I'm Nervous in Audition. What to do? Here's 7 Steps Cure

"My experience of first audition  was for an advertisement which turned out to be bad. I was very nervous, I mugged up all dialogues and I repeated each line as it was without any expression on my face"-actress Sonia Bilani: source

Auditions make people nervous. That�s understandable. It�s the question of your career and fulfilling your dreams. Obviously, you will be a concerned, anxious about how to give your best and flawless performance.
You can�t let the nerves take away your this opportunity to win a role. For your next audition try these steps and see if you have a stronger, more relaxed, more focused audition.

1. Sleep

Experts say eight hours is what we need. That may be wishful thinking, but on a night before the audition day and to do your absolute best, get as much sleep as you can. Being tired will hinder your ability to listen, to quickly take direction, and draw from your much needed creative energy.

2. Eat Well

Go for your energy food, like proteins. Avoid oily, spicy and acidic food

3. No Alcohol  / Smoking

Avoid alcohol (even beer and wine) the night before and refrain from smoking the day before and especially on the audition day. Smoking affects breathing and results in poor dialog delivery

In Audition Waiting Room

4. Some Warm-Ups. 

• While sitting stretch your muscles. Start with the head and go all the way to the toes. Loosen your entire body. Massage your upper and lower jaw and wake your face up. Walk up and down briskly in the audition room
• For your vocal warm-up, do some tongue twisters. Getting this done on the words before an audition can make a big difference between constrained and an impressive dialog delivery.

5. Stay Hydrated

Drink water. You�ve heard it for years. Your body needs water to keep everything flowing. You�ll feel better, be more alert, and have more energy.

6. Use Relaxation Techniques

The quick and simple steps while sitting on a chair:

A. Position:
-One hand on chest
-The other hand on stomach

B. Steps:

• Exhale, fully emptying your lungs
• Inhale deeply, pressing your stomach slightly. No pressing of your chest with the other hand
• Hold your breath for 5 to 7 seconds and while you are holding your breath,
• Auto suggest silently to you, like-�I�ll be relaxed�, �I�ll feel good�, I�ll give a great audition�, �I�ll give good performance��
• Exhale very slowly in 7 to 10 seconds, releasing the pressure of your hand which is on the  stomach
• Repeat this exercise 10 times or till you can continue, depending upon time available in an audition room or the set before the shoot.
• Finally, auto suggest yourself- �I�m feeling relaxed, yes really good. Yes, I�m gonna create another life" (a character in audition other than yourself)
• Listen to some music you love and forget about your lines. You have already spent time in memorizing them

7. Keep Focused

• Find an object in the audition room, concentrate and remain focused. Go on thinking about the character in you. Do not try to see or hear anything else in the waiting room. If any person talks to you, reply briefly and again go back to your object of concentration.
• Just before you go into your audition, take a deep breath. Fill your chest and then release. This will instantly let go of whatever anxiety has built up during your wait.

Partly based on source

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How to Fight Audition Tension? Secret 5 Minutes Technique

Many of the aspiring actors underplay and do not give due importance to auditions as they would give to acting craft, acting schools, list of casting directors and to people who promise them a break in the films and TV serials
It�s sad because this concept is directly responsible for failing to get a break in films, leading to shattering of their dream to be a Bollywood or TV serial star.
They fail to realize auditions are the gateways to grabbing a role and an entry pass to stardom
But why 95% actors appearing for auditions fail? One of the major reasons is a poor performance in an audition or in a shot is �Tension�.  No wonder the doyen of acting technique, a century ago termed �Tension� in actors as an occupational disease and an actor�s greatest enemy.
Tension breeds from fear and anxiety of unknown. It�s starts from the mind and manifests its symptoms in the body. The moment an actor enters the small audition room with people staring at him/her, every fear and insecurity is played out in subtle and not-so-subtle ways across their bodies. From the folded arms and tapping foot, to the unfocused, darting eyes, perspiration, dry mouth, trembling fingers, the auditioners see a zombie rather than an actor.

• How an actor can fight tension before an audition or shoot, instantly?
• The answer is substituting tension with the calmness with relaxation
• How to achieve this? 

By Breathing!

