ACTING & FILM SCHOOL

This two year accelerated degree program runs on an eight-month calendar, divided into four 16-week semesters. Each of the 16-week semesters requires intensive time demands and a complete commitment on the part of the student. A standard week of study involves additional time required in the evenings and on weekends for classes, rehearsals, and shoots.

What makes our Acting Program unique?

Practical Hands-On Experience
The best way to learn how to act in films is to actually act in films. Our students begin acting in front of the camera from the first week of the program. Every week, students get the opportunity to practice the techniques and skills they have gained in class to exercises that are shot and reviewed.

Profesional Faculty
Our instructors are working veterans of Hollywood and independent film, Broadway and Off-Broadway.

Film Productions
Many of our programs feature the production of short films or scenes that are created by and star our acting students. These are shot and edited together and may be used for students' own reels.

Filmaking Resources
Our Acting for Film and Filmmaking programs work hand-inhand, providing all of our students with resources such as film equipment, live film shoots, and a network of filmmakers, screenwriters, producers, and editors that is developed before entering the real world.

Reel Materials
We provide all of our students with shot and edited materials that are suitable to put on an actor's reel.

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SEMESTER ONE COURSES

In the first part of the semester, students begin to build the foundation of their craft through a broad array of classes that incorporate both traditional stage performance, as well as film performance techniques and concepts.

Acting Technique
This class will be an introduction to the various well-known acting techniques of the Master Acting Teachers. The classes begin with basic ensemble acting games and warm ups. Students first explore the work of Konstantin Stanislavski, then move to the Method, briefly discussing the role of Sanford Meisner, then continue to the work of Lee Strasberg (sense and emotional memory), Stella Adler (absolute belief in given circumstances), Michael Chekhov (the psychological gesture), Jerzy Grotowski (physical approach/"outside in"), Anne Bogart (viewpoints) and Tadashi Suzuki.

The classes also include a brief historical background of each of the Masters, as well as a discussion of the development of each of his/her techniques. Students are introduced to specific exercises attributed to each Master and asked to work on them outside of class and to perform them in class. Students progress to "Open Scenes" and monologue work to begin to utilize the different concepts learned. A final "Presentation" of monologue (or open scene work) is performed at the end of the semester.

Acting for Film I
The basic tenets of acting translate from stage to screen, but there are skills and knowledge that are specific to the craft of acting for the camera. Each student is introduced to acting for the camera in the very first week of the program. Students learn the basics of film acting: calibrating performances based upon shot size and angle, hitting marks, emotional and physical continuity, and strength and imagination in acting choices. Over the course of the year, classes devote a majority of time applying skills taught in other classes to acting on a film set specifically.

Film Craft
In this series of classes, students learn directing, producing, screenwriting, etc. from the actor's perspective. Learning the roles of all the players on a film set dramatically increases the actor's ability to collaborate with the filmmakers in developing dynamic performances.

Meisner I
Sanford Meisner's teachings had a seminal impact on the acting craft. Students deeply immerse themselves in the Meisner Technique, which enables them to discover their voice of intuition and to inhabit a role spontaneously, from moment to moment as well as to build a character arc that is both specific and inspired by the actor's own responses.

Voice and Movement I
In both film and theatre, a character's objective is often illuminated by the playing of strong physical actions. In other words, what a character does, more than what he or she says, is what defines his or her true desire.

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SEMESTER TWO OVERVIEW

In the second semester, the core classes continue as the students focus on applying the techniques they have learned to more elaborate scene work, on camera exercises, and film shoots—all designed to develop and hone their screenacting ability. All students perform in film or video shoots, oftentimes original work that is created and developed by the students in collaboration with their instructors. In addition, a variety of classes are given in order to broaden students' knowledge of acting techniques, the film business, and many different film crafts.

The second semester culminates in two public presentations of student work. The first is a live showcase performance of scenes for an invited audience of friends, family, and industry guests. The second is a screening of the student film productions.

Learning Goals • Learn to work for directors on live film sets.
• Gain knowledge of the differences between demands upon the actor on film productions versus television productions.
• Learn how to prepare and present yourself for auditions.
• Understand the business of the acting craft.

