How Eye Contact During Auditions Affects Performance

On behalf of TVLesson.com, I'm Lori Wyman. With Lori Wyman casting and I'm going
to be bringing you audition tips today from my new book The Organic Actor.

Let’s talk a little bit about eye contact and how important eye contact is during your
audition. Now what do I mean by eye contact? Right, now I’m looking at you. Okay?
Would you watch me if I was speaking to you like this? No, I don’t think you’ll watch
me. How long would you watch if I’ve kept my head down? Not very long would you?

Well, let me tell you when I conduct auditions, it is crucial that I have the eye contact
because eyes says so much. What is really important is to blink as little as possible. What
if I was talking to you like this and I just kept blinking? Well, that’s rather unnerving for
the viewer, and it’s also unnerving for the actor. Blinking as little as possible. Making eye
contact makes you look solid, makes you look credible, makes you look like you
understand your character. Nothing is worst than when you’re in the middle of a heated
scene and you don’t know the next line, and I say to you, “I’m telling you, if I ever catch
you with my husband again I’m going to -- kill you!”

Well that just ruined the whole scene. So make sure that you have full and complete eye
contact and the best way to accomplish that of course is to be memorized. Eye contact if
you subscribed to Michael Caine, he is a brilliant actor, he wrote a beautiful book. Eye
contact, no blinking, crucial.