation. In addition to this, having a good place to focus made my character more believable and it seemed natural that I was talking to someone in the same room as I. As Tony Barr says in his book 'Acting for the Camera', 'The camera allows no deceit. Either you are truthful or you are not.' (Burr, 1997: 4).

We watched our self tapes in class to receive some feedback on our first attempts. It appears that the scene was a good type cast for myself and the frame was not too bad. However, the audience would get a better view of the acting in my eyes if the frame was tighter. Additionally, the monologue came to just over 2 minutes, which is a little long for a self-tape. Finally, I should wear a top that is slightly lower cut as the top I was wearing covered my neck, which could possibly lead to casting directors wondering what I'm hiding under the top of my shirt. I decided I would film my self tape again in order to act upon the feedback I have been given. To start with, I wore a shirt which showed off my neckline better. I also tightened the frame more and cut the piece down so that it still included some character development, but didn't drag on for too long. I prefer my second attempt to my first, but I have uploaded both here so that I can reflect on my performance in future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSfsYobqdqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB9a54GfWVA

Sources: Barr, Tony: 1997, Acting for the Camera, Harper (pg 4)