Self tapes

[Cme1]

Hi
We are new to all of this as my son joined an agency last month. He was asked to do a self tape for a film which we did but without really knowing what we were doing. Can anyone tell me if the files on we transfer ,that are sent to the agent, are downloaded by the agent or do they just forward the email to the casting director? Also ,do they always get viewed in your experience, and is there a time by which you would normally hear if you make it to the next stage( days or weeks) ?
How common are self tapes? We were completely unprepared for this but hope to find out more in case he is fortunate enough to be asked again.
Thanks for your patience with all the questions

[ACookie]

Self tapes are very common in our experience especially for TV or film. Your agent should download it, watch it and make sure that you have included all the necessary details. They will then forward it to the casting team. They are the ones who have asked to see your son so they will watch the tape... Unless it's an open audition with many entries and then they may not always. Response time can vary. We submitted one this morning and had heard by 2pm regarding a recall - it could be longer! I would think after 2 weeks you could usually safely forget about it unless you know there to be a closing date.

[Cme1]

Thanks ACookie
The tape was downloaded 5 days after the actual submission deadline we were given so I thought it might just have been forwarded to the CD. If the agent did view then it would've been good if they had fed back as to whether we had got the right idea of how to self tape,as it was our first ,never mind.
If anyone has any good tips on self tapes it would be appreciated.

[Mamadetres]

Self tapes film landscape, be off book, plain background behind you, reader not to be too loud, eyeline to the side of the camera, good lighting and be natural and respond to the reader.

[Happydaze23]

I think the tips from Mamadetres are excellent!

I would also add (and this may just be a personal opinion) that I wouldn't do too many takes. Spend your time setting up the background/camera and rehearsing a couple of times and then pretty much go for it! Often the energy and enthusiasm in the first take is the best you are going to get so unless something goes really wrong don't keep repeating hoping it will get better - it often doesn't. (and can just make the whole process a bit painful).

Self tapes are really common and really important, two of the best jobs my daughter has booked were casted 100% from self tapes (including a US overseas role) and it saves traipsing all over the place for castings With the overseas job she actually made a mistake with the song lyrics but she just kept going and the acting/performing was spot on so we sent it off anyway - and she got it.

Agents do usually have a look before sending off - just in case - and they sometimes give feedback too.

Good luck with it all!

[Cme1]

Thanks Happydaze23 and Mamadetres
I will take all that on board and hopefully do a better job next time. We definitely had lighting issues and did too many takes and it was painful!

[paulears]

Always show your self-tapes to somebody who you trust to be honest. Be aware that I've seen quite a few because they get forwarded to people for all the wrong reasons. They don't have to be technically brilliant - but they need clean sound. The one I saw last week had road works outside the house with a pneumatic drill! The girl did her piece to camera oblivious to it! Some people have blinkers on and see brilliance that others don't - because the defects sidetrack. Another had the picture sideways, no idea how they missed that? Perhaps their phone auto-rotated it? Last thing - no portrait formats, always landscape - most people view on computers in their offices, not phones. A tall, thin, but small picture surrounded by black looks dreadful!


watch this guide
https://youtu.be/QgalXwwM2Es

[Cme1]

Thanks for the advice and the link paulears