Most people don’t realize the kind of competition in the art corridors. Unless you enter the upper echelon of distinguished names, arts are looked upon as a frivolous profession. Thus, certainly the best should pass through the initial hurdles and thereby go ahead with investing their time, efforts and money into it. One of the best acting schools in India says that they take in a mere 2% of the applicants. At international institutes, the bid is even worse. Thus if you are going to chase such dreams, its best that you get organized in your effort and time spent.
Creative interests can sure be turned into beguiling careers when nurtured and honed with enough hard work and guidance. However, the one problem that nags artists is that success as well as talent are both very subjective issues in this field. Immeasurable and unquantifiable, no one can tell you for sure how far you have come and how much further away are you from your goals. This is precisely why, it is more difficult to break the cult and make it into a good arts college than pursuing mainstream education. You cannot know from where should you start preparing and what are the areas of improvements. Thus, why couldn’t I make it into the drama or film school, is a hard question to answer, but lack of sufficient preparation is the commonest dream killer.
Firstly, understand that auditions are expensive. Many schools charge substantially for auditions alone and you can’t just use the live turf for the heck of experiencing it. Thus, a cleverly crafted campaign preceded by ample practice and hard work is required. You must switch on to the fierce mode at least full six-months before the evaluation process starts.
Begin with focusing on your speech and communication skills. Actors often mistake treating dialogue delivery and facial expressions as two different parts of a performance. However, dubbing might be an easy aid that underpins each and every performance in the digital era, but sadly, audition halls are still old-school where the sheer tenacity of your own voice should ring the hearts of the audience. Practice each and every syllable loud out in front of a recorder before moving on to the dialogues. The nitty-gritties of phonetics have a lot more to convey than they are credited for.
Once you have mastered the verbal aspect then move on to the facial expressions. Practice mimicking vivid human emotions, wordless and have yourself recorded. Invest in buying the recorded versions of several outstanding silent plays and follow them until you can visualize each and every expression with closed eyes. Once you are done with these extensive exercising phases, it’s time to merge the two very important lessons you taught yourself.
Now watch your favourite movies, the ones you have grown up watching and those that planted the seed deep within. Mimic the scenes in a careless fashion and have it recorded. Now compare your performance on these long practiced pitches and I bet you can see the improvement from Day 1 to today.
This technique is going to be your life long apprentice in mastering the trait as you climb through the ladders of success.