Turn your shoulders away from the camera to avoid the “mug shot”
Get uncomfortable: try some head tilts, looking over your shoulder and work with your photographer on your best angles
Have your photographer shoot from slightly above you
Sit, but don’t slouch your shoulders. I often have models put their hands on their hips even though their arms won’t show.
Elongate the space between your chin and your shoulder, especially if your photographer is above you.
Turn your head/shoulders/eyes with every click of the camera, but only SLIGHTLY! head-shots have a very narrow focus range, if you move too much, your photographer will have a hard time catching your expressions.
For theatrical headshots, look directly into the camera.
Smile!
Styling tips
Solid colors work best
NO horizontal stripes or busy patterns as these are very distracting and unflattering
No jewelry. It catches the light and draws attention away from your face. Trendy jewelry can also date your picture.
Consider your neckline. Your head-shot will have a very different feel with a t-shirt than with a ruffly peasant top.
Don’t show too much skin (unless they are beauty head-shots for a model comp card)- be especially careful with cleavage if the pics will be used for commercial print or acting.
As Tom Logan says: blue books. Blue and other jewel tones look vibrant and fresh without being obnoxious. no neons
Avoid Black and White. Depending on the lighting of the picture, black can make you look like a floating head and white can “blow out” – get really bright – when the photographer is trying to get a bright, fresh light on your face.
Consider the whole outfit. Sometimes great headshots catch a peak of your knees as you pose, or are more of a 3/4. Also, if you’re prepared with whole outfits, and you have a willing photographer, sometimes a headshot session can turn into a commercial print shoot – great for a budding portfolio.
Natural hair and make-up. These should look just like you and not peg you into any one particular category. The more versatile the look, the more jobs you can use the images for.
Picking the best one
You need one great smile shot. Even if you don’t like your teeth – even if you think you look “hotter” when you pout. A smile shot will get you 5x the high-paying commercial print jobs than a fashion-y pouty beauty shot.
If you are a fashion model (5′8″ and above, thin, exotic), however, you also need a few beauty shots. These should probably be looking away from the camera as to avoid the “theatrical” look.
Look for even lighting
Look for good focus
Look for great color and composition. The image should not only make you look good, but it should also be an interesting image to look at.
What to do with them:
Make sure they are in high resolution (300 ppi -OR if you are emailing submissions low resolution -72ppi- is actually better because it is easier to email and looks fine on-screen) and get some printed out.
You can either have your resume printed professionally onto the back, or you can neatly staple it to the back using four staples in the corners.
You might want to have your name printed at the bottom
Send them out! Don’t just give them to your friends. contact agencies, casting directors, and everyone who will look and listen.
Michael Flutie took the model and turned her into mogul.
He’s worked closely developing Jaime King, Beri Smither, Frankie Rayder and Rhea Durham; taking them from working models to media stars.
Flutie started working at modeling agencies shortly after graduating from NYU. It didn’t take long before he was running his own agency, Company, and launching the careers of unexpected faces like Amy Wesson. Michael sees potential and isn’t afraid to get dirty developing it.
Now with his new show Scouted, premiering Nov. 28 9/10 C on E!, Craig Palmerand I asked Flutie to share with us his insights into the modeling industry and the girls he represented.
Michael Flutie
You helped develop Scouted for E! What insight into the industry can this show offer that is unique from other modeling based shows?
Fashion has, for the majority, been depicted and documented in major cities. I’ve always felt that before New York or Paris or Milan, the true story begins with the discovery process of the model or talent. I wanted to take the cameras to the heartland of America and show how a girl or boy is recognized for their potential; specifically, for those young kids who have never dreamed or thought that they were beautiful. I’ve always believed that it is a Cinderella story and watching the work of the local scouts discovering new talent is really powerful. I wanted the scouts to be recognized for their expertise in giving people a chance and making dreams come true. Before supermodels and Hollywood stars attended red carpet events and graced the covers of magazines, they went to school, worked at fast food restaurants, shopped at malls and performed in high school plays. The stars of Hollywood and Madison Avenue were all discovered and Scouted showcases the beginning of that process.
You were embroiled in a highly publicized legal dispute with model Amy Wesson over breach of contract in 1997. What lessons did you learn from this time in your life and would you have done anything different in hindsight?
I was embroiled in trying to help somebody that I had scouted, created/developed, worked with and made into a very successful model, save herself from her own self-destruction from drugs and alcohol. My position of taking a legal stand with her was my hard love approach to wanting to save her life. The only way that I knew how to help, at the time, was to stop giving her bookings and stop feeding the ugly world that she got so involved in. I froze her contract until she cleaned herself up. I told her to not go to any other agency as I didn’t want her to self-destruct. I hope that experience caused the industry to learn that we have to be responsible for the young men and women who we introduce to the very fast-paced, financially-lucrative, glamorized adult world of modeling. Amy knows that I really care and love her and was looking out for her best interests and we’re good friends now.
Throughout the 1980′s you worked with Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz and others. How has the modeling industry changed since the heyday of the supermodels?
