Confidence on Camera: 5 Zoom Tricks for Young Performers
Screens are the new stage! (At least when you’re taking an online LAMDA Exam!). Whether your child is perfecting a LAMDA Acting monologue, belting out Musical Theatre, or sharing Verse & Prose, great tech turns nerves into applause. Below you’ll find five star‑maker tweaks—each with a quick checklist—so your young performer can look and sound their best in every online lesson or exam.
1️⃣ Get the lighting right!
Good lighting is the digital version of a spotlight: it shows every smile, eyebrow‑raise and teardrop, helping tutors and examiners read emotion clearly. Dim, back‑lit faces can make even the brightest performance feel flat.
Quick wins
Face a window for free, soft daylight.
Evening session? Park a lamp or ring‑light behind the laptop and angle it slightly down.
Tape a neon Post‑it beside the webcam (“Eyes here!”) to keep gaze at camera height.
2️⃣ You’ve been framed!
Framing isn’t just aesthetics—it’s exam compliance. LAMDA guidelines ask examiners to see the performer’s whole physical story, not just talking heads.
LAMDA framing cheatsheet
Grades 6‑8: Stay fully head‑to‑toe on screen, always.
Grades 1‑5: Aim for full body; brief foot crop‑outs are fine.
Clear a six‑foot square floor patch; raise the laptop to eye level on a book stack or tripod.
Record a 30‑second test scene to spot any off‑camera moments.
3️⃣ Backgrounds that stay in the background!
Busy backdrops compete for attention and can distract from diction, gesture and presence. A clean canvas lets the performance pop and keeps the assessor’s focus where it belongs.
Backdrop basics
Ideally choose a plain wall or neat bookshelf for minimal distractions
If you’ve got very little free wall space, try a pop-up backdrop from Amazon.
Remove clutter (laundry piles, family photos) that can break the “fourth wall.”
4️⃣ Ace Your Audio!
Crystal‑clear sound is confidence you can hear. Garbled audio or Zoom’s default noise suppression can swallow consonants, sap vocal colour, or mute backing tracks—no thank you.
Before the lesson
Update Zoom, restart the device, close memory‑hogging apps.
Plug in Ethernet if possible and use wired headphones or a USB mic.
Zoom desktop settings (Mac/Windows)
Settings ⚙️ → Audio
Untick Automatically adjust mic volume; set manually.
Toggle Original Sound → ON; tick High‑fidelity music mode, Echo cancellation, Stereo audio.
Noise suppression: Low or Off.
Keep the mic just below chin level, avoid Bluetooth (adds lag).
During class
Tap More (…) → Original Sound ON.
Play backing tracks on an external speaker, not through Zoom.
Troubleshooting: Echo? Plug in headphones. Drop‑outs? Re‑enable Original Sound, restart Zoom.
5️⃣ Test‑Drive Your Tech
A mini dress rehearsal catches glitches before they steal the spotlight. Plus, seeing—and hearing—success on screen boosts a young performer’s confidence tenfold.
Test run checklist
Record a one‑minute performance in the exact space you’ll use.
Review lighting, framing, audio volume and background.
Walk to each edge of the “stage” to learn camera boundaries.
Make tweaks, repeat. Exam day nerves? Halved.
Final bow 🌟
Five tiny tweaks, huge payoff: vibrant lighting, exam‑ready framing, distraction‑free backdrop, studio‑quality audio, and a stress‑busting test run. Now your star can focus on storytelling while you relax, knowing the tech is sorted.
