Within around 90 minutes of arriving
you’ll be sat in front of a studio camera and asked to ad-lib,
talking about yourself. But that’s not all...
You’ll
be “counted down”. In other words, you’ll only have
- for example - a minute to talk and you must finish bang-on-time
on zero. So, at around 10 seconds left, you should be starting to
wind up your conversation so that the viewer thinks you’ve finished
naturally - instead of stopping at such a specific time.
As
you no doubt know, one of the essential technical skills in the TV
presenter’s arsenal is “talking to time”. And, don’t
worry, you’ll get a couple of shots at it with one or two being
recorded onto your showreel.
Presenters
are often called upon to “make it up” and ad-lib for varying
amounts of time, particularly during live programmes. As well as being
an introduction to this skill, this exercise mirrors a similar one
used at many auditions and screentests.
Some
of the things you’ll learn before putting this piece down on
tape include: a simple technique to ensure you always finish on time
in any on-camera situation... what to do if your mind goes “blank”...
how to lose the “emotion-less eyes” common to many on-camera
virgins... and, what to do to increase your chances if you’re
faced with an exercise like this at an audition.
