Here’s One Weird Slating Trick That Will Help You Pace Your Performances

well hey there hero it’s David H
Lawrence the 17th and in a recent
session with a client a little tiny
shift a little tiny change in how that
client was doing his auditions made al
the difference in the world and it had
to do with the pattern that he was
setting up with his slates now most of
us when we do auditions either for
voiceover or on camera the first thing
we do is hey I’m so-and-so and I’m
reading for the part of someone so
whatever it is it’s that moment that y
want to be a great first impression an
so it’s gonna be a little lively it’s
gonna be a little um it’s gonna be
friendly it’s gonna be you know nice
it’s gonna be that moment when you mak
an impression on the person that’s abo
to either watch your on-camera auditio
or listen to your video audition or yo
your voiceover audition and so you wan
to treat it with an amount of thought
and respect that that helps you get th
job done that initial first impression
the problem is that’s gonna be a prett
similar pace every single time hey I’m
so-and-so and I’m doing this next time
hey I’m so-and-so and I’m reading for
the part of this so it has its own kin
of cadence and and and pace and and lo
and feel and Happiness you know but th
roles that you’re auditioning for are
going to be wildly different and what
can happen is if you do your slate and
then immediately do your audition the
pace with which you do your slate even
though it’s very short the pace with
which you do your slate can in fact if
you will or affect the pace with which
you do your audition you come out of
that that that slate and you go right
into the audition maybe you do your
slate you pause for a moment and then
you go into your audition I have a I
have something that can help you becau
that pace isn’t always going to be
useful for whatever character
or role you’re auditioning for whether
it’s on camera or whether it’s on mic
what I would say to you is do your
audition first get that squared away g
that intimate or action paste or norma
paste or whatever it’s supposed to be
whatever you decide your best foot
forward is on the audition then clear
your head a little bit just shake it o
you know erase erase erase and then no
not your audition just the thoughts in
your head and then then do your slate
because then you won’t be going off of
pattern that you’re creating actor I s
to my my clients all the time that it’
kind of like a sprint it’s kind of lik
100-yard dash how you start out of the
blocks is going to inform the whole re
of the race so if you get a really goo
start you’re gonna run a good race and
if you get a poor start you’re gonna r
a poor race and so you know there are
exceptions but for the most part if yo
start in a particular way with a
particular attitude a particular pace
and acceleration through that little
tiny moment of your slate that can col
what you do with your audition so if y
do that if you do your audition first
then tack on a a slate and even if
you’re doing on-camera stuff you can d
your audition first and then go back a
tape your slate after that fade up and
fade down on it and then go right into
your your audition in the final
production same thing with with audio
you record your audition first then yo
know refresh your mind do your slate a
tack that onto the beginning then expo
that whole thing as an mp3 file for yo
submission see if that doesn’t make a
difference tell me what you think abou
that below the video I’ve got a space
for comments if you’re on vo heroes co
if you’d like to let me know what you
think I’d love to hear it I’d love to
hear what you have to say and if you’d
like to be on my list I’d love to have
you on my list as well so we can talk
about this I have made some decisions
about the new year and I’ll be sharing
with you as we wrap up the month of
December as we’re doing these things
okay so thank you so much I’m David H
Lawrence the seventeenth I do thank yo
for watching and I will talk to you
tomorrow.