Monday, August 29, 2016

10 Audition Tips for New Actors

Have you always dreamt of carving your career as a professional actor? If yes….then it’s time to flourish and present your skills in front of casting directors. They are professionals who take acting auditions to select cast for their movies, serials and dramas. A skilled actor should reflect his work to casting directors. Your muddled, disconnected and tentative work is worthless for them. You need to be very skilled and great at acting.

Below are 10 audition tips that can help new actors:

1.    Confidence

It seems simple but, needs a lot of practice. Entry though the door should be done with high head. Be conscious about the shuffling feet. Don’t forget that you will not be provided with sympathy points if you feel nervous or frightened. So, be prepared for the grand day previously. Leave all the stress, tension and nervousness outside the door. Practice for auditions by talking in the mirror, emphasize on body language and good posture before reaching the audition hall.

2.    Personality

Let your personality shine like a sun in film auditions in Delhi. Elaborate your answers when directors ask them to you. You can also ask different questions to the casting team. Obviously, they are looking for curious and smart artist.

3.    Connection

Try to maintain a relation with the reader. Read the script, recognize the emotions and try to fill the missing space in your acting skills. Make eye contact while performing. Deliver the dialogues carefully along with maintaining compatibility with the reader.

4.    Character

Know about the role character. Go through the scripts and analyse the linked clues. One can get aware of the character by following:

•    What she/he says about herself/himself
•    What additional characters reveal about her/him
•    What screenwriter says about her/him

5.    Objective

Read the dialogues carefully and analyse what she/he wants to convey for other characters? Know about the main purpose of character in the provided situation.

6.    Obstacles

Know about the characters desire in the scene. A skilled actor can easily identify the objective of character leaving behind the obstacles.

7.    Opposites

Reading loudly or yelling is not the only way of presenting your skills in front of audience. Sometimes, a handful of emotions are enough to display perfect situation of the scene. Playing oppositions is also an interesting choice.

8.    Love

Try to find love in the acting scene. Every character should be agreeable to some extent. Look for a moment where love can present through.

9.    Act

The real meaning of acting is to present your emotions without talking much. Find your perfect actions and play them. Re-live the character on stage and take your acting skills to another level.

10.    Variety

Experience the level and energy in the situation. Don’t play single emotion every time. Enhance your skills and try different characters like angry, sad and tough personnel.

You can register yourself on Audition Fox to know about the future coming Film auditions in Delhi. Visit the website auditionfox.com today!

Thursday, August 11, 2016

5 Things to Look in a Packaging Design Company

More than 60% of consumers claim that they prefer branded products; the professional packaging is one of the most important parts that attract customers and reveal much about the product information. But if we talk about small and medium-sized business, it is difficult to recognize the starting point especially, when it comes to packaging designs. Below are 5 things that one should look in a packaging company:

1.    A company that can develop your product into a brand

When one plans to sell any product, we can say that he is selling his brand too. Many researches revealed that strong corporate products can boost the stock value by 6%, this principle applies for starting companies too. If your company don’t have any logo, then you should work with a firm that has years of experience in designing elements. And, if you are already a developed firm, you can look for product packaging design companies for your company that can maximize the client’s response.

2.    A designing company that understands Retail Tie-Ins and Web:


It does not matter whether clients are purchasing products from store or online, web-influenced services are important. The likeliness of a customer’s happiness depends on online services and offers offered by them on useful products. These factors are essential in linking the products presence online. All packaging designing companies are not experienced in this area; you can take help from packaging design agencies. Promote mobile and online shopping and, offer your best services to potential customers, it will build brand loyalty and boost company’s sales.

3.    A designing company that can guide you regarding printing decisions

There is usually a disconnection between designing companies and printing firms that can make the process difficult for a new company. You cannot navigate this gap, so hire a company who can provide you creative packaging projects and final packaging items under the single roof. Look for packaging design companies in India that are professional, renowned and experience.

4.    A company that can provide accurately designed products


Make sure the company you are going to choose should represent contents accurately. For example, if you product size is large on the package while small in reality, customers can claim that you are cheating them. Tell your package designing company to keep the size and colour of product same as that of original product. Avoid deceiving your customers for better output.

5.    A company that design simple with proper information
As we all know simple designs lure maximum customers. Intricate designs are complex and less attentive. Look for a company that can identify the customer’s need and interest. Make sure the product packaging reveals important information about the item. If customers are not able to understand the product, the chances to purchase it are reduced to half.

You can also hire Procreate Branding to get quality product designing services. They are expert in brand architecture, retail design, brand strategy and naming, packaging design, logo design and artwork. Hire them and enjoy.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

How To Prepare For The CFA® Exam?

