Actor Growth

Well, today was the last day where we preformed the scenes. It went okay for the most part. Generally speaking though, I still didn’t really feel like I grew much in this class.

After it was all said and done with we were told that we would be e-mailed ad digital copy of our work. As well, during the end we were told that there was another class starting and that if we wanted to stick around and watch we could.

I just didn’t click with the school here I suppose. I didn’t even see the point in writing out that analysis in the beginning too as I didn’t feel that it was addressed in any way where I walked out more knowledgeable. Search continues though.

As you may have noticed I didn’t update what happened which was supposed to be the last day of the class. Apparently, the instructors had some kind of schedule conflict and so they told people that they would delay it for this coming Sunday instead.

I was almost inclined to have just asked for a refund for the last day as I did have other stuff planned as I assumed the class was over. But, I guess I will see it through to the end as that way I can truly give an opinion of this class based on the entire experience.

Today just felt so unproductive. I literally felt like just another number in some acting workshop/classroom as it didn’t feel like the instructors really cared too much about my personal growth at all.

Essentially, we were working on the scene that was given to us last week. I studied the script and took initiative to try and memorize the lines in hopes to see what magic the instructors could do in enlightening us. In the scene are two characters and each person in the class was assigned one. We were simply told to find anyone and partner up with them.

From there we did and we had about ten minutes to just talk with our partner to go over things like lines while quickly determining a back story and character relationship. Afterwards, people were called up and preformed the scene cold until they were told to stop. From there on the instructors gave feedback on what they wanted to see.

When we did the scene it was very quick and abrupt. In fact, we didn’t even get to do the whole scene as it seemed like they were highly focused in trying to get my partner to be more into the moment. I really did feel like I was just a non factor in their enrollment of students.

Just like that, the day came to an end and they said that we would be taping it next week which will be our last day. So literally, we didn’t even go through the whole script with the instructor to get a good feel on what they want overall. It feels like a scenario similar to just grabbing a bunch of actors on craigslist, finding a random script and then start shooting at this point I feel.

Thinking back so far though, I think it was a mistake to enroll in this class as I focused more on hopefully learning something new from a different instructor when it seems like the class is more focused on introductory techniques. I definitely want to learn more, but I am not getting that unfortunately here.

As well, it doesn’t seem like the questionnaires we handed in last week had any kind of a factor too in regards to the instructors figuring out the best way to help each student individually. I suppose since it seems like I am a non factor here that I will finish the last week and start to look elsewhere for growth and knowledge.

This class was a little different. The primary focus it seemed was to emphasize the point on when you are focused in achieving a goal of sort everything else becomes a blank. As well, in doing so you are not so caught up on what you have to do to try and get a reaction out of people as opposed to simply displaying genuine emotion and reactions to the scene.

There was one interesting activity where a remote control was put on a stool and you as a performer had to take the batteries out of it. This remote was supposed to be like a “bomb” of sort and in the beginning you were told out loud all the stipulations such as you can’t make a sound, moving too fast would trigger off the sensors to blow it up, etc.

Like in that scenario, people would tend to try and dramatize the situation as it seemed like they were trying to get a reaction from people. Example, breathing heavily, using fancy moves and so fourth. When they were told to just focus on the task as if it was real everything became more “entertaining” to the audience.

Other than that, we were given a three page script to breakdown as apparently we will be working with this until the end. That is about two more classes to be exact. I also handed in answers to these questionnaires that they asked for where I expressed what I think acting is all about and what I am looking for when it comes to training, so we’ll see where it goes from there.

Alright, as mentioned I was trying out a different acting school today. It seemed like for the most part everyone was new to the school as well. So that kind of made it easier for everyone. For me, attending this particular class was to try and get a feel for the schools and instructors to see if it may be a good place for me to receive continuous training and support.

I must say, there was a lot of stuntmen in the class it seems. Most of the topics that were covered were pretty basic as it revolved around items such as trying to understand what you are fighting for when it comes to a scene. So in that sense I didn’t really learn much for myself when it comes to technical items.

At the end of the class we were given a sheet to fill out some questions on what we think acting is. As well, it seems like a self analysis so that the instructors can get a better idea at where we are in our careers and what they can do to best help us. Time to fill this out for next week.

Been awhile since I have been training at a school as there just didn’t seem to be a place that fitted my schedule. I was looking over at the old place I used to go to and it seems like the acting coach I went with before is no longer there.

I was researching a bit and found a new place to tryout. It’s on the weekends too which is perfect for the time being as there are rarely ever any audition or work calls during that time. Let’s see how this goes.