PERFORMANCE Goals
• Perform scenes and workshop exercises developed and rehearsed through instruction in the Meisner Technique.
• Develop, rehearse, and perform in a fully-realized film scene shot in the studio or on location. This project will be presented to an invited audience.
• Break down, analyze, and rehearse stage scenes and perform in these scenes for an invited audience.

SEMESTER TWO COURSES

Acting For Film II
In semester two, students assimilate a range of highly demanding physical, vocal, and psychological acting techniques for the analysis, rehearsal, and blocking of scenes to be filmed in the studio or on location. These scenes are digitally shot and edited. They are screened for an invited audience of classmates, crew, family and friends.

All acting students are also required to serve in other crew capacities. Critiques focus on the techniques of calibrating energy for various shot sizes as well as on the strength and imagination of acting choices.

Scene Study
Students use the techniques they learn in the first semester Acting Technique class to break down scenes into "beats" (i.e. moments of emotional transition) and then assign specific psychological actions, physical actions, and obstacles to each beat. They incorporate various acting techniques including Stanislavsky's System and Strasberg's Method, as well as the skills learned in the Meisner Technique class. Additionally, students learn how to build a comprehensive scored script that includes: a lengthy character biography, description of the dramatic arc, as well as how environment impacts the character's overall objective. Scene Study class culminates with a showcase presentation for classmates, faculty, and an invited audience at the end of the semester.

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SEMESTER THREE COURSES

ADVANCED SCENE STUDY: STAGE TO SCREEN I
Actors direct their scene study towards more challenging material and will be expected to break down and analyze scripts for performance. Students rehearse a one-act play to be presented at the end of the semester. This same one-act play is, in the second half of the year, adapted into a screenplay and filmed, affording students the opportunity to modify their performance technique between stage and screen.

ACTING FOR CAMERA: TELEVISION PRODUCTION WORKSHOP I
The Television Production Workshop is designed to follow the rigorous schedule of episodic programming. The students are taken through the process they would encounter on a professional set, from dry rehearsals to brief on-set rehearsals and finally taping. A new episode is created each session from a script furnished by the Master of Fine Arts writing students. Each episode is subsequently broadcast on the Web.

ADVANCED MOVEMENT I
This class focuses on exploring the different possibilities that the body offers for expression. This involves making best use of their unique physical characteristics to gain full command of their instrument. Once this is achieved, students explore the specific behavioral demands of physically challenging roles as they learn to differentiate between how behavior reads on stage and how it must be adjusted for the camera.

PHYSICAL THEATRE
This class trains the actor to develop a gestural vocabulary drawing upon the influences and principals of Jerzy Grotowski, Tadashi Suzuki and other pioneers of the physical theatre. The actor is trained to trigger subconscious impulses through the exploration of image and commitment to strong physical action. Students develop a solo performance piece in which the actor integrates original text, sound design, lights and music. As the actor explores this work he strengthens his instrument and finds a greater awareness of the body and voice.

ADVANCED ACTING TECHNIQUE: THE METHOD
To complement the Meisner technique training that was introduced in the first year, students explore "Method" acting in great detail. Method Acting, mainly associated with the teachings of Lee Strasburg at the Actors Studio, was made popular in the United States in the 1940's and 1950's, and was practiced by revered actors including Dustin Hoffman, Marlin Brando, Robert De Niro and James Dean. Like the work of Sanford Meisner, it is based on the research of Konstantin Stanislavsky who revolutionized the way we approach acting today.

CHARACTER STUDY
This class focuses on giving the student a deeper understanding of what makes a character. Through a series of interdependent exercises based on the acting principles of Sanford Meisner and Konstantin Stanislavski, students learn a variety of practical vocal, physical and psycho/emotional techniques which can be used in the transformation from their everyday self into an invented self; a unique theatrical creation with distinctive traits that are forged from personal experience, observation, imagination and textual interpretation.

VOICE-OVER ACTING
In this class, the student learns an acting technique that is specific to working as a voice-over actor. Voice-over work can be lucrative, especially in the commercial/promo market and the world of animated films, and requires skills that are unique to performing in front of a microphone. This class builds on the skills developed in the first year program (text analysis, recognizing beat changes, understanding given circumstances and pursuing objectives with actions, etc) and gives the student the tools to create believable images in the minds of the audience through voice acting.

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