Adult

Screen Skills

Our Screen Skills class gives students the opportunity to practice technical skills on set with all the elements they will interface with professionally.  It is the closest on set experience you can have outside of being on an actual job. 

We will shoot a different scene each week while supporting students with all the practical skills they need.  In addition to understanding why these skills are important, students will have the repeated opportunity to intergrate these skills seemlessly into performance.  

During the term we cover: 

• The mechanics of how TV and film is shot; the story telling this achieves; how coverage ties into the film's genre and tone; and how actors work with these elements to inhabit this world.

• Who’s who on set and how do I work with them? How is what I do helping others in the crew? 

• Blocking for shots, entrance and exits; hitting marks for focus and lighting: the actor's movement through shots and coverage from the wide to close up .

• Handling props and ‘business’;  repetition of action for continuity throughout coverage (different shots) and the intergration of allocated character costumes and whether or not! 

• Dialogue - overlapping, wild lines, syncing and ADR.

• How to read a schedule and call sheet, call times, maps etc. 

Each week we will film increasingly complex dynamic scenes with many technical elements while delivering authentic performances. We will also look back on the footage and discuss the work either as a group with feedback from the teacher or you can watch privately at home. It’s a great way to get instant feedback to help improve and see your growth over time. 

Acting for Screen

The jobbing screen actor is in service of story and character.  How can we be efficient and game fit for this specific type of acting while producing an authentic truthful performance? 

In Acting for Screen class we look at different aspects of performance every week. While rehearsing and shooting scenes we explore performance techniques that can be used to foster confidence in ones own ability to thrive within the demands and constraints on the industry. We will work on aspects of the actors journey form booking the job through to all the demands of shooting the project, including script analysis, scene breakdown and understanding tone and genre, as well as embodying character and sustaining high emotional stakes.

During each class we cover: 

• Warm up. Exercises and games to support actors to effectively work with their voice and body. 

• Technique. We employ exercises from various methodologies to explore and improve different aspects of  performance. 

• Scene study. We provide scripts from a variety of film and TV productions and support students to break down the scene, investigating our who, what, where, and why. Scene partners are allocated and scenes rehearsed.

• Shooting time. We help you dissect the scene while giving specific direction to bring authenticity and truth to your performance. The filming of the scenes will be run like a professional set (minus the 40+ crew)

• Playback. We look back and discuss the work either as a group with feedback from the teacher or you can watch privately at home. It’s a great way to get instant feedback to help improve and see your growth over time.