Introduction

When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still... Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Breathing is something we do every day, every minute, every second. We have to do it, our lives depend on it. We take breathing often for granted. And the only time we are aware of our breath is when something goes wrong - we lose our breath, we get out of breath, we hyperventilate, we gasp for air.
As a beginning actor, the relationship between you and your breath might be exactly the same as in everyday life - you don�t notice it unless you�ve got a camera or stage fright, or you can�t say a line because you�re out of breath. But if you want to improve as an actor the best thing you could do is start paying attention to how you breathe.
When you control the breath as an actor, you control everything. You control your vocal technique, your body, your nerves. You�re in control - period. It seems like a simple thing to do - breathe - but it�s amazing how many of us forget to do it! If your breathing is tight and shallow you won�t be able to express (physically or vocally) to the best of your ability. It goes further than just the inhale and the exhale.
The breath has a direct effect on how an actor presents their work. Conquer this simple action and you�ll take your acting to the next level.

Simple steps

While sitting on a chair
1. Position:
-One hand on chest
-The other hand on stomach
2. Steps:
A. Exhale fully emptying your lungs
B. Inhale deeply, pressing your stomach slightly. No pressing of your chest with the other hand
C. Hold your breath for 5 to 7 seconds and while you are holding your breath,
Auto suggest silently to you, like-�I�ll be relaxed�, �I�ll feel good�, I�ll give a great audition�, �I�ll give good performance��
D. Exhale very slowly in 7 to 10 seconds, releasing the pressure of your hand, the one which is on the stomach
Repeat this exercise 10 times or till you can continue, depending upon time available with you in an audition room or the set before the shoot.
Finally, auto suggest yourself- �I�m feeling relaxed. Really good. Yes, I�m ready to go��

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What Casting Directors Want? You in a Character, Not Acting

A Cardinal Question for Actors to Ponder Over if You are Failing in Auditions

Do You Know What Casting Directors are Looking in Auditions? 

The process of auditioning is often neglected by actors and unfortunately seen as the poor uncreative cousin to acting; a necessary evil, the thing you have to learn so that you can get the role and enter into Bollywood or in TV serial industry.

This negative attitude towards audition is just plain wrong.
Auditioning is a dynamic creative process that can shine a light on your soul and test your skills and bravery like few other artistic disciplines can. It is an art form unto itself.

From my experience, here are just a few of the many qualities that make an audition a highly creative art.
Preparing an audition is an exciting, hopeful and sometimes lonely process.
Many a times we don�t know ourselves

1. Knowing your own self is its cornerstone 

A film/TV casting director while auditioning an actor is seeking an answer to a question, �Who are you and what do you have to add to the role?� It�s not about acting choices, but what you (your essence) personally have to add to the role. It requires a way of working that allows you to go deeply into your own personality and explore what qualities you have in physical, mental, cultural, behavioral and emotional peculiarities to make you a different and unique individual and how to select some of them to make your character you intend playing at an audition more colorful and dynamic.
You start analyzing and probing your own self.  �What are the most interesting and compelling qualities I have to offer this role?� �Which parts of me will bring in a character an interesting new unique dynamism to increase heartbeat and thrill viewers?
Self-exploration is an elating and necessary work for the actor and the fundamental requirement for the art of auditioning. Greatness can be achieved by the knowledge gained through these self-probing, identifying, selecting and then applying your relevant attributes to the character.

For example, who you are? What is your profile (Physical? Mental? Social? Cultural?) - Confident, happy, particular voice and accent or diction, with unique gesture, indecisive aggressive, rare mental and emotional makeup, religious or not, extrovert or introvert, of positive or doubtful, from lower or middle or upper class of background� well, there could be many attributes of your personalities which makes you a different human being.
Please remember, the art of the film/TV audition is discovering NOT how you can act the role, but who you are in the role.

2. It requires individual technique. 

The art of performance requires a method that allows you to disappear into a character. The art of audition requires a technique that allows you to create and define that character with the unique qualities that are yours and yours alone.
The audition technique you use, needs to increase your focus and concentration. If an audition requires listening to a co-actor or a reader, it needs you to really listen and react (as if you are listening for the first time) with more energy than you may normally listen within your real life. It needs to make the stillness of listening required in a film/TV audition look natural even if it�s an action scene!
Your own technique with your most compelling qualities that you have should be targeted towards the role. The greatest advantage of this technique is that you can be present in the room with confidence and ease, and be the actor directors want to work with and have to hire

