Anatomy of a Self Tape: 10 Tips on Making a Stand Out Self Tape that Lands You the Role

What does a good self tape look like according to a commercial director?

What does a good self tape look like according to a commercial director?

I’ve watched thousands of self tapes. Some are good. Some are… not. Have I ever cast someone with a technically bad self tape? Yes, BUT it was much harder than it should have been.

What makes a good self tape? (according to me)

Note: Always follow the casting director’s / requester’s instructions. If there’s anything contradictory in here, defer to the self tape request instructions.

For me, a good self tape is filmed horizontally with a stable camera in bright light where I can clearly see what I came to see - the acting. Local Austin Actor, KarieAnn Bondesen is a pro at self tapes. See one she recently submitted here. We’ve worked with her a thousand times, so didn’t need a slate, but notice that she checks every single box below.

Below are 10 tips for making a stand out self tape that lands you the role.

Follow Directions

This one may seem obvious, but you wouldn’t believe how many actors shoot themselves in the foot by not following the audition instructions. It leads us to ask the question “Is this actor really good enough for me to ask them to re-record and fix it before sending it to the client?” Especially with our deadlines, often it’s a tough sell.

Camera & Lighting

As everyone says, the camera you use doesn’t matter. Shooting with an iPhone is totally fine and doesn’t impact how we see the self tape at all. The most important things to me regarding camera are the following:

The camera is stable - I’d recommend a tripod or phone stand for this.
The camera should be at eye level right in front of you.
You should film yourself from the waist or chest up (depending on how much action you’re being asked to do). I don’t want to see your feet 🫠
Please make sure that the camera is in focus on your face. If shooting with an iPhone, please, for the love of God, clean off your lens before filming. The most important thing is a clear view of you and fingerprints on the lens hinders that.

You don’t need to have a fancy lighting setup. In fact, it sometimes detracts from the self tape if it looks overly produced. The main thing is that your face is bright and well exposed. If you have a ring light, that is perfect. If not, place your camera right in front of a window and film yourself facing said window.

Background

You don’t need to have a professional background setup. I can honestly get over any background, but ideally it’s just not distracting. A plain wall is great (any color). A pro backdrop is great. Heck, even a sheet on a clothes rack works great. I would avoid showing your house or bedroom, but I can look past that. Lighting is more important to me. I know a blue screen or green screen backdrop is popular, but I honestly prefer something subtler like grey or brown.

Eyeline

Eyeline is a huge deal to me. Unless I note otherwise, I want to see you looking right next to the lens. I don’t necessarily want to see you looking directly into the lens, but maybe six inches to the left or right. I want to see both of your eyes.

Slate

There’s often detailed instructions on slate. If there’s not, I do still want to see a slate. If you’re not familiar, a slate is the bit where you introduce yourself, let us know how tall you are, show your full body (and hands if requested) and answer any questions. For me, I want to see the slate after your audition. When it’s at the beginning, I typically skip over it to the audition, then watch the audition, then if I like it and want to know more, rewind back to the beginning to see the slate. Save me the trouble and put it at the end. Also - this is not the place to exaggerate your height (we’re not on Tinder here). Important decisions are made based on the information provided and when you show up three inches shorter than you said, it causes issues for production. Just keep it real.

Takes

Some actors include multiple takes of their self tape. This can either be really good or really really bad (more often the latter). The only circumstance that I want to see two takes is if the role is played much differently between the two. I don’t want to see two takes with subtle intention shifts or worse - of the same exact performance. If you’re planning on including two takes, just be sure that the performance between the two shows depth and versatility instead of the opposite.

Length

I want the self tape to be about a minute. I can tell within that time if you are going to be a good or bad fit for the role. Almost everything we’re making is a :30 seconds final, so if you can’t get the point across quickly in the self tape, I know you won’t be able to do it in our final. I am watching many many self tapes in a row, so for better or worse, I make a judgement within the first 5 seconds of the tape. Make sure that part shines. Obviously don’t take out any lines from the script to get it under a minute, but don’t extend the scene just because. Conversely, a 15 second self tape is too short.

Editing

Some actors edit together their auditions. This isn’t a bad idea, but I never want music added. Even if there is no dialogue, I want to hear the natural sounds from the camera. The best use of editing for me is just trimming the beginning and adding the slate to the end of the video so it’s all one file.

Pro tip: if instructions aren’t given, rename the file before sending so it’s something like: YourName_ProjectNameAudition . It’s way better than IMG_197987398419837 or whatever your phone comes up with.

Acting

More important than anything listed so far is your acting. I can get over every single other thing if the acting shines. Everything else is just to make sure that you’re showcasing the BEST version of your acting possible. A couple of things I’m looking for in your acting (that’s pretty easy to get right):

Are you speaking at an appropriate volume? This one seems obvious, but I get some weird whispery or shouty self tapes sometimes.
Don’t add dialogue if there’s not any written or requested. Typically if there’s not dialogue requested, it’s because there’s no dialogue in the spot and I’m not interested in seeing something that’s not in the spot.
Are you in the scene or are you just being conscious of how you look? I can almost always tell if you believe what you’re doing.
I want to see some kind of emotional arc for your character. Don’t just give me one note throughout the entire audition.
Having a reader with you is great, but not 100% necessary. If you don’t have a reader, one thing I’ve seen that works well is recording yourself saying the other lines and playing that back for your audition.

Investing

If you’re doing self tapes a lot and would like to invest in making the process easier / better, there’s a couple of things you could do. Here’s what I would invest in (in order of importance):