Acting is a career that you have probably secretly desired to try out. You probably wonder how it feels to be a movie star. However, you are a bit scared of trying out acting because you don’t know how to go about it. You always wonder how does one act in a movie? Well, today is your lucky day as we are here to show how to act in a movie. Here are the steps you need to follow to be an actor in a movie:
- Enrol on an acting course
- Grow and Improve your skills
- Get professional photography headshots
- Sign up in a casting website
- Move to where work is available
- Be persistent
- Create a showreel
- Get an agent
Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It’s not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Take an acting course
This is a no-brainer. Yes, there are famous actors who never went to acting school. However, you don’t have to go through three years of acting school. Acting is a craft, and to be good at this craft; you need to learn and sharp your skills. Whether acting comes to you naturally is a huge part of acting. However, talent can only take you so far. A combination of talent and skill is what will accelerate your movie acting career. If you cannot attend acting school, take short acting courses that last between 6 to 8 weeks. These courses will not clash with your schedule. When you take acting classes, you can objectively access your acting talent.
Move to where work is available
The acting industry operates mainly in New York and Los Angeles. These two cities offer you the best chance of getting a job in the movie industry. Therefore, if you are confident in your acting skills, it may be time to consider moving to LA or New York. Your chances of getting a role in a movie are higher if you are in these two cities.
Get a headshot
Once you sharpen your acting skills in acting class and before you move to either LA or New York, get a professional headshot. A professional headshot measures 8×10, and it’s important for marketing yourself. You need to get a professional headshot photographer to take this photo for you. Don’t be tempted to take a selfie and use it as a headshot. A headshot is the first impression casting directors get of you, and therefore, it has to be good. Research on photographers whose work you like and contact them.
Sign up in a casting website
Once you get your headshot, it’s now time to put into practice what you have learned and sign up on casting websites. Casting websites are like the LinkedIn of actors. Casting directors use these platforms to post jobs that you can apply for online. Casting directors can post a role available in a forthcoming movie, and you can send your cv.
Improve your skills
There are skills that are important you master if you desire to act in a movie. These skills are; knowing how to work for the camera, acting the same on every take, and knowing how to act out of order scenes.
Acting for the camera
When acting in a movie or television show, there is no live audience to provide you with instant feedback. What you have in a movie are the director, a camera and the camera crew. Without a live audience, your imagination is put to use, and you play pretend. To assist you when playing for the camera, here are a few tips:
- Know where the camera is at all times.
- Identify what the camera is trying to capture. For example, if the shot is an up-close one, concentrate on suing your eyebrows to convey your emotions since the camera will be capturing everything.
- Know the location of other actors and props. You don’t want to block another actor’s camera view.
To improve how you act for the camera, watch movies or tv shows with the audio off. Wit the dialogue muted, try and guess what the actors are trying to communicate to the people watching the movie.
Facial and body gestures communicate more than you may think. Watching movies with the sound off allows you to research how an actor’s performance is hurt or improved using their gestures.
You have probably heard that ‘the camera never lies.’ What this phrase means is that the camera captures everything from an actor’s motion, glance, gestures, and breath. Movies are different from theatre productions as you can get away with shifting your glance in the theatre. However, in movies, making inappropriate gestures and movements may ruin your performance in a scene.
To find out inconsistencies in your acting that decry your character, consider videotaping yourself performing a monologue. If the character you are trying to portray is a strong and confident business-person, avoid looking down. Looking down is not a characteristic of strong characters.
You can also request your acting teacher to watch your videotape and describe the character he/she thinks you are portraying with your acting.
Acting the same on every take
In movies, acting consistently in different takes is vital. In the tv and film world, you rarely play a scene once. You often play the same scene over and over again to allow the director to use different angles to capture the scene. Playing a scene more than once also allows you to try different variations on your acting. It’s the director’s call on the number of times a scene is filmed.
Every time you perform a scene on camera, it’s crucial you be aware of continuity to improve your consistency. As an actor, you never know what scenes will be used in the final editing of the movie; therefore, you have to be consistent.
Playing scenes out of order
Apart from maintaining consistency in more than one take of a scene, you need to maintain continuity between different scenes. Filming of movies and tv shows is done out of order for financial reasons. On the first day, you shoot the final scene of the movie. If, at the beginning of the film, your character is shy but gets to be more aggressive by the end, you must reflect these characters through your actions. Your character will fail to make sense if you don’t act accordingly.
Create a showreel
Once you improve your on-camera skills, you are ready to create a showreel. A showreel is a video-compilation of your acting work. Always request a copy of the edited footage of an acting job you do. Once you have this footage, pick your best scenes to include in the showreel. You can create a showreel using video editing software or get a professional to create it for you. A showreel is another way of marketing yourself.
Get an agent
You need to find an agent after developing your skill and putting together a showreel. Agents are the people who get acting jobs for you. Agents get casting calls from directors and then forward the roles to you. Agents reduce the stress of looking for acting jobs, and they can negotiate your pay as you gain more experience. You pay an agent through a commission from your payment.
Be persistent
Talent alone will not get you the movie role you want; you need persistence to open doors for you. You have to be relentless and gritty to get a role in a movie. Many actors juggled between acting and day jobs before finally making acting a full-time job. It may take you a while but don’t give up. Overnight success in the movie world is very rare and patience will keep you going until you get your break.
Expand your range
When you start acting, it’s essential you find your range. You show casting directors your capabilities as an actor through your range. As you get involved in more acting roles, consider learning new acting techniques to move beyond your initial range. You can do improvisation to extend your acting scope. Improvisation grants you the freedom to discover your talent skill could use a bit of polishing.
Be Nice
To get ahead in the movie world, you need to develop relationships in the industry. Treat everyone you work with, with respect as you never where you might meet them tomorrow. People will always remember you when you are nice to them. Make a good impression on everyone, from casting directors to assistants. However, being nice doesn’t mean you become a pushover; create a balance.
Actors Takeaway:
how to act in a movie
We believe that we have answered your question, how to act in a movie. The ten steps we have highlighted for you should guide you on how to get your dream job. Becoming a movie actor is possible even when you have a day job. At the start, it could be difficult to get your break but keep trying.
Build your experience through participating in student films and local film productions. The acting activities you take part in will be useful in building your resume. Keep working on your craft by learning new acting techniques so that you are ready for any role in a movie. Remember to act professionally in all your roles to build your reputation.
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