8-Week Acting for Film Workshop

The Eight-Week Acting for Film Workshop is a full-time intensive immersion workshop that takes students from the basic principles of the craft through a broad working understanding of the aesthetic and technical aspects of the medium.
The basis of this and all other NYFA programs is learning by doing, using a hands-on, practical, experiential approach. Acting for Film and Scene Study are the two principal areas of concentration in this intensive program. These areas coincide in the creation of short, filmed scenes in which students act. The edited scenes are the main projects of the workshop. Monologues, Voice and Movement, and Improvisation serve as support classes. Audition Technique exposes students to cold reading techniques and a discussion of the business of acting and its essential tools. Film Craft exposes students to the roles of the director, cinematographer and editor, the language of film and how films are made, and the effects that these roles have on the choices an actor makes.

The program is constructed to deliver a great deal of content in a short time, and is an exceptional opportunity for a total immersion experience for eight weeks. Students who wish to continue their studies have the opportunity to apply credit towards and transfer to a longer program at any point.

No significant prior experience or knowledge is assumed. The program brings everyone to the same level very quickly, beginning with the fundamentals while also filling the inevitable gaps in the understanding of those with some prior experience.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Discuss film as a visual medium.
• Break a scene down into beats and assign an action to each beat: create an emotional arc; establish an objective and develop strategies to overcome obstacles to achieving the objective; play an action.
• Modulate a performance to fit the framing of shots, from establishing to close-up; put to use dramatic action, observation, and characterization through scene work; apply text analysis to scripted material.
• Prepare two contrasting monologues; connect the body and voice to scripted material; increase flexibility through body awareness and physical exercises; refine listening skills and ensemble playing through improvisation; recognize the essential choices needed for effective execution of cold readings, making effective use of physical and emotional life.
• Examine the roles of the director and cinematographer with an emphasis on how these roles effect the choices an actor makes in performance.