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The Online Self-Tape Intensive

A crash course in the tools and technical skills you need to create stellar self-tapes!

"Adam Elder is FABULOUS! His energy is captivating and contagious. The production skills he teaches you are invaluable. I highly recommend taking his class - It’s a one-stop shop to all the intel and tools necessary to perfecting your self-tape auditions." 

Katya Sarokko

How is your self-taping going?  Are you getting callbacks the majority of the time? Are you booking that commercial?

In my life as a coach and videographer, I'm approached every day by actors expressing frustration about their self-tapes. They're just not booking anything, even when they are convinced their audition was really good and they were perfect for the role.

Oftentimes it's not the performance at all - it's that the quality of the self-tape is making it hard for the casting director to really experience you.  Bad audio, poor lighting, framing that is too loose or too tight, backdrops that distract from you rather than feature you - all of this can make it seem like they're watching you through a filter that's skimming off the top 20% of your performance right from the start.

What you should be doing is knocking their socks off with cinematic production quality from the moment they open your file.

Thats where we come in. 

Mastering the tools and technology of self-taping can be a simple process, if you're given the right guidance on what equipment to get, and what process to follow when setting up your lights, microphone, backdrop and camera.

 

The Self-Tape Intensive is a deep dive into creating self tapes that stand out from the crowd.

This is a class geared specifically towards helping you master the tools and technical skills necessary to create stellar self-tapes. We'll tell you what equipment is actually necessary, and give you a simple workflow for knocking out professional level self tapes every single time. 

No matter what your level of technical ability, this class will leave you feeling confident and knowledgeable about:

  • Lighting yourself like a Hollywood cinematographer

  • Capturing crisp, full, clean audio

  • Using your cell phone like a real camera

  • Demystifying the backdrop

  • Framing yourself to best effect

  • Getting more out of the equipment you already have

  • Strategically upgrading your kit on a budget

  • Editing and sharing your finished product

"Adam and Lauren’s classes are amazing. They break down everything you need to know on how to make a fantastic self tape, and build a presence online. Aside from their expertise, they are fantastic humans who made a wild and seemingly daunting journey simple and pleasant.

 

I would work with them again in a heart beat."

- Allen Darby, Actor

Why this course?

The reason we’ve put together this training is we’ve had too many casting directors and producers for film, television and theater ask us how it is possible that so many of the self-taped auditions they receive are bordering on unwatchable.

The truth is, most acting schools are only just now starting to realize that self-taping skills are an essential part of the training. It's our belief that most actors simply don't realize how easy it is to do this well, with the right guidance.  

This class is practical and hands-on. Our goal is to arm every actor with the knowledge necessary to assemble a practical self-tape kit, and teach them a consistent and dependable workflow for knocking out self-tapes of the highest caliber every single time.

The Self-Tape Intensive

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021

6:00 - 9:30 PM PST


Duration: 3.5 Hours (with a 15 minute break)
Instructor: Adam Elder
Price: $125

Location: Zoom

Course Instructor Bio:

Adam Elder is a Bay Area filmmaker, coach and actor. He currently teaches self-taping skills in the ACT MFA program, as well as privately. These last two years, Adam has overseen the remote MFA Showcases for ACT, Columbia University, Brown Trinity and The New School, and has filmed hundreds of actor auditions for film, television and theater.  Since 2019, Adam has teamed up with Bay Area coach, actor and casting director Lauren English to create The Actor Online, a training center helping actors meet the needs of their changing industry by mastering the tools of video production and self taping.

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