01 Nov Commercial Audition Skills: Audition Buttons
As an actor, you’ve likely heard about the importance of commercial audition skills, such as audition buttons — and how using buttons can really set you apart! Buttons are great fun — usually allow you to exercise your comedic instincts — and are pretty standard in commercial auditions these days.
Here are ways you can enhance your commercial audition skills by using buttons!
Take a great commercial acting class
Your first step in mastering the art of buttons — and in developing commercial audition skills in general — is taking a fantastic commercial acting class! Here at 3-2-1 Acting Studio in Los Angeles, we offer commercial acting classes to kids, teens and adults. As shown in the video lesson, our instructors do work with actors on audition buttons! We offer both online commercial classes and in person commercial acting classes.
Understand the purpose of a button
As you are developing your commercial audition skills, you’ll come to learn the purpose of a button. A button is a moment at the end of a piece of dialogue in which a character expresses how they feel about what they’ve just said — or how they feel about someone (or something) that they are communicating with. An audition button is a chance for you, as an actor, to express a bit of your creativity and personality. Buttons are usually very brief in length (a second or so) and have become commonplace — even expected — in commercial auditions. It’s, again, definitely great to invest in commercial acting training to learn how to deliver audition buttons.
Buttons can be verbal or nonverbal
Audition buttons can be very simple. You can make a specific facial expression at the end of your last line that conveys your character’s point of view. In some instances, you can tag a few words on the end of your scene. As you develop your commercial audition skills, you will develop sharper instincts, and you will eventually be able to improvise great audition buttons on your own. Again, training will help with this. In addition to commercial acting classes, you could consider improv classes.
Audition buttons are meant to be fun!
Audition buttons are almost always comedic in nature. That said, when you are developing your button, try to steer clear of the sole goal of “making the casting director laugh.” It’s much better for you to focus on being true to your character and honest about the circumstances of the scene. Chances are, if you stay true to your character’s point of view, you will come up with something that is fun — and that just might cause someone else to laugh!
Enjoy your commercial acting training.
We are wishing you the very best as you continue to develop your commercial audition skills! As always, feel free to get in touch with us at 3-2-1 Acting Studios in Los Angeles if you have any questions about acting training in Los Angeles and online.
