<p>And it’s a great skill to have when you are having to put together summerstock audition material because you can’t attend the audition and the theatre invites you to send them a DVD :)</p>
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<p>This also just happened to our D, but she was away at college and so she had to arrange it all herself – so I’d urge you to have your students be very involved in all the technical aspects of recording so they know what to do later when they’re on their own.</p>
<p>When my daughter first read the pre-screen requirements at the two schools, she was rather overwhelmed and doubted we’d be able to get it all done in time. She felt quite accomplished after it was all finished–and before the deadline! Also, she was encouraged by the eager way everyone (voice teacher, dance teacher, accompanist) jumped in to help her. Of course, we paid them! But it was still so nice of them to find the time and be so supportive about it.</p>
<p>I’ve read some discussion about pre-screen results over on the Music Majors forum. Clearly, it’s much more common there and I can see it’s only going to be increasing in the MT major.</p>
<p>I’ve been threatening to piece together all of the audition bloopers and post them on YouTube. (I won’t but it was fun to watch the reaction to the threat 
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<p>Many kids will be better at this then their parents are (or they will have friends who are). The newer your equipment is, the easier it is to make something. Even a “Flip” camera comes with editing software that is pretty much plug and play no matter what your experience level. Hard to get the lighting right with that kind of equipment but if the schools stay true to their word of “good enough” doesn’t have to mean professionally done, and we don’t raise the bar so high that we create a headache for future generations, it’s fairly straight forward. </p>
<p>I worry that practicing making videos years before it even matters starts to head down that slope. Kind of like sports that used to be fun for all becoming accessible only to year-round select players. It changes the standard but is it really worth it? Where did the fun go?</p>
<p>@halflokum - But this isn’t supposed to be fun, dammit, this here is high-stakes competitive theater! </p>
<p>(totally kidding, for those who don’t know me…)</p>
<p>@momcares - And it’s a contact sport so you’d better bring your A game!</p>
<p>Absolutely!! ;-D</p>
<p>My husband, who is a professional film editor, and I had quite a few giggles over this process. He and I bungled our way through it for our boys and at the end, he said “I think I could have made a feature film faster…” We actually preferred the schools that allowed for uploads of video clips for each song/monologue, rather than having to burn a DVD (which required figuring out menus, setting the compression so that the screen size/resolution was right in a computer or TV, etc.) For schools considering prescreens, I think a private upload system for clips is the way to go. Much easier.</p>
<p>You know what would have really helped? Somewhere on the schools’ websites (that required prescreen DVD’s) if we could have seen examples of one or two “average” (meaning acceptable, not average talent) examples of home-produced audition packages. I know for many schools this was the first year, but moving forward, it would be really helpful to all of us non-professional parent videographers. I still wonder if my D’s DVD quality/look/sound is why she didn’t get the invite to audition…<em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Many of last year’s YoungArts winners’ audition videos can be found on YouTube. I looked at those and thought: well here is a bunch of certainly talented kids and this is the level of video that they’re producing. It gave us the impression that yes, the basic livingroom version would probably be OK as long as the material that was presented was thoughtful and honest to the process and talent was there.</p>
<p>woops… @kaypc67, wasn’t suggesting anything to your specific situation by my post reply. I know of at least one EXTREMELY talented girl that didn’t make the cut at one of the video prescreen schools and for the life of me I have no idea why. Nobody that knows her talent understands it either. Such is the way sometimes.</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but I think some schools go into the audition process knowing they already have enough of a particular type. For example, we know of one EXTREMELY talented guy who was told last year at an early audition that he was extremely talented but would not be offered a callback at that program because they already had too many male character actors as upperclassmen in the program. Maybe that happens more often than we know?</p>
<p>I also have the impression that some schools scout to some extent before the initial auditions so maybe similar to the case above, where a school had too many upperclassmen of a particular type, if a school has pre-selected a student through scouting they don’t bother seeing others of that same type?</p>
<p>I have a related (and equally unsubstantiated) theory that some schools get scholarship money for attracting male students by accepting primarily well-endowed (and I don’t mean physically) females. ;-D</p>
<p>Yes, it is a good time of year to read the rejections thread from last year’s class, see the link below.
There is a lot of discussion about types and needs and why one kid who is an average dancer will get an acceptance one year and the same kid will not the next year…the same for sopranos or baritones or those with a certain look, or those without. These are small classes and they not only need to be balanced within, but with the actors and singers and dancers already in the program.
