Once a Math teacher told me: "Nothing it's entirely bad, nor nothing it's entirely good". Beyond my Math grades in the University, this is a said that always applied in life.
Years later, in a Ninjutsu lesson, I learned that the Yin and Yang principle works as the same way. Everything in life is a balance between good and bad.
I bring this matter in a crazy year that we are surviving a powerful virus that's shaking the world-wide economy, society and way of life of millions of people.
Among those people, there are the actors: those who signed for important projects and were paused because of the pandemia. Other who were send them back to their hometown because Covid-19. More actors that found themselves unemployed for the forced pause in many countries around the world.
So, we come back to the first line: "Nothing it's entirely bad, nor nothing it's entirely good". With a massive stop around film locations, all the projects on hold were accumulating so, when it was healthy enough to shoot, all the crew were call to come back to work.
Now, that things looks a little bit better, a lot of productions got back to action and many people is calling to make castings, but in a new way: the selftape.
In order to avoid huge crowds in small rooms waiting for take a chance in front of the camera, producers are asking to actors to record themselves and send the material through the safety internet.
Of course, selftapes are not new, they were used in special situations such as actors applying for a job in the other side of the planet. Many people had have success this way, the best example I recall in my mind is Pedro Pascal who sent an interpretation of Oberyn Martell and was select to be part of Game of Thrones... after that, he keeps receiving calls for another big parts around the world.
In my personal situation, I really enjoy applying with selftapes, specially because I count with a very good light in my room, and that's key for a good presentation. A lot of casting directors couldn't say even more how important is to show your face in front of the camera, and the best way to do it, is with a nice light.
Also, I learned to be careful about the sound. Today's smartphones give you the advantage of a good recording, but if you live in a noisy environment, it's going to be an issue if the person in the other side of the screen can't understand your lines... or even worse: your name.
So, in these selftape days, I've learned not only to be aware of what I'm wearing, how is my performance going but to have an special attention to the technical details of recording.
Having that in consideration, I'm learning and improving to shoot my self with the camera, so once again we come back to the first line: "Nothing it's entirely bad, nor nothing it's entirely good".