European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes tuesday april 15,1986 computers get into the casting act by Samuel g. Freeman new York times w Hen Geoffrey Johnson a casting agent was filling roles recently for the television mini series rage of Angels the Story continues he needed to find ayoung actor who could Box. Since he is More a devotee of variety than of ring Magazine this presented some problems. So he fed his wish list male 25 to 35 years old Boxer into role Call a three month old computerized casting service in new York for theater film and television. A few seconds later the computer screen glowed with the names of about 35 thespian pugs. By hitting a few More keys Johnson could look at each contender s resume and photograph. Major casting agents say role Call needs to enlarge its roster of actors a criticism that role Call s president Larry Atlas acknowledges As valid but the system is being used by almost 30 casting agencies and 3,500 actors. Each actor pays a $25 annual fee and a $35, one time data entry charge to be listed with role Call. To interest casting agencies in the service Atlas gave his first clients free use of the system including installation of a computer Printer laser disc and television Monitor. Now casting agencies Are charged Rol Call s Larry Atlas shows off his casting creation. $250 a year for unlimited use of the system. An actor s resume is entered into the computer along with such information As gender race foreign languages dialects sports Union affiliation and even any props the actor owns. The computer Cross references All this information. An actor s photograph is transferred onto a laser disc from which it can be projected onto a television Monitor. To give one example of the system s Range Atlas recently asked the computer to search for a male who Speaks French rides horses and belongs to the screen actors Guild. The system produced 53 appropriate actors from Robert Aberdeen to Martin zone. Atlas then called up zone s photograph and a list of his special skills which revealed that he owns a Tuxedo detecting deception by Delthia Ricks United press International people who Tell lies apparently can disguise the deceit on their faces but their voices and body language Are dead giveaways a scientist in los Angeles says. The face is not a reliable indicator of deceit University of Southern California communications expert Michael j. Cody said. You can t assume a liar will avoid Eye Contact show fear of disclosure in his expression or otherwise leak facial clues to deception. Liars Are just As Likely As truth tellers to look you straight in the Cody who studies non verbal communication described the face As the most expressive part of the body. Because of that he said it is the easiest to control. The us studies of liars Center on the Bragado Cio liars who build themselves up by exaggerating anything from ancestry to where and How they spent a vacation. Cody said their changes in posture shifting and shrugging moving legs and feet or making unintentional hand to body movements Are the real clues to deception. So is voice modulation. The pitch of the voice always goes up during a lie and the pupils dilate he explained pointing out the major physical cues can differ Between children and adults. Children blink their eyes More and have an even higher pitch in voice he explained. Children have to learn How to lie and never Are very Good liars before the age of Cody and his team conducted a series of studies to determine if people untrained in non verbal communications could Tell when someone was telling a lie. Results showed that the untrained were accurate Only 45 to 60 percent of the time in detecting deception of strangers on videotape. Cody said his research also shows that reliable detection of deception depends on knowing More than one signal of deceit. Very often lies Are told off the top of the head and you can catch a person in a lie when they Are unable to generate much detail about whatever they Are talking about he said. Liars tend to have what i Callah errors and Are More Likely to have silence pauses and hesitations in speech. They say you know1 and a a lot to take up time while they think of the rest of the lying also is a function of personality Cody s research indicates. Two personality types have been found to be successful in deceiving others but Only for certain types of deception he said. Cody describes one of those types As the machiavellian the person who is an expert at manipulating others and is quite proficient at lying when highly motivated. He said politicians often fall into this category adding that it is not easy to catch a politician in a lie. People who Are Good liars Are those who Are More expressive and animated. Their nervous Energy helps them Tell convincing lies he said. He described the other personality Type adept at lying As self monitoring a human Chameleon who changes to win the Confidence of present company and is Good at telling lies that he or she has had time to Cody said there Are Many reasons people lie and the most common is to protect a third party like the Secretary who lies for her Boss. Lying is part of her new York times photo and can do a Cockney accent. How Many casting directors can remember All that Atlas asked. As an actor and a playwright total abandon a hit off Broadway and a Flop on Tatlas had a variety of reasons for creating the system. I have Good agents he said but it was impossible for them to know everything. Let me give you an example. I m a skydiver and i never got a Call for one of those Beer commercials where people jump out of planes. And at the same time when i was casting one of my plays i remember How difficult it was when you needed a 55-year old Man with a Southern the Only problem was that Atlas knew nothing about computers. Then about 18 months ago he met Kip Perkins the owner of a computer company. As Perkins designed the computer system Atlas incorporated role Call and sold $100,000 in Stock to friends and relatives. He placed advertisements about role Call in Trade publications and persuaded casting agencies to try the system free. By the time it began operation in december he had 2,500 actors in role Call s memory. Atlas said his greatest need now was to sign up More actors. While a computerized casting service raises images of taking the personal touch out of casting for most no stars the search for a role is already frustrating and impersonal. It really makes no difference to actors equity whether the information is on a computer screen or a piece of paper on the Back of a photograph said Alan Eisenberg executive Secretary of the actors Union. What does matter is that it s another Symbol of the expanded place of the casting agent to stand Between an actor and a most casting agents now rely on their files on collections of play programs on theater world Magazine and on the annual Book players guide which has names photographs and Small profiles of several thousand actors. None of these systems however provides the Speed or the amount of information that role Call has. All the casting aids can jog your own memory said Daniel Swee casting director for theater communications group a National Alliance of about 180 noncommercial Heaters. What role Call does that All the others Don t is give you not Only a picture but a resume and some fairly detailed information. Role Call still needs to get an enormous Talent Pool but i be been Able to use it for a general thing like women Over 50 who can sing " Jim Mulkin a casting director for the new York Shakespeare festival went to role Call when the director Liviu Ciulei sought a female flautist for his production of Hamlet. Role Call offered 30 candidates from whose ranks Mary Barto got the Job. Role Call has not done As Well however for its president. I hate to admit it Atlas said but i Haven t got that Call yet As a