3. It demands a true courage

Any art form that asks you to stand up in front of people and express yourself requires courage. Auditioning though, tests your courage, not just at the end, but every step of the way. It starts with the way you enter, greet, stand, your eyes and facial expressions, gestures all through audition. Also, it continues in the need for complete trust in yourself and your instincts, as well as the courage to commit to your decisions of portraying a character, having no idea how they will be received.
Yes, �auditioning� in itself is a distinct art form like singing, dancing, acting, painting to name a few having the courage to explore your heart and soul and to not stop until you find the your unique parts of yourself to incorporate into the role. Now, you have to stand in the room and let everybody see a particular and rare character as you! Just you.
And then you have to accept the responses to your audition. If you�re performing as an actor or singer on a stage, you can always assign some of the reaction to your performance to things outside of yourself: �they didn�t like the play, not their type of music, etc.� But in auditioning, it�s once again just you, and if you don�t the role, the �no� can have a much sharper sting. But, you must celebrate. Because you have done, perhaps very few actors can do- transformed into a rare character. A true and honest TV/film audition, demands complete exposure and full-frontal emotional nudity.
Audition is the art of telling the truth, naked, in extreme close-up.
Based on source

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12 Top Acting Schools and a Personal Coach You Can Trust

Here is the list of top acting institutes in India. You can visit their website and get the details. The fee for the courses are  high, but these schools seem reliable, as per my knowledge on the date.

However, please note that the situation may change in a school in the context of the present faculty, standard of training etc. Therefore, please check carefully by visiting personally and doing some research.

1. *FTII, Pune Film and Television Institute of India or FTII is located in Pune. The Institute offers 2 year PG Diploma in Acting. Expensive: 2 Lakhs?
http://www.ftiindia.com/

2. *The Barry John Acting studio
The Barry John Acting studio is in Mumbai and offers various courses including the Diploma and Certificate courses in acting. Expensive: 2 Lakhs?
http://www.bjas.in/

3. *National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi
NSD offers a 3 year course which leads to a PG diploma in Dramatic Arts.
http://nsd.gov.in/

4. Anupan Kher�s, Actor Prepares
The institute offers full time and part time course in acting.The institute has branches in Mumbai,Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.
http://www.actorprepares.net/

5. *Subhash Ghai�s, Whistling Woods International
Subhash Ghai is the chairman of Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. The courses include a 2 year course in acting. Expensive: 9 Lakhs?
http://www.whistlingwoods.net/

6. Roshan Taneja Acting Studio
Roshan Taneja Acting Studio in Mumbai offers 6 months course in acting.
http://www.roshantaneja.com/

7. AAFT, Noida 
Asian Academy of Film and Television is located in Noida,UP. AAFT offers 3 months and 1 year programs in acting.
http://www.aaft.com/

8. *Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute
Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute in Mumbai offers 3 months course in acting.
http://www.knkactinginstitute.com/

9. Delhi Film Institute
The Delhi Film Institute is located in South Extension, Delhi. The institute offers 2 months acting course in acting.
http://www.delhifilminstitute.com/

9. ZIMA
Zee academy of media arts is located in Mumbai and it offers a 3 month course in acting.
http://zimainstitute.com/

10. Digital Film School, Mumbai
http://www.dafilmschool.com/

11. Kreating Charakters Pvt. Ltd
Established in 2005, they claim to be the best acting training institute in Mumbai.
Website:http://www.kreatingcharakters.in/
Contact Phone: +91 98924 56347
               +91 98210 18560

12. Grace Acting Academy
* Weekend courses are economical (Rs. 15,000). The rest is from Rs. 30,000 to Rs.1,50,000
301, 3rd Flr, Trans Avenue, before Ganesh Acharya Hall.
Above VLCC, Behind MTNL Tel Exchange
Mahada, 4 Bungalow, Andheri West, Mumbai -400053
Web site:http://www.graceacting.com/

13.

Top Professional Acting Coach
For adults and kids

Kiran Pande

Acting coach, Audition doctor, Filmmaker, Film Story Writer and Actor

Personalized courses designed for each individual 

Ghatkopar East, Mumbai 400089
For details, visit:http://topactingcoach.weebly.com

Email: kiran.aged@gmail.com 

Please read the following post before deciding on a school and paying a big money:

Acting School or Acting Coach for Bollywood Entry? Best Choice

Updated post of 2013

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How These 4 Tips 'n' Tricks Can Ensure a Star Performance

Tips on great camera performance

1. Showing v. Telling

A critical acting tip is to remember that you are showing a story, not telling it. The advice may sound simple at first, but it's harder than you might think to thrill your film audience. Simply reciting your lines and obeying director's instructions won't be enough. The acting involves the whole of your character or personality, in other words, your Essence per se. Each movement, each breath, and each spoken line contribute to your performance. When you are on screen, know that your actions must be deliberate. Everything you do must work to show the audience the story.
By showing the story, you should act like a magnet for the audience, attracting and involving them in the story and its rhythm and changes.