CFA® exams are one of the most challenging and prestigious exams in the investment profession. The question papers are constructed in such a way that only students with thorough preparation and conceptual clarity will be able to crack it. Candidates should not have a notion that the CFA® Exam can only be cracked if you have at least six months to a year’s time to prepare. Students with quick grasping power, good understanding of the concepts and most importantly, a right strategy in place have been able to crack the exam in a short span of time (say a month or two) as well.

A very common and understandable question among students is ‘how to prepare for the CFA® Exam’. There have been numerous analyses trying to find out the average number of hours required to adequately prepare the candidate for the CFA® exam. Some of these studies have come up with a certain number of hours in order to crack the exam. Though these figures are average, I personally do not believe in this number game and the theories underlying them as I feel that each student has his/her way of studying that varies based on their differing mental abilities, academic backgrounds and differing  levels of conceptual understanding.

Thus, in my views, rather than focussing on the number of hours to study, students should focus on making a roadmap (we have provided a strategic study-plan below) to crack the CFA® exam keeping in mind the curriculum (Read our article on CFA® study material) and the amount of practice (question solving) required to adequately prepare them for the CFA® exam.

To help students have a clear understanding of the kind of preparation required for the CFA® Exam, I am suggesting the following things that every CFA® candidate should target to finish:

  • 3-4 readings of the curriculum from SchweserNotesTM (one of the most widely used supplementary books) or using the CFA® Program Curriculum books (Most Preferred material) or any other study material student finds adequate (Read our article on CFA® Study Material for more details)
  • At least 10-12 full three hours Mock Tests 
  • As many practice questions as possible (questions in CFA® Program Curriculum books are one o f the best!)
Keeping this in mind, the candidate should start preparing well in advance and should approach the CFA® Exam with a strategy in place. Here is one of the suggested strategies of mine that can help candidates make a thorough study-plan (for more expert advice, you can call us at 9158991901 or mail us at info@itsconcepts.com)
  1. CHAPTER- WISE INSTRUCTIONS - Read the chapter from SchweserNotesTM (read our article on the ‘The right study-material to refer for the CFA® Exams for more details), solve all the questions at the end of each chapter. Just after you finish reading each chapter, solve all examples (given in between the chapters) and questions (at the back of each chapter) from the CFA® Program Curriculum books. Important points:

    • Point to be highlighted is that no matter what books you use to read, there is absolutely no substitute to the examples and questions in CFA® Program Curriculum
    • Also, since there are lots of questions that you will find tricky, keep on bookmarking them. Since candidates will not have enough time to solve all examples and questions again and again, they should solve these tricky questions while revising
    • As and when you finish reading a chapter, start creating a list of all formulae that you came across in that chapter. Keep updating this list as and when you finish reading one chapter. By the time you will be done with the entire curriculum reading, you will have a formulae sheet that can then be revised every day.
    • Alternatively, you can buy these formula sheet provided by many institutes (including ours, Its CONCEPTSTM)
  2. SUBJECT-WISE INSTRUCTIONS - Once you finish a subject, start taking tests using Schweser Practice Volumes on those subjects. Use only one of the volumes for taking subject-wise tests. The other volume should be used to take full course mock exams after you complete all subjects.

    • This time you should attempt these questions as proper tests keeping time in check
    • Your target should be to increase your speed with accuracy with each test
    • Again, keep on highlighting all the important questions that can later be looked at again while revising
    Overall Objective is: By the time you have finished your first reading of the entire curriculum, you should have finished the following (at least a month before the exam date):
    • All questions in the SchweserNotesTM
    • All examples and questions in the CFA® Program Curriculum Volumes
    • Finished one Schweser Practice Volume
    • A detailed formulae sheet must be ready
  3. FULL CURRICULUM INSTRUCTIONS – Having finished reading of the entire curriculum, student needs to simultaneously do three things: 1) Strategize; 2) Revise; and 3) Take Mock Tests.  Following are the detailed instructions that can help students achieve the above mentioned three-fold tasks:
  • STRATEGIZE – You should have at least a month’s time to be able to revise and be fully prepared for the exam
  1. You need to invest your time judiciously and for that you need to have a plan in place as to how and when should you revise and take tests.
  2. You need to continuously keep a tap on time as you have lots of things to do in a very short span of time.
  • REVISION PLAN – You should have ideally done three revisions before the exam.

  • First Revision should start at least a month before the exam date. Start revising the subjects by reading them again from the books. It should take you half the time it took you originally. While revising, go through all the tricky questions that you had highlighted before.

