Blackout
Actor Singer Writer Director Visionary Philosopher Magickian Skydiver Digital Hippie and all around Creative Artist
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Well it is now official. I will be teaching acting & improvisation classes at Music For All Inc. in Sunrise Florida, a small studio for musicians and singers that has between 100 to 200 students is now expanding its line up to include the dramatic arts, and guess who's going to be teacher? Your's truly!
![[Nerd Guy]](graemlins/nerdman.gif)
Please note that their website is translated from spanish to english so their are some grammatical mistakes that I am helping them to correct. The school's director is Hernan Zapata and he has quite an accomplished history in the realm of music.
The actual class times, structure, and prices for the acting and drama courses and workshops are still being set, but most likely the classes will be in 4 to 6 week sessions, twice a week for 2 to 3 hours, with ongoing levels, classes, private instruction, workshops & retreats offered for those who wish to continue onward or work more detailed in specific areas.
Right now, we are looking at offering Monday and Wednesday night classes from 6 to 8 or 9pm for anyone interested who is at any skill level, from novice, all the way up to the working professional actor. These classes will benefit not only actors, but anyone interested in the dramatic arts or in bettering and freeing themselves creatively and in human interaction. All students will be partnered with someone at your skill level or slightly higher, to provide challenges and cooperation, without fear and intimidation.
There will also be offered at a slightly extra cost, one on one or private group training sessions for monolougue, scene, and on camera work on Saturdays for people who really want to go into or are already acting professionally, or for those who want more in depth and private instruction in any specialty area, such as acting for the camera, as well as voiceovers, narration, dialects, and 'the business of acting' or editing and creating demo reels.
The classes will cover a variety of acting, improv, and general life topics that relate to acting and self confidence in ANY area, in a comfortable, laid back, and non judegmental atmosphere, however, we will have some class time specifically focusing on pressure and judemental atmospheres for those who are up to it, because in the professional acting world, you are always being pressured and judged, and you must learn to not fear rejection.
The current syllabus is as follows:
Acting:
Just what is it and can you be taught it?
Trust and Releasing Fear:
Do you get excited and thrilled at the thought of having focused attention on you while you perform, whether it be on stage, in front of a camera, or in front of a corporate meeting at an office, or do you get queasy just thinking about attention and energy being focused on you? We will address these issues, various personality types, and techniques to enhance the positive and overcome the negative of being the center of attenton in any situation.
Communication Skills:
How to properly LISTEN and COMMUNICATE with not only your fellow actors, but with everyone in your world. No speaking is any good, if you don't LISTEN first!
Improvisation:
Recongnizing your patterns, your strengths, your weaknesses and your fears, and freeing your unlimited imagination to its fullest potential in both acting and in life! Much of the course will be centered on various improvisational exercises to help you break out of your repeated habitual patterns, and push your mind, body and soul to new creative places, heights, and awareness - without fear.
Cold Reading and Auditioning:
How to cold read (act out a script that you are not familar with for the very first time right on the spot) to the best of your ability, and bring life to the words on the page - even though you haven't had much time to study them or get a full frame of reference on them. Cold reading terrifies many people. We will work on how to get over this fear and how to do your best even if you haven't had a minute to read over the script before hand.
Script Interpretation and Subtext:
Ok, you have gotten past a cold reading or audition, and you have been given a part in a play/movie/sketch/show...congratulations! Now, how do you best interpret and bring that script to life in your mind before you have memorized it, and then bring it to life in your mind, body, voice, and soul AFTER you have memorized it? Here is where we will get into various techniques and theories, from the classic acting teachers such as Sella Adler, Uta Hagen, and Stanislavsky, to more modern and experimental techniques from a wide variety of influences and sources.
Technique and awareness in the the following areas will be worked on:
Voice:
Clarity, projection, enunciation, pronunciation, infliction, tone, intention, subtext and also the most difficult of them all for some people - dialects, will be covered.
Body & Movement, and its Relation to Voice:
Your body is a precious and divine instrument of expression. Your body is a voice of its own. Every movement you make, from he smallest blink of your eyes, to a simple sigh or laugh - to the grandest of gestures, such as stomping about and waving your arms in primal rage - sends out communication signals that are interpreted by others who are perceiving you and interpreting you through their frame of reference at all times. Your vocal chord voice is a part of your body as well as any other body part. You are constantly being interpreted by everyone around you. We will explore both verbal and non verbal communication. How do you better control your most precious instrument - yourself, so that your intent, or the intent and truth of the character that you are playing, becomes communicated as best as it possibly can? We will also look into how YOU interpret others. Do you jump to automatic conclusions and responses based on patterns you have experienced in the past? If so, how can you break free of that limiting habit, and start to truly look and listen and pay attention to the current moment as a new and fresh experience (which it always is) every time. How can you change your interpretation of something from your own normal and habitual one, to that of a fictitious character? How can you then make that interpretation real and your response to it real, true, and in the moment?
Monologues:
The basic calling card of the actor, and an absolute necessity for auditioning 90% of the time for the theater and many times as well in film and televsion (although film and television focus and rely more on cold readings). We will go through picking and selecting monologues that best show off your unique talents and strengths. All class members will be required to choose (with my help) and perform both a comedic and a dramatic monologue and you will receive a DVD of your performance so that you can see how others perceive you and critique your own performance from a different viewpoint. The viewpoint of you watching yourself trying to be someone else, which is quite different than the viewpoint and memory of you being yourself trying to be someone else. Many people have a hard time watching themselves and their performances. We will discuss this fear and how to overcome it, as well as how to be able to watch yourself and critque yourself (and others) with a positive attitude centered towards improvement, and not towards harsh judgement. Mistakes and flaws are good. Mistakes and flaws are life, and part of perfection and achievment. We will discuss how to be kind and helpful to yourself, and then how to extend that same kindness to others in both performance and in real life.