2. On Listening

�Just listen,� is perhaps the best acting tip you can receive. As an actor a good deal of your work will be scripted, but just reciting lines is not acting. You must actively respond to the material you are given and to your fellow actors. Listening, constantly and vigilantly, is the best way to do this. Listening to your fellow actors helps you to respond naturally and flexibly. Listening to yourself provides an important check for your own performance, allowing you to gauge how well you are working with the material.

3. Be Aware of Your 'Habitual Behavior' and Gestures

Many of us have certain habitual or fixed behavior normally we are not conscious of-like a particular 'standing style' like weight on one leg, nodding our heads while talking, saying 'um'... Or 'array' main ne kaha tha ne..,in our normal conversation, moving our hands, or lips etc.
Be aware of these behaviors and gestures because this could not match with a character's behavior and therefore are irritating and deadly for a good performance. Ask your friends or the best to your acting coach to identify such odd behavior and correct them with practice

4. Performance Tension and Jitters on a shoot

You go for a shoot. Either immediately or after a considerable waiting time in artists or make up room, you are called to perform in your scene. You arrive and stand at designated place and find yourself in a total chaos. People are running around, shouts, adjustments of lights, camera angles and focus, makeup artist patting and giving your face final touches and your co-actors muttering and remembering their lines.
The result- tension builds up in your body and the mind gets totally blank!
The moment director says �action', your throat is dry, you forget your lines, you sweat and eventually mess up your performance
Why? Because you observe that you are being observed. Yes, all are staring at you, including the director.
When an actor becomes aware that he/she is being observed by 'them', tension finds its way into the actor's life. The key factor here is 'aware'. The actor must first become aware of being observed before the observers can cause the actor to suffer with tension and 'camera fright'.
So the "trick" is NOT allowing oneself to become aware of people around and staring at you!

Try the following:

• Rather than looking at the people around you, immediately select an object on the set-may be something near the camera, a prop, may be a director's collar or anything and continue looking at it till you hear the shout 'action' from the director. And then just go into your character and shoot your line without bothering about your performance.
• Create a fourth wall: You are not looking at the right, left or behind, but at the front, so that's a fourth dimension which you are looking at. Block that view by creating a familiar wall. It could be a wall of your bedroom, study or kitchen or sitting room and substitute your front vision by this wall called as fourth wall. Got it?
• Take a deep breath and go on giving auto-suggestion to your mind like, 'I'm good', 'I'm so and so 'character', 'I remember my lines', 'I'm going to give great performance'
• Remember, you are a unique actor and there is nobody like you. Just don't bother and shoot. There could always be another 'take'. The director wants just one good 'take'

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4 Mumbai Hangouts to Meet Top Casting Directors and Actors

Where to meet casting directors: Mukesh Chhabra, a leading casting director (in light blue T-shirt)  auditioning an aspiring actor

Many a times I get desperate queries and �Please, Please, sir!� requests.
They are something like this-

�Sir, I have completed my acting training 3 months back paying x Lakhs. They don�t help me now�.

�Sir, I have registered with artist coordinator, paying x thousands, but it�s now 4 months and I got only 2 interviews for auditions and I�m not selected. Sir, I have paid additional Rs.25, 000 for a portfolio, but it�s not helping me, though I have emailed my pictures to casting directors�

"Sir, please help me��

My counter question had been �Have you developed contacts by meeting personally casting directors, directors or most importantly your Co aspiring actors and strugglers by visiting Hangout places?�

When their answer is �No�, I tell them where to go, hang out and develop contacts

My Secret Out for You!

However, the absolute basics are

1. Develop yourself to be extrovert. Shun your �shy type� if you are so.
2. Don�t worry �What and how to talk to strangers?� Just barge in!! Say �hi, Can I sit here?� �I�m so and so�� and continue
3. Be inquisitive� seek information about auditions, what�s happening in the cine or TV serial industry, new films, new serials etc.
4. Develop patience and perseverance. Visit often, at least 2 to 3time a week  
5. 
   