The industry has become much more of a corporate business. There are a lot more models than there used to be. The opportunity to find an agent is easier with the internet; you can submit pictures of yourself directly to the decision makers. Also, the expansion into Western Europe has made the field much more competitive. At the same time, brands are being much more cautious with their money, so celebrities have taken many more of the lucrative contracts that in the past would have gone to models. Celebrities are the lure for consumers more than models. As a result, they grace the covers of magazines more frequently than in the past.
You advocated for the fair treatment of models and even voiced support for a model’s union or guild to protect their interests. What framework do you think needs to be created to support new models entering the business?
There is a need for programs in modeling agencies that support safe conditions for models. I grew up in a time in the 80’s where there were closed backstage sets for a lingerie show and it was a very protective environment. I feel as though this has changed and I think that we have to take a look at the working conditions today. If, in fact, a young girl is working and home schooled, it should not be any different than a young actor working and being home schooled. The industry itself has to breed and support wellness and wellness programs so that girls are healthy and work proper hours and in proper conditions. I think that Paris and New York try to maintain regulations. However, in the fringe markets, this is more of a problem. An acknowledged guild in the industry could provide a great opportunity to set up and create standard guidelines for models to succeed without being harmed. That includes everything from nutrition and diet to business management and long-term financial strategy.
Now, more than ever, girls aspire to model as a career choice. What advice can you offer an aspiring model wanting to enter the fashion industry?
Find a really good agent that really believes in you. Always be professional. Study the industry. Be very responsible to the profession in terms of the clients, photographers and stylists that you work with as they are your lifelines to prolonging your career. Participate in the creative process, always take risks and don’t marry any man that doesn’t have a job and calls himself a producer.
Do you notice diversification in the modeling industry as more companies enter non-western markets?
Yes, I do. However, the same “It” girls are used in every show and campaign.
Social media has become an integral part of any business. How have you integrated social media into your business and how do you plan to evolve your brand?
By producing television shows through my production company Madwood, likeScouted, and through our management company Flutie, that specializes in representing experts, I intend to evolve my brand with the knowledge I’ve been blessed with over the past 20 years. With social media changing every day, we are trying to catch up by communicating via all social media platforms; our blog, Facebook and Twitter. However, there is nothing better than good old fashioned face-to-face meetings or picking up the phone and speaking to someone. Part of my brand is to integrate the use of social media on a global level but also remain personal.
Media doesn’t tell people what to think but it does tell them what to think about. Do you think the fashion industry is culpable of perpetuating an unrealistic body image?
It’s not just the fashion industry that is responsible for perpetuating unrealistic body images; it’s everyone in the public eye, from musicians, to actors, to athletes. It is the responsibility of advertisers, brands and designers to represent true body types. The fashion industry is definitely culpable of showcasing a specific model body type, but they are trying to do a better job at representing different figures. For example, the Dove beauty campaigns or the cover of Italian Vogue have increased the use of “real people” in brand communications allowing a much more honest representation of what people look like and what is healthy.
Miu Miu’s 2012 Resort campaign features 34-year-old model Guinevere Van Seenus. At twenty years the previous models senior, do you think either model more accurately represents the demographic of the brand?
No. I think Miu Miu is trying to expand their brand. Miu Miu, as a brand, is much more youthful and I think that Prada is trying to increase their consumer demographic. With the increase in life expectancy, 40 is the new 20. Therefore, brands are responding to this by marketing and promoting products that are typically targeted to a younger market and associating them with more mature consumers.
What part does brand development play in creating a lasting and sustainable career for a model?
It’s a huge part of the brand identity and developing the DNA of someone’s persona. Talent Brand Management is a term that we created and coined in the year 2000 that defines this. It represents the management of the brand of a talent in understanding that not only celebrities and models can be representatives of brands, but also experts. These experts have an influential voice that consumers can associate with and value because it is based on education, knowledge and authenticity versus just good looks. By developing one’s brand, one is guaranteeing a lasting career.
Do you think we’ll see the return of the household name supermodel again?
With the increased interest in fashion on a mass level and with the kind of television programming that we’re creating, hopefully, the household supermodel will return. Beautiful men and women, who will be developed in brands as experts, will once again become the celebrities and hopefully grace the covers of magazines and new media platforms.
Julia Tan, a 10-year-old actress who dreams of belting like Barbra, auditioned for her first Broadway show last month — 2,500 miles away, in her family room in Kuna, Idaho. As her older sister fumbled with a video camera and her mother beamed nearby as a cue (keep smiling!), Julia performed “Born to Entertain” from the musical “Ruthless!” for one of the three-minute audition tapes that little girls worldwide are sending in to the online casting call for the 2012 revival of “Annie.
“I did two takes,” Julia admitted by telephone, “but only because the camera cut off my head and then my feet the first time around.”
