www.americanfilmactor.com
The Academy of Film & Television
1174 Waimanu Street, Suite A, Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 596-8300

Level Two ~ Sitcoms, Soaps, & Film

(Pre-Requisite: Completion of Level One, or comparable professional experience)


Academy pres. Scott Rogers on set, coaching
"Happy Gilmore" star, and consummate professional,
Chris Macdonald (Shooter McGavin)



This course meets on Wed. nights at 6:00, and will further build on the skills acquired in Level One and will develop more advanced acting skills.

Level Two ~ Soaps, Sitcom, & Film explores more advanced acting that focus on the television industry. This intermediate level class allows actors to work together in scenes from Soap Opera’s, Sit-Coms, & Films thereby developing listening and reacting skills. Focus is on creating real, in-depth emotions on demand and keeping it real for every take. Understanding the subtle differences in text is also a key component of this class.

In this curriculum students will experience interviews, cold readings, on-camera auditions for sitcom, soaps and film, and call-backs through filmed mock auditions. With directorial adjustment, students gain a specific and effective approach to auditioning for television. Analysis and performance will be brought to the camera as actors learn the varied demands of working in Close Ups, MCU and Master shots. Students work on spontaneity, active listening, making and committing to choices, and effectively triggering real emotions, throughout this course.  Scenes are routinely taped and viewed so the actor will be able to get immediate feedback from the instructor.

This curriculum is designed to teach you how to prepare independently so that you show up on the set as a collaborator and not as a clear tablet for the director to write on. The class teaches advanced script analysis based in action and in doing, preparation techniques, relaxation techniques, on-set performance skills, character truth, and through-line of action for the entire film. Once acting foundations are developed, students will then apply these skills to more complicated material. Students focus on more advanced character development, script analysis and active listening skills throughout the course. As the course progresses, the scripts become more sophisticated, as does the actor's ability to recognize clues to characterization and style

 

Upon completion of this course student will have a firm understanding of:

¨ Approach: (How Sitcoms, Soaps, & Film differ for actors?)

¨ Topic Overview: (Auditioning, text, character, On-camera technique)

¨ Improvisation: (Objectives and Obstacles, Making Active Choices)

¨ Text Analysis 1: (Breaking down a script, clues to look for)

¨ Text Analysis 2: (Reading for information, What makes it a comedy or drama, Hidden clues in text)

¨ Text Analysis 3 — Audition: (Timing, laughs, emotions, moment before)

¨ Improvisation: ("What are you fighting for?", Increase the obstacles)

¨ Cold Reading: (Tips and technical adjustments)

¨ Building a Character: (Identify and convey Pathology, Environment, History)

¨ Proto-Scene: (Reviving your Imagination)

¨ Script Selection: (Choosing & assigning scenes)

¨ On-Camera Acting Techniques: (Advanced techniques, how to stand, move)

¨ Working On-Set: (What to do & What not to do when you walk on the set, What’s expected- speed, vocabulary, crew)

¨ Understanding Editing: (Impact on the actor, Continuity, Eye-line)

¨ Rehearsal/Camera Blocking: (Taking Direction, dealing with last minute revisions)

¨ Audition Technique - Tips for Getting the Called Back: (What works, What doesn’t & Why)

¨ Obstacles - The Key to Great Acting: (Making Good acting Great)

¨ Mock Auditions

¨ Active Listening — The Key to being Real: (Story, "Face Time", Exercises)

¨ Sense Memory: (emotional history, substituting your history and friends)

¨ Understanding "The Business" Review: (Unions, Resumes & Industry Publications, Contracts, Agents/Managers)

¨ Shoot: (Tape Polished Scenes and Critique)

¨ Text 4: (In-depth text analysis - for film).