Where to Go?

Welcome to Andheri, the Mumbai suburb that is every struggler's springboard to Bollywood. Hopes rise and sink in every rented apartment housing these aspiring actors, the filmi hopefuls!
On any given day, Andheri's coffee shops swarm with ripped bodies and girls in slinky clothes, all hoping to get discovered like Kangana Ranaut did. Markets use to stock Ranbir Kapoor T-shirts and Sonam Kapoor accessories. Every lane (Gali ) has a gym where can you rub triceps with a minor star or an acting school offering all false promises to a stardom.

Every locality has its own attraction where young stragglers hang out. If you dream of the spotlight, it's pointed at Andheri.

Andheri (West)

Andheri's position as the epicenter of the film struggle is only a couple of decades old. Earlier, it was Bandra (West)
Your journey starts at Andheri station. "When I left Delhi, all I knew was that I was supposed to get off at Andheri station," says Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who struggled for 12 years before his Bollywood dream finally came true with Kahaani (2012).
"Andheri station is also your first taste of things to come - the rush, the shove, the long queues and the chaos." For most hopeful actors, it's not just a struggle to get to the top, initially to find out where and how to get a break. It�s a hard struggle to just get by. "You'll see every variety of film struggler in Yari Road, Versova - actors, filmmakers, singers, models," says Ms. Nandini Shrikent, casting director at Excel Entertainment. Yari Road is not exactly cheap. "A tiny two-room setup is nothing less than Rs 25,000 per month," says Narayan, a broker for the neighborhood. "Three to four people share it. So it works out cheaper." At Lokhandwala and Four Bungalows, hotspots for strugglers, the case is the same.
Andheri is where the audition studios and film production houses are. "Even if someone is calling for an audition in the middle of the night, they can get there quickly, paying less than Rs 40-50," says Ms. Shrikent.   
And it is not unusual to be called at odd hours or to expect an aspiring  actor to turn up "in the next 20 minutes. Most hopefuls set out at daybreak, hopping between studios in Mhada to Shreeji Studio to Aram Nagar in search of that elusive role that will open a lottery for them to stardom. "The struggle is pretty much the same as before - the wait, the disappointments, the self-imposed poverty," says Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Forget scoring a role, in Andheri, even landing an audition is a task. You stand for hours before you can register your name. "Yahan jagah ki hi nahi, roles ki bhi kami hai," says a struggler. This guy and his actor friends set off to do what most of these guys do in the evening. Perhaps waiting and waiting!
But the strugglers have a theory- Somebody important may come or his assistant may.

Personally, I think hanging around the designated caf�s is definitely worth a shot. I'm told directors from Films or TV Serials do their rounds there too.
Today hanging out these places may cost you a minimum of Rs. 70 to 80 for a cup of coffee but it could be worth. All it requires regular visits, a pushing extrovert and patience.

Meeting places of directors, casting directors, producers and most important-Aspiring Actors (Strugglers) like you to make friends and for providing the valuable information 

1. Start at Andheri station. 

Look out for a group of younsters who look like you. Go close and overhear what they are discussing. Or see a dude with bulging biceps and a backpack.

2. Coffee shop Hang outs

A. Bru World Cafe

www.brucoffee.in
Shop No.3&4,ground floor,New Neelam Co-Op society, Jai Prakash Road,Versova
Mumbai, Maharashtra
022 3983 3860

B. Bru World Cafe

Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri West
Mumbai, Maharashtra

C. Costa Coffee

Devyani International, Ground Floor, Spring Leaf Building, Opposite Nana Nani, Park, Versova, JP Rd and Seven Bunglow, Andheri West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400081
022 2634 3352

D. Cafe Coffee Day
At the following places

Greenville Buildings, Lokhandwala, Andheri West
Mumbai, Maharashtra
093213 62013
2nd Floor, Inifiniti Mall
New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai, Maharashtra
022 3221 7642

Ground Floor, Meera Co-operative Housing Society, Near Mega Mall
New Link Rd, Oshiwara, Jogeshwari West, Andheri West, Mumbai, Maharashtra
1800 102 5093

3. Market

Hop to Four Bungalows market. You will see them there haggling with the sabziwala (vegetable seller) in their finest.

4. Studios

You will see lots of them near studios at Aram Nagar, part II, Versova; MHADA, Andheri; Shreeji, Oshiwara; outside Yashraj Films.
Research 

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