Actor-coach Aaron Marcus walks through seven free apps that solve real problems for performers: Boomerang for email tracking, Audacity for voice-over editing, HandBrake for video conversion, MailBigFile for sending self-tapes, CuePrompter for teleprompter practice, and tools for pronunciation and digital business cards.
Did you know there are 7 apps that can completely change the way you run your acting career, and most actors have never even heard of them? I'm talking about an app that will allow you to track important emails to make sure that they've been received and opened, correctly pronounce any word in any language, recycle your, your paper business cards because you can use an app that will allow industry professionals to get all of your contact information and, and reels and resumes simply by scanning a QR code on your phone and send large files like auditions instantly. I've been using these apps for years, and in a few minutes you're going to learn how to use them as well. Okay, let's get started. Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I am really excited to be able to share with you these 7 free apps and programs that, that have really helped my acting career. So the very first one is called Boomerang, and I just learned about this maybe a couple of years ago. And what is so incredible about Boomerang, it's It's a program. I think it's only for Gmail, and actually let me know if it's available in other with other emails. But you know, you send an email to some industry professional, and you don't hear back, and you start thinking, well, I wonder did they get it? Did it go into their spam filter? Are they just not interested? You can use this program, and it will let you know. When it arrived, and when it was opened. It is incredible. With the free edition, I believe you can do 10 a month. So I save it for the really important emails. If you have any interest in either doing voiceover work, whether it's radio spots, narrations, or audiobooks, here's a great program that you can use. It's called Audacity. It's a very basic kind of program, but you can do all the editing that you really need done for any kind of voiceover audition or audiobook work. Number 3, look, you've got to be able to properly pronounce every single word. And this is like— this holds true for any audition, but especially for TV commercials. If you mispronounce the name of the product, that's not good. And by the way, a little bit of a side note, If you are reading for a TV commercial and you're not 100% sure how to pronounce the name of the product or the company, you know, call the company, call a store that sells the product just to make sure. Because if you mispronounce the name of the product in the audition, you're probably not going to be considered. But this will give you an opportunity to learn how to pronounce words. Maybe it's a medical term in all different kinds of languages. Number 4, HandBrake is a great tool. You can use it for a couple of different things. Maybe you have to change the format of your video. Maybe you have to put it into an MP4 or an MOV file. Whatever it is, you can do this using HandBrake. And if you need to make the file smaller, you can do that on HandBrake as well. Number 5, look, whenever you do an audition, a self-tape, you can't attach it to an email and send it to a casting director or an agent, whoever you're supposed to send it to. It's way, way, way too big. So there's a free program, it's called MailBigFile, and it's simple. You just upload it, you let it know what your email address is, you put in the person's email address where it's being sent. If you want to leave a note, you can do that as well. There are limitations as well as how many you can do, but I use the free version and I get, you know, plenty of service with that. So I really do not have to pay for the professional version. Number 6. Oh, hey, and by the way, At the very end, I've got a great bonus video that you can watch. It's why I've lost interest in the Oscars, and it's just my personal opinion, but it will drop down for you so you can watch it. Hey, if you are interested in being able to use a teleprompter proficiently, it's hard to teach yourself how to do that. However, There is this amazing app. It's called CuePrompter. And by the way, I'll have links for all of these in the description so you can go to the websites for all of these. And you can download this and use it on your computer, and you upload a script and you can practice. Look, it's not incredibly hard. It took me a little while to get it because one of the things that I didn't know about using a teleprompter is You got to make sure that your eyes are centered. You can't be looking like this or looking like this as, you know, as the words are flying by you. So this is a great opportunity for you to practice at home and be really skilled. So if there's ever a project that comes up and they ask, are you teleprompter proficient? If you've worked at it, you can say yes. Oh, And I almost forgot, if you haven't done this yet, you know, make sure you subscribe, click the bell so you always know when I upload a new video. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up. That's always very helpful. And share the link with your friends. Here's number 7, and I have to say, this one has been a real revolution for me. I love this app, and it's called Blink. What you can do is— I used to always print business cards. I would print business cards, both sides, and I did this pretty much every year because information changed. Maybe I booked a job and I want to place it on there. I've got a new website. Whatever it is, toss out, recycle. All your paper business cards because this is such— it's such a great program. And basically you download it onto your phone and you can have different things there. So you're talking with somebody and you say, hey, I'd love to, you know, have you look at my information, or I'd like to get your information. So they can scan a QR code right from your phone And it pops up for them. And then once they, you know, they text you, you have their— you know, you can get their information as well. It's such a great program. I really love this thing. And, and just so you know, I'm not getting paid for endorsing any of these things. These are things that have been very helpful to me. And once again, this is my way of giving back to my fellow actors. And Also, if you know of any apps or programs that you find really helpful— look, there certainly are many. I wanted to list 7 that I really like right up front here. Maybe I'll do another one, another 7 at some point. But if you have any that you really like, please share it here with us so that way we can learn from you as well. I am Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again next week. See ya. See ya.
