Amanda Kearns

WRT 205

4/25/23

Unit 3 Reflection

When deciding the medium for my Unit 3 project, I put myself in my own shoes a year back. Seeing that my project is based on experiences I went through and wish I had more guidance on, I thought back to when I was auditioning for BFA programs a year ago and determined that back then it would’ve been helpful to have a video how- to out there about how to film a self tape. There were videos back then, but not specifically for the audience of aspiring BFA acting majors, so to have the specific guidelines for the niche type of audition would’ve been wonderful. So, being in the position I am, and being lucky enough to have been accepted into a top school for BFA programs, I thought a video with visuals would reach my audience best. Specifically, the attributes that helped me determine this were mostly focused on the visual of having images of what a self tape was while being described, accompanied by an explanation from my friends who are experts in the process.  Now, I know I could’ve also done that in a blog form, quoting my friends in a textual style, but I thought it would be more relatable to see many faces of students who went through the process and can understand, as I myself can have a hard time connecting to text and understanding context when you can get a lot of different answers for this question on the internet, so seeing actual students and there actual faces is hopefully a comfort while getting the information. On top of that, the subject itself is also very stressful for many as these auditions are extremely high stakes at a low success rate, so my hope was that a more casual and informal video could put some ease to the matter and help others understand that it’s okay to just do their best, advice that is given in many ways throughout the video including simply filming on your phone (as my friend Victoria suggests), and editing in a free editing app or even editing the self tape video directly on your phone (as my friend Delaney suggested).

I submitted my Unit 3 project to my particular audience by putting it on YouTube. Seeing that my demographic is people around my age, using a form of social media to get my voice out there made perfect sense to me. It is a platform used for information as well as to be social, so to have the two combined supported the idea of an informal but informational video coming from a young adult going to other young adults. Additionally, I thought YouTube would be a good idea as a year ago, I was doing the auditions I am educating others on, and was very stressed to find virtually no information online about how to record a video while auditioning for BFAs around the country. However, when I was looking for this information a year ago, it was a no brainer for me to look for answers on YouTube first. So, it makes sense that YouTube would be the best way to reach my demographic, as those who are on the same path I was a year ago are probably having similar thought processes, meaning that now when they go to YouTube and search it up, hopefully my video will come up and be helpful (unlike the help I needed and couldn’t find when I was trying).

The introductory material I provided was extensive. I first explained who I was, to show the credibility of my video, and then described each step of the video in sections, as a look-ahead to exactly what the whole video would be entailing. When it came time to interview each of my peers, I had them state their name and major, and reiterated the questions that I stated in the beginning of my video. I also discussed the google form I sent out in the beginning, and how it would add credibility and help create extensive research. On top of all that, in the introductory I also explained what the video was for, and right away clearly stated that my audience was aspiring BFA students, as well as providing the viewer with my thesis from the beginning so they knew the overall topic of the video.

Ideally, I’d want my audience to respond to my video by having some relief on the topic. Auditioning, especially when you’re just starting out, can be a very foggy subject that has many and no answers at the same time. So, I really hope that people watching can get clarity from it and respond (maybe in the comments?) with how the video helped them succeed in finishing their audition processes. I think it would also be very cool to have people write in the comment section with questions they have, so if there’s anything I missed in the video that people are wondering, I could help them out as an afterthought. In terms of peer review, my responses back were really good. I wrote down a quote from a classmate (who said I could use it confidentially) where she said “yeah I don’t know much about theater, but as someone who has done job interviews and stuff this seems like a good idea… especially a video. I would just say make sure you’re clear about like theater lingo.” Other classmates during the discussion chimed in with similar positive feedback, reinforcing how the video medium was a good choice for the topic at hand. Because of this, I was able to put in the informational part of the video where I specifically explain that “a self tape is a type of audition that’s a video that you submit.” Having peer review was helpful in this way as it’s often easy to forget what language people don’t use normally when you’re surrounded by theater people all day everyday. This also improved other sections, for example, where my friend Victoria talks about how to  “make sure you’re in frame depending on what they ask for, like a three quarter shot”. Normally, I wouldn’t think to make sure people know what this is as it’s very normal to me, but because of peer review, I went in and added a description and a photo of a three quarter shot. My friend Delaney, in addition to Victoria, had a similar scenario I was able to catch. Delaney, while discussing how to edit a self- tape, said “[I] go into imovie on my phone and then choose all the videos I want to piece together”, so I took a screenshot of imovie editing so it would look more familiar when the viewers ultimately do the auditions themselves.