  • Second Revision should start at least twenty days before the exam. This revision again should take almost half the time of first revision. Revise tough subjects before.   

  • Final Revision should start at least 8 days before the exam date. For a detailed day by day plan for the final revision in the last week (for more details, read our article on ‘Last minute preparation tips for the CFA® Exam’

  • FORMULAE REVISION-Revise all the formulae every day till the exam day using the sheet you prepared. They should become a part of your DNA by the time you take your exam. 

  • MOCK TESTS –You have the following mock tests available to give you adequate practice (in order of hierarchy):
  • Mock Tests and Practice tests provided by the CFA® Institute to all candidates (as part of fee paid by the candidates available online). You cannot afford to ignore these mock tests.
  • Schweser Practice Volume (as discussed above - the one you have not solved yet)
  • If possible, arrange for at least five to six full six hours mock tests to give you enough practice
  • There are many coaching institutes (including ours, Its CONCEPTSTM)  in the market that sell test series
  • Your exam is of six hours, so for practice, take some tests for full six hours. Ideally, take three hour exam every day till the last week of the exam (I don’t suggest taking any mock test in the last week, explained below). Also, I don’t suggest taking many six hours exams because six hours exam need at least three hours for the candidate to check and analyze their mistakes. You lose an entire day and that adds to your stress.
  • Most important learning is from the mistakes you make in these mock tests. The entire purpose of taking mock tests is that you are able to detect and correct your mistakes before the final exam. Do spend time in checking your papers and analyze both the correct and incorrect answers. Sometimes, you might get the correct answer but from a wrong methodology. Avoid developing false confidence. You should become your best critique.
  • Take your last test a week before the exam. Multiple reasons:
  • In case you score poorly, you might panic and it might work against you
  • You might exhaust yourself
  • Also, you lose precious time if you keep taking tests in the last week    
Do give us a feedback here if you liked our article so that we keep providing valuable information. Wish you ‘All the BEST!'

To know more about us and read on more CFA® Exam related topics, visit our website www.itsconcepts.com

  1. The CFA® Program
  2. CFA® Study Material
  3. Approved calculators for the CFA® Exams
  4. What to expect from a CFA® Crash Course
  5. Last Minute Preparation Tips to help crack the CFA® Exam

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

How to Succeed In A Film Audition?

Earning fame and success in the acting industry can be the most difficult task for anyone. There are many things that one has to deal with during the struggling days like rejections, long queues and wastage of time. The glamorous industry demands lots of persistence and patience to go through all the problems of auditioning to reach the destination. There are ample of factors that can help a person to become a successful actor, these factors can be talent, skills, good looks, knowing correct people etc. What if a professional actor tells you that all these are misconceptions and are not true every time. Now, one has to start a new research to find the factors that influence the success rate of a film audition. Let’s have a glance at them:

1.    Go for casting directors rather than film directors


Young actors think that making contacts with film directors can help them in begging role in a movie, but it’s a myth. However, developing good relations with casting directors can help one a lot and increases the chances up to 50%. No matter it is Hollywood or Bollywood, casting in the movie is done by the casting directors so it’s good to meet them to get the solutions.

2.    Keep an Eye on the Upcoming Projects


Many times directors call agents to provide talented actors for the new roles but getting the desired person every time is not possible. Professional directors are very precise, especially when it comes to choosing the main role of the movie as the entire film relies on the characters and acting portrayed by the actors. Don’t forget that directors always pick diamonds from the bag; so polish your skills, enhance your talent with constant practice and improvement sessions to become a diamond.

3.    Learn at every step

Nervousness and anxiety are normal reactions during film auditions, to prevent this problem one should do regular practice to become a professional. Develop the temptation to become an actor and start worrying about how to make you fit in the slot. Take the moment and make it extremely real with your emotions and drama dexterity.

4.    Choose bold acting


An actor should make a strong choice, you can take notes along with you to become flexible and practical. Many directors provide two attempts to the audition artist for a better result. To become a skilled actor, watch lots of auditions and grasp the unique skills from different actors.

5.    Be what you are

You don’t need to imitate after the acting process, some directors look for the person behind acting. They get impressed with those who are spiritually dynamic and naturally grounded. To share a good screen, compatibility and understanding are necessary.

6.    Movie business is Big


Develop good relations with filmmakers; connect with different movie schools, it enhances the chances of casting in short movies.

7.    Keep Working

Failure in film auditions does not mean that you will lose all the hopes and passion for acting. Don’t forget that “all things are difficult until they become easy”.

Keep trying and enjoy acting! You can also register yourself on Audition Fox, they will make you aware of the upcoming acting movies and projects. Get ready to give auditions and carve your acting path!