Audition Tip: How To Master Transitions To Make Your Audition Stand Out
Weird Fact: Audition tips about audition transitions are scarce.
I know. I looked.
There are tips on so many other things when it comes to acting — self-taping tips, mastering a crying scene in auditions, how to not psyche yourself out in auditions, etc.
But nada on transitions…until now.
That either means:
A – Nobody thought to make one
B – You aren’t searching for them
C – You aren’t searching for them because you don’t realize how important audition transitions are.
In fact, transitions are probably the most overlooked, under-utilized part of your auditions (which is the subject of today’s video tip below).
But most importantly, missed transitions are often the culprit for missed opportunity – aka NO CALLBACK.
If you’ve been auditioning for a while, then you know what I’m talking about. You know what a transition is, how to find it, what to do with it once you do find it.
And you should know how to turn an ok audition into a masterful, compelling audition by using transitions to your advantage.
HOWEVER, my experience both as a Casting Director and as an audition coach tells me, for the most part, you don’t.
Which is the subject of today’s video tip.
In this video you'll get the answer to the question:
“How Do I Know If I'm Screwing Up My Audition Transitions?”
In the video, you learned a couple of ways to identify problems in your transitions.
In addition the other big takeaways you should get from this video and this short blog on audition transitions are:
1. Transitions are the KEY to turning a mediocre audition into a GREAT one
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2. Transitions are often missed, which means you’ve missed an opportunity to get the edge in your audition
3. What I talk about in this video is just one small part of the big picture when it comes to transitions…It’s the tip of the iceberg.
You’re going to look at your audition transitions much closer from now on so you can NAIL IT and stand out in the best possible way in your audition.
And by the way, just in case you were wondering, Casting Directors are not sitting there watching you thinking,
“Uh-Oh, they missed that transition! NO CALLBACK FOR YOU!
Not at all. They just won’t be wowed by you audition. You won’t get on their radar. They won’t think of you when they’re deciding who gets called back.
And that’s a shame.
Make a promise to yourself right now not to miss another opportunity to knock their socks off.
Learn how to identify transitions (the big ones AND the small ones). Learn what to do once you find them.
Make sure you’re not falling into the trap I laid out in the video above. Learn how to master audition transitions with some awesome training… And start blowing them away in the audition room.
Your turn! Did this blog on audition transitions help you? What was your ah-ha moment? Please share it in the comments below :-)
You DESERVE The Red Carpet,
~Amy
P.S. As I’m sitting here writing this blog on audition transitions, I’m thinking I should do a training on this very overlooked but VITAL advanced auditioning mastery topic. If you think that’s a good idea, let me know in the comments, k? ;-)
Did this audition tip BLOG on How To Master Transitions To Make Your Audition Stand Out help you? If so, I would greatly appreciate if you commented below and shared on Facebook
Amy Jo Berman's Tips On Acting & Auditioning Blog
Email: Asst@AmyJoBerman.com
“I show actors how to be better, book more jobs and live The Red Carpet life!”
I would love to know if you have any examples of effective transitions! I think that might help me understand! :) Thanks for your tips, Amy!
I totally get this but didn’t know how to put my finger on the process. Thanks so much for nailing it down for me.
WOW. I have TOTALLY missed these so much in my auditions (and even in performances, perhaps!)
I will definitely start applying this! Thanks again, Amy!
I am also still a little unsure of what exactly a transition is, could you please provide an example from a movie/scene/script?
That being said, I greatly appreciate the specificity of topic and info on “tells” – even though I did not understand 100% that was still a good tip to use for other things as well like commercial improv! Thanks!! :)
Not totally sure I understand what a transition is. Do you mean when a character changes tactics? I’ll try to check myself when I say “I mean” in conversations, cause that’s interesting… still trying to understand. Can you think of a video clip where an actor performs a transition in the scene effectively?
Transitions, as I understand them, are the emotional roller coaster ride of flow. A common mistake is to go directly for the direction to emote something instead of transitioning into it. Water doesn’t just boil, it dances, bubbles, smokes, spits, THEN boils, and maybe even boils over. Make Sense? Reaching for emotion equals an effective transition imho.
Very helpful it illuminated me on why I blew my last callback
Amy, thank you for your tips! I’m sharing them and you’re getting a lot of vicarious likes. :) I would absolutely love it if you did a webinar on transitions.
Transitions are very important, Amy. Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for the advice Amy! Time to run a self-taping audit! lol :-)
It’s awesome that you bring awareness of how important transitions are, I absolutly agree with necessity for us as actors pay attention to not only big, but also minor transitions!!! Thank you Amy A LOT for all your support and shearing!!! Loved the video!
Good one! I think i’m only aware of this, like, 20% of the time, and it’s good to know what the common ones are to avoid them and do something more natural or interesting. Thanks!
That’s why I had to do this blog Bobo. So glad it helped!
Love this Tip… I was the king of “I means” …Awareness is paramount !
love the new look too Amy Jo B :)
Thanks on all counts Pete!
Great tip. I have tried to find a way to improve my transitions.
Awesome. What have you been doing?
Now I am going to go back and look at my taped auditions and see if I do that. … but not sure what I use.
Happy to help Jamie. Not everyone has an obvious “tell” in their transitions. There are many other things that go on in those tiny moments. This is just one of the easiest to spot. Good luck!
your info and tips really kick ass!! Ive seen alot of being comedians and comics struggle with the transition and moving from one joke to another. Its really bad seeing sales-people do it during a sales presentation! love the vids and I Sent your assistant a message.
So true Dewayne! I’ll make sure my assistant looks for your note. :-)
Great info! I wish I had heard this before my last audition! It was a taped submission and I’m sure I did a lot of this. (I shared on FB and Tweet)
Glad to arm you for the next one Mona! Thanks for sharing too. :-)
This is a great tip. Thank you.
Thanks Brenda. Glad to be of help.
Thank you for this. Something I need to ‘be aware of’.
Absolutely Ray!