How to Self Tape

The self-quarantine has had a lot of talent submitting from home with limited resources, many are relying on their phones to record, edit and submit their videos.  Most of the time the original files will either be too large or incompatible with the platforms used to upload self-tapes to the server.  A common misconception is the idea that if you are recording a self-tape, all you have to do his hit “Record” on your devices camera.  This is not always the case, as many other factors play into recording a digital video.  While this is not the performers fault at all, a few things can remedy this.  ACTRA Montreal has an excellent tutorial on how to set up a proper self tape submission.

Be sure to shoot your videos from LANDSCAPE picture (horizontally). Shooting videos in portrait mood in portrait mode runs the risk of stretching your video or having it upload sideways.

DO NOT SHOOT IN 4K!!!

No self-tape needs to be this high in definition.  We understand that you want to make your videos look as nice as possible; but shooting in 4K limits the compatibility of your videos and can lead them to being impossible to upload to casting servers.  Shooting in 4K also leads to encoding issues and glitches that sometimes makes files unviewable.  The normal resolution should be 720p (1270×720).  You may also use 1080p; but that is the maximum resolution you should use.

MAKE SURE YOUR FILES ARE UNDER 100 MB IN SIZE!

Anything above this size limit automatically gets compressed upon receipt.  This causes a lot of extra work on one single self-tape when many are coming in.  To limit this, shooting in 720p and exporting as .mp4 is the best way to go.

NOTE FOR NEW IPHONE USERS

There is a new issue involving newer iPhones and their cameras shooting methods.  A common mishap with current iPhones is the setting the video recorder is on.  If it is set to High Efficiency, the quality will be way too high (see note on shooting in 4K).

Shooting in High Efficiency basically makes your video only compatible with other iPhones; which are not used by casting services.  Thus, glitches and errors will occur as well as files that are too large to upload.  These settings need to be changed when recording self-tapes.

HOW TO CHANGE VIDEO SETTINGS ON NEW IPHONES:

Go into your phone’s SETTINGS:

1. Find the CAMERA settings
2. Tap FORMATS
3. Choose the MOST COMPATIBLE setting

Choosing this setting will ensure that your videos are exported correctly and will 100% be useable for casting services! This makes sharing and uploading way easier and seamless!

Courtesy: Kenyon-Wells Casting Team