Acting for the screen and film-making course  

Overview

This is a highly ambitious course and schedule, and the hope is that students will learn a lot in a week. 

The key skills in which each student should gain some experience:

Acting: The differences between acting on stage and acting for camera. Learning to act on camera. The power of the close up. 

Story creation: Planning a story in a group. Plotting. Turning points, and characters arcs.

Filming: Directing, planning, set discipline, continuity, camera operation, lighting, sound.

Aim 

To provide students with experience of: 

• acting for camera

• writing a short script 

• core aspects of film-making

• working in a film-making team

Duration

5 full days (plus a possible evening on the 5th day, or the 6th day), commencing Monday 7th April through Friday 11th. Students would need to be able to attend all of these days without exception.

There will also be some work required to prep for the next day.

Who it is for?

For young actors in school year 10 or above who have acted in school plays or are in a drama group.

Who is running it?

The course will be run by Sven Arnstein with a guest each day: an actor, writer, camera assistant and an editor.

Sven has worked in the TV and film industry for most of his life, including directing a TV drama for 5 years. He has conducted lectures for the BBC and the National Film school, and has run a similar course the previous summer.

Cost

£350 per head.

Schedule

Students who qualify for the course will have a few tasks to perform in the holidays prior to the start date.

The group will be split into two: A & B. Each will elect a lead-writer whose responsibility will be to collate the ideas of the group and write a short script. The idea is that the number of scenes in each film will be a multiple  of the number in each group. So if a group has 5 members there will be 5,10 or (even 15) scenes, and each member will have a chance to direct 1 or 2 scenes.  

Day 1, 9am-5pm | Getting to know each other. Acting on camera workshop. Compare and contrast acting on stage to acting on camera. Understanding the medium. Script discussion and plotting.

Day 2, 9am-5pm | Acting on camera workshop continued. Script discussion and plotting.

Day 3, 9am-5pm | Filming workshop. Acting out a few basic scenes and reviewing.

Learning basic film skills: Planning. Story-boarding. Rehearsal. Blocking. Cinematography. Continuity. Filming protocols. Learning key filming roles. Practical exercises in acting and filming. 

Story discussion, and finessing.

Day 4, 8am-6pm | Filming Story 1. Group A will film group B. We would switch roles (camera operator, director, etc.) so students enjoy as broad a range of experience as possible. 

Key crew roles: Director, 1st assistant, Continuity, Camera operator, Sound mixer.  

Day 5 8am-6pm | Filming Story 2. Group B will film group A (same parameters as Day 4).

Day 5 evening | We will review our films and discuss what we have learnt. (possibility of Saturday if everyone can make it)