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If you are here and reading this article, there are chances that you dream to appear on the silver screen. Well, if that’s true, you made the right choice to visit this space. Many times we saw a movie, commercial or alike and think that we can perform acting better than the one performing in them. Indeed! You can be a good performer, no doubt, but confidence is not the only factor that can take you to your destination. The journey is long and there are many attributes required to learn.

One such factor is to know the facts about camera acting. It’s not that simple as it seems on the screen to the audience. There are a lot of things, you should learn about before you get ready to face the camera. This article focuses on facts about the camera acting that you must know.

Learn Things That You Must Know Before Facing The Camera

What you are in real life has not much to do with how you perform on reel life. Learning about camera acting becomes even crucial when it is your first attempt. Although it is good to be confident you can’t ignore the fact that hesitation is natural. We are enlisting a few essential tips for all our aspiring camera actors. Don’t miss them to read.

Study The Camera Angles Before The Shot

How and when the camera is focusing on you is very important which helps you to give your best shot. Experts have suggested to better take a close-up shot (of head and shoulders). Use your smartphone to take pictures and videos. When you change the direction of your face as well as that of the camera, you will notice the difference and understand the science behind the camera angles. You can then observe the difference in pictures taken from varied angles. The quality, size, and appearance show a huge difference. 

We all have an outstanding angle from where our face looks awesome. So, basically, pose matters along with the angel of the camera. You must evaluate and self asses which is that angel that makes you look better. Also, before you give shot, check out the camera angles as well. How many cameras are capturing you and at what angel? It matters!

Refer this article: How to maintain eye contact with lense.

Evaluate Camera Acting vs Theater Acting

Performing on screen and on stage is very different. If you have done theater acting and think that you got all the required skills to face the camera easily, you probably interpreting yourself wrong. Theater plays are all about facing the live audience while doing acting for movies and TV is all about how you appear on the screen the camera catches the minute details. So, you can understand and feel the difference.

Facial expressions are not so clear in case of theatre acting while in case of if you are doing it for movies or TV Show, your close up shot reveals your expression crystal clear. Conclusively, it can’t be established that a good theater actor is also good at facing the camera. Expression, body language, appearance, looks, dialogue delivery, and everything becomes more crucial. Facing the camera is much typical and challenging than the live audience.

You need to polish your camera skills, expressions, looks, appearance, voice, and everything that an actor should be best at. Talking about the voice also, on the camera, you must know what should be the right pitch of your voice. You have to be aware of the placement of the mic and accordingly fix your pitch. The speed of delivering dialogue also matters a lot.

Be Expressive While Facing Camera!

Expressions are the kind of acting. What makes a simple and cold dialogue striking to the heart is a blend of right and timely expression. You may observe a common quality in all the superstars, they all are expressive while uttering their dialogues. Sometimes all the marks are given for expression only. Without saying a single word, you may win the hearts of your viewers. You should develop your personality to convince the audience that you are happy, sad, emotional, sensitive, fear, mad, or in love. 

Tools For becoming An On-Camera Actor

How you look and how you sound are the biggest and only tool for an actor to appear best. (Of course, the acting is the core skill). From appearance to speaking, everything should be proper and excellent. You should wear attire that makes you confident. Smile is mandatory (yeah, when the scene is about showing angry expression or a sad one, don’t smile). Don’t try to imitate the voice of your ideal one (because it happens usually). Speak naturally. Other tools include your looks, eyes, hair, and props.

Keep Hesitation At Home

Hesitation kills your creativity and confidence, and give birth to negative thoughts like “I’m able to do it or not”. So, it is better to keep at home when you are committed to being a great actor. Never question yourself and doubt your own skills. Yes, it is good to keep exploring and evolving but it doesn’t mean that you’re not good to do it. Don’t be nervous and believe in yourself. Keep reminding yourself that “You can do it”!

Bonus Tip

Don’t miss the sound factor it is very essential and missed by many of the budding actors and mainly the one coming from the theatre background. You have to be very cautious about your voice while acting in front of a camera. Because there are various methods the mic is placed which records your voice in various ways.

In theatre the mic or the receiver is just your direct audience who are sitting at a reliable distance from you so you have to keep your pitch accordingly so that it is audible to the audience whereas in term of camera acting there are different types of mic like lapel mic, boom mic, etc and you have to be aware where the mic is placed and accordingly adjust your pitch. You can’t shout when the mic is placed just below your neck you have to adjust accordingly. Here you have to pay attention to both the placement of mic and mood required in the scene.