It is not about getting accepted at the best school, it is about getting accepted at the right school…there are some very smart people on this forum who have made that point in previous years - and we are lucky to have their voices</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/866128-mt-rejections.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/866128-mt-rejections.html</a></p>
<p>I have a hard time imagining an arts program with the budget to scout. Making admission choices with bias for a particular type that is needed for the company if they have the luxury to be that selective, well that’s free.</p>
<p>Maybe “scout” is too strong a word, as I think the way it happens is that folks (casting agents, regional directors, siblings already enrolled in a program, college coaches, industry friends of program heads and professors, etc.) bring certain students to the attention of a program well in advance of audition season. It is free to send someone a link to YouTube videos or a DVD, and I know that happens. Others are identified through summer programs at the universities (MPulse, Cherubs, etc.) and/or through National competitions (like the ITS Festival and YoungArts).</p>
<p>I am quite sure that at least some top programs enter the audition season if not having pre-selected some candidates at least very much aware of them, as we know firsthand of several cases where that was true last year.</p>
<p>halflokum, keep the faith. No MT programs knew a thing about my kid before she applied and she was accepted at a number of programs. Same with every kid I personally know who got in as well.</p>
<p>PS, my daughter had NOTHING on YouTube prior to entering college. She also never attended pre-college programs.</p>
<p>I agree with Soozie, halflokum. I know several individuals involved in admin. positions in BFA programs and have never heard of any of them ‘scouting’ or pursuing any type of recruiting of high school students. Are there coaches, etc. who tout their clients? Of course, and anyone who has ever been to Unifieds or other auditions knows who these individuals are. From what I’ve heard, this type of promotion is more likely to have a negative reaction than a positive one. If there was a lack of talented kids out there, then perhaps colleges would have to go this route, but we all know that there are more talented kids than any school can possibly accept, and even more who are interested in a BA than a BFA. I would not worry at all about this possibility.</p>
<p>Reps from colleges conduct master classes and training sessions throughout the country and teach sessions at summer programs- open to everyone. We have been to some. But they have never given the impression that we have any advantage over another student auditioning. I think there is a good chance that they will remember you, but I think there is no chance they will select you because they know you. This is a very competitive business and they all want what they consider their best group of kids. If they loved you ahead of time, they will probably love you when they see you again. if the kid ahead of you is what they are looking for, you are out. We have had some of the lesser “ranked?” programs come to our school and invite kids to visit their schools and audition. These are the people who have to work a little harder to make kids aware of their programs. That is the closest I have seen to recruiting.</p>
<p>We personally know of at least 5 kids that had offers in hand from BFA programs before the official audition season kicked off last year (2 from summer auditions, including D, 1 from a Broadway stint, and 2 were talented guys), and a couple more (both guys) who said they had verbal offers after summer programs who did get into the schools they claimed to have offers from.</p>
<p>Most slots are filled during the regular auditions, but there ARE some students who are pre-selected, and that COULD result in those schools having less interest in a particular type if they know they have already offered a slot to someone very similar. </p>
<p>There is nothing dishonest or unfair about this pre-selection, since it’s not like auditions are a raffle, where everyone is promised an equal chance of winning. D also didn’t view this as limiting her odds in any way, since all of those talented kids would have been accepted to a top program whether it happened early or late.</p>
<p>I have lots of faith soozviet and theatremomma but thank you very much for the words of encouragement just in case. </p>
<p>I’m convinced that the colleges care about their programs – a lot. If that’s true, then “selectivity” means finding the student that has the most potential to positively impact a school’s program and that person could just as easily be somebody that they’ve never heard of. The unknowns may have to work a little harder to be noticed and to convey their potential in a few brief minutes, but assuming they do, I think the playing field is in the audition room is level. </p>
<p>What I don’t know is how a school defines “most potential to positively impact their program” in any given year. Could mean they want a certain type. Could mean they want the ability to pay full tuition. Could mean they want somebody already has extensive training from a well-known PA high school. Could mean they want somebody with the less training but from a strong academic school. Could mean they need a tap dancer who is also a soprano. Could be that they want somebody they saw and loved in their summer program or with a Broadway resume… etc… </p>
<p>That’s the sort of stuff that is totally outside the audition room and you can’t control by the time you get to auditioning. It’s not worth worrying about so I’m not.</p>