Scene Study, Characterization & Performance:
All students will also be assigned a scene to study, break down into beats, analyze, memorize, and perform in front of an audience, and also in front of a camera. I will work with individual scene groups to help you interpret, block (stage the movement), and direct your scene.
For advanced students, the following advanced courses and/or private instruction will also be available:
Stage Acting Versus Acting for the Camera:
Acting on a stage in front of a live audience is very different than acting in front of a camera with a crew around you and boom mic looming overhead. Neither is better or more 'realistic' - both have their own realities and needs for adjustment from the actor. There is also acting in front of a camera AND a live audience at the same time, such as in the world of sitcoms, which requires yet more adjustments from the actor. We will discuss in detail the differnces and nuances of all of these situations, and how to adjust ones acting to suit the medium one is acting in. For those who take the advanced course or private instruction, you will get to act in a 5 minute short film and receieve a copy of it on DVD. You will also get to do the same scene or sketch in front of a live audience, so you can feel and perceive the differences bewteen acting for the camera, acting for a live audience, and acting for both at the same time, and you will learn how to make the proper adjustments to fit the individual situations.
Voice Over Acting for Radio & TV:
In this advanced workshop, we will basically go over all of the previously mentioned subjects but apply them specifically to the art of recording in front of a microphone. Commercials for radio and TV, looping and ADR, narration, and radio annoucing/hosting will all be covered. Students will get to record a mock :60 radio ad spot as well as a :30 television spot, and also record a station ID promo that will actually be used on a real radio show - Blackout's Box LIVE! Which is on every Thursday Night from 9pm to 3am eastern standard time. Students who are interested can take part in being on a live call in radio show and may even get to HOST an episode of the show for an hour, depending on the student's ability level.
This also brings me to one of the most exciting features of these classes:
Since I am an actual working actor/singer/writer/director/and radio host, and I run a website that is primarily dedicated to those creative endeavors as well as being a community center for creative and intelligent people around the world who gather to converse, help eachother, and trade information on a large and genreless variety of subjects - some students who are taking my classes may actually get to appear in some of the short films, and audio and video sketches that appear on the Blackout's Box website at http://www.blackout.com and if interested, help out with working on the production side of things as well. I may be offering classes in technical production but I am gong to start with the acting and see how that goes fist.
In addition to the above creative subjects that I will be offered at the studio, I will also be offering advanced individual training and services on a very important topic that many actors overlook:
The Business of Acting
Like many artists, I was entirely engulfed by the love of my art, and for many years, I didn't pay much heed to the business side of things. This caused a great deal of strife, and depression for me many a times, but I finally learned that the business side of acting is just as important as the artistic side if you ever want to be able to live as an artist and not go crazy, so my mistakes can be your benefit! With the business of acting course material for advanced students who seriously want...or to beter put it: NEED to take up acting as a career choice because their very soul demands it and will be satisfied with nothing else, we will focus on what the harsh realities of the acting profession are, and how you can best deal with them if you are sure that you want to persue acting professionally. Topics covered will inclide how to promote, protect, and make profit from the most valuable product you as an actor has in the world - YOURSELF. We will go into details on headshtos, resumes, demo reels, electronic press kits, agents, managers, unions, contacts and networking, the internet and its uses for actors, professional auditions, landing a gig and what to expect, contracts, scams and con artists, and of course, the big questions: Should you stay here or move to one of the major cities such as New York, California, or Chicago?
If your are reading this from my website, and you are in the South Florida area and interested in signing up for classes or if you would like more information, please respond to this thread or e-mail me at blackout@blackout.com
If you are reading this at the Music For All School, then please contact Hernan Zapata, the school director, and inform him you are intersted in the drama programs and workshops. He can also give you my personal number if you have any questions, and once again feel free to e-mail me at blackout@blackout.com. If you are reading this from any other area, please feel free to e-mail me, or call 1-866-GO-ON-AIR for more information, or contact the school itself at 954-321-1850 and tell them you are interested in the acting program and workshops.
I am very excited and proud to see Music for All expand to the realm of acting and to be par of it, and I look forward to meeting and working with you! I can promise you that these classes will be unlike any other acting classes or workshops you have EVER taken before, and that everyone, will be able to not only have fun and be creative, but you will take something very beneficial from the experience whether you go on to be a professional actor or not. All age groups are welcome, however we may have a seperate class for children earlier in the day, and then teen through 167 year olds in the evening.
Love, Kindness, & Creativity Always!
Michael Biggins
Blackout's Box Studios
[ 04-13-2005, 04:30 AM: Message edited by: Blackout ]
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You are not your job, your titles, your possessions, your degrees, your lovers, your relationships, your place of residence, your social security number, your ID, your bills, your worries, your bank account, your age or your body. You are the timeless being that created & perceives itself through those things, and you have the power to play or not play that game. When someone asks me "what do you do?" looking for some title to pin me down, I laugh and say "EVERYTHING!" - Blackout
Posts: 7616 | From: New York City | Registered: Jul 2000
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