A rite of passage for young actors — waiting in long lines to be seen by Broadway casting directors, clutching head shots with I-hope-I-get-it fervor — has faded, as more producers and directors have abandoned the long-held assumption that they need to be in the room to assess stage presence and other qualities. While some casting directors have looked at audition tapes here and there over the years, the advent of YouTube, Skype, Facebook, Flip cameras and widely available video equipment has recently given technology a greater role in theater casting, providing a foot in the stage door for the technically savvy.
So far 320 young actresses have auditioned by video for “Annie” and 20 of them have been picked for in-person auditions by the casting director, Bernard Telsey, who has shepherded countless careers in the theater. (The online call for Annie and her fellow orphans is open through the fall.) While those numbers are smaller than the 1,250 girls who jammed the June open auditions in Manhattan and the 140 who received callbacks, Mr. Telsey said the taped auditions, which he collected with the aid of a specialist agency, ActorCast, were nevertheless a growing way for actors to become breakouts stars.
Another major musical revival, of the Streisand vehicle “Funny Girl,” also held an online call this summer and received 308 videos from women in the United States, Britain, France, Israel, Vietnam and elsewhere, though the title role ended up going to the television and stage actress Lauren Ambrose, the producers announced last week.
Such formal casting searches are still rare online compared with the hours that casting offices and some directors spend surfing the Internet nowadays for fresh faces. While no breakout theater star has been discovered solely through online auditions, several casting directors said it was only a matter of time. Mr. Telsey recently helped cast an inexperienced actor, Derek Klena, in the coming Off Broadway revival of the musical “Carrie” after Mr. Klena sent in a video for another job, as an understudy in “Catch Me if You Can.” The “Catch Me” creative team liked his tape, so he flew in from Los Angeles for a live audition; while he didn’t land the understudy part, the process led to a plum supporting role in “Carrie.”
“Many talented and hardworking actors, people we want to cast, are increasingly shrewd about using technology to get in front of us,” Mr. Telsey said.
YouTube, for instance, has become a go-to research tool on Broadway. A casting director for the hit musical “Billy Elliot” regularly hunts for talented children from their homemade videos on the site. The producers of the new musical “Sleepless in Seattle” added the songwriter Michelle Citrin to their creative team last year after seeing performance numbers that she posted to YouTube. And executives at Disney Theatrical Productions used YouTube to find and compile potential Ariels when “The Little Mermaid” was running.
“I ended up collecting 20 possible Ariels on my YouTube ‘Mermaid’ account, and then Disney executives around the country were able to log on and assess each of them,” said Jen Rudin, a former casting director with Disney Theatricals. That search yielded Megan Campanile, a college student from Cincinnati who ended up on Broadway as an ensemble performer and Ariel understudy in “Mermaid.”
For the musical revue “Sondheim on Sondheim” last year the director James Lapine constructed a montage of “Send in the Clowns” partially from clips he found while browsing for talent on YouTube and Facebook.
Mr. Lapine, who is also directing the “Annie” revival, said that videos can sometimes help him notice talent that he might not otherwise see at live auditions.
“Actors, especially young actors, can be very nervous when they’re performing live in front of us,” he said. “Video auditions can reveal a level of focus, concentration and confidence. But most of all videos can introduce you to skilled actors from all over the world who might not be able to get themselves to New York for an open call.”
A version of this article appeared in print on August 9, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Hopefuls Sing Out From Afar As Broadway Scouts Go Online.
TalentPlus is expanding their roster of international translators and voice talent. We are looking for the following native voice talents for translating and recording:
Arabic - Male
Czech - Male
Dutch - Male
French - Male
German - Male
Hungarian - Male
Japanese - Male
Portuguese - Male and Female
Slovak - Male
Turkish - Male
Thai - Male and Female
If you are native to any of the above languages and are interested in both translating and recording, please contact Lauren Robison at lauren@talent-plus.com.
Select the folder where the M4a files are saved and then click “Open” to add the M4as to iTunes.
Click “Edit” and open “Preferences.”
Choose the “Import Settings” option inside the window to open a second window.
Click on the “Import Using” drop box inside of the second window and select “MP3 Encoder.” After you have done this, click “OK” found inside of both open windows to save the settings.
Highlight “Music” in the “Library” list on the left side of iTunes.
Choose the album with the M4a songs you’re converting. The songs will then be listed.
Select every M4a you’re converting and then click the “Advanced” menu.
Choose “Create MP3 Version” to save the MP3 audio files in the iTunes folder on your computer.
We are submitting women who have taken the Special K Challenge for their personal weight management journey. Anyone feelin’ good about it and willing to be featured on Special K packaging?
Female / Principal / All Ethnicities / 27 - 40
Description
Looking for women to share their success stories on taking the “Special K Challenge”. Weight conscious women who are on their personal weight management journey to feel good about their bodies so they can feel good about themselves. Photo and printed story would be featured on “Special K” packaging. WOMEN MUST HAVE ALREADY TAKEN THE “SPECIAL K CHALLENGE”. Please forward on to friends or family members who may have done the challenge as well.
Paul Hosefros for The New York Times
