SCREENFX ACADEMY® provides weekly classes for those who wish to learn the arts of on-camera acting and filmmaking. Students, ages Eight through Adult, will improve their self confidence and develop their creative thinking skills as they learn in a fun and high-tech atmosphere, all about the world of television and film. SCREENFX ACADEMY® combines cutting-edge techniques with cutting-edge technology!
Our Ongoing Courses are designed to be a progressive step-by-step training process, developing the skills of the actor or filmmaker in a fun and experiential way. Students perfect the skills and techniques they learn in class as they produce content used in television shows, commercials and video marketing products. Some courses offered may require students to audition before being accepted into the weekly classes.
Ongoing Courses are planned as a sequential study that begins with an introduction to On Camera (OC) acting and continues to build weekly upon the subject matter learned in previous weeks of the course. As such, all students are enrolled at the beginning of the course, into a class group of twelve students who study together each week. The class group progresses through the study together, but class groupings may be realigned by skill level along the way at the instructor's discretion, in order to provide the most productive and beneficial learning environment for the students. Ongoing Courses are charged in advance at a perpetual monthly fee of $295. Ongoing Courses include 90 minutes of weekly group instruction and 60 minutes of weekly individual "1 on 3" study. The "1 on 3" study environment allows coaches to focus on the individual needs of students in the context of their current group study and in the environment of two other actors serving as reactors in rotation.
Our teachers and coaches, all working professionals themselves, work to create a fun and exciting experience with emphasis on immersive learning… putting learners in front of and behind the camera right away. SCREENFX ACADEMY® helps learners to "get noticed" by exposing them to the production of a working television show aired weekly beginning in the fall of 2012. This show, "Behind the Screens" is produced and cast by the students themselves while working alongside television and filmmaking professionals. Students enrolled in courses are involved in the production of shows aired throughout the year.
SCREENFX ACADEMY®…where students Prepare, Practice, Perform.
Ongoing Course Options
Included in the package are free service items such as headshots, demo reel and audition video support. These services align with the curriculum study focus. Also included are selected free workshops and access to audit additional existing coaching and group sessions.
Following registration, the Shopping Cart provides the opportunity to select the day of the week and the time you would like to begin class, prior to purchasing your Ongoing Course. Classes begin when a sufficient number of students are enrolled. ScreenFX Academy will contact you regarding the scheduled DATE your class will begin!
For info on Weekend Workshops, CLICK HERE.
SCREENFX ACADEMY® Actor's Track
COURSE GROUP NAME |
COURSE TITLE |
COURSE LENGTH |
| On-Camera Basics
Course Description: Whether you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind the scenes, it is important to have a basic understanding of all areas of a production. Set in a fun, fast-paced, collaborative environment, with plenty of individualized instruction, "On-Camera Basics" offers SCREENFX ACADEMY students the opportunity to develop the basic vocabulary and skills and to understand the processes and techniques of acting for the camera. |
Basic On-Camera Acting Description: Everyone is familiar with the words, "Lights, Camera, Action". Well, in Basic On-Camera Acting the focus is definitely on "Action". Acting is action and reaction, and beginning on day one, SCREENFX ACADEMY students jump right into the action by getting in front of the camera to test their skills. Over the course of four weeks, students develop the vocabulary, skills, processes, and techniques needed to become a successful on-camera actor. Specific focus is given to the art of listening and reacting, as well as to character development. Goal: Students develop self-confidence while creating a personal, developmental video log of their on-camera growth and progress. |
4 Weeks |
| Breaking Down A Script Description: How does an actor get from the page to the screen? Preparation! An actor must be thoroughly prepared to perform by the time the director calls, "Action!". It is the script that serves to guide the actor's preparation. Weeks five through eight of On-Camera Basics introduces SCREENFX ACADEMY students to the process of breaking down a script- the art of mining, extracting, and synthesizing information from the script relevant not only to the individual needs of the actor, but also to the collective needs of the production. This includes but is not limited to, interpreting dialogue, building a character, reading between the lines, understanding relationships, knowing when and where to move, interpreting setting and environment, determining props, and marking a script with short-hand. Goal: Students learn both the technical and artistic processes of breaking down a script and the importance of viewing the script as the instruction manual of the production. |
4 Weeks | |
| Selecting Monologues Description: Whether you are auditioning for an acting job or speaking to a large group, delivering a great monologue can be a key ingredient to winning your audience. Through this four weeks, students learn how to search for and edit monologues to meet the needs of their opportunity while developing an understanding of the different monologue types, such as drama, one-person shows, stand-up comedy or storytelling. Choosing which monologue to perform is just as important as mastering the delivery. Learn to develop a wide range of products to offer across a wide range of challenges! Goal: Learn to be prepared with both memorized and improvised monologues. |
4 Weeks |
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| Basics in the Studio
Course Description: Being an actor requires continuous hard work along with a basic understanding of today's fast-paced, ever-changing challenges from producers and directors. Through the next twelve weeks, Basics in the Studio offers students the tools to sharpen and implement their skills as they learn to interact with the camera, act on the greenscreen and excel in auditions. |
Camera Technique and Terminology Description: Many of the classes offered at SCREENFX ACADEMY focus on you as an actor but Camera Technique and Terminology focuses on the actor's interaction with the camera and the crew. Actors need to learn the "vocabulary" of television and film production in order to understand their direction with clarity. The next four weeks of Basics in the Studio reveals concepts such as camera distance and angle, point-of-view, blocking and tracking, along with terms that directors use on the set, helping you become more interactive and operable on the set and knowledgeable of your environment. Goal: Students develop an understanding of camera placement, framing and movement, improving the actor's awareness and interaction with the crew. |
4 Weeks |
| Acting For Green Screen Basics Description: Green screen technology is widely known for its use in the creation of special effects for movies but now is more commonly used in the production of television commercials and movie scenes to effect and expedite production. Acting For Green Screen Basics covers some of the basic knowledge of this technology such as limitations of movement, entering and exiting a scene, target line of sight, acting and reacting with non-entities and acting and reacting within invisible boundaries. Acting For Green Screen Basics also includes the use of monitor displays to teach acting with animation and interactive objects not present during shooting. Goal: Students gain a basic awareness and understanding of green screen and the required body-motion memories, finding and knowing your boundaries in the scene. |
4 Weeks | |
| Audition Basics Description: The final four weeks of On-Camera Basics focuses on the art of getting the job. Audition Basics prepares SCREENFX ACADEMY students with the basic skills, processes, techniques, and etiquette needed to succeed in an audition. Specific focus is given to cold readings, preparing sides, improvising dialogue, choosing appropriate and effective monologues, visualizing environment, slating, auditioning with others, following direction, interacting with the auditors, following up, turning rejection into motivation, and accepting the job. With the aim of fostering reflection and growth, each student builds a developmental video log of their in-class, mock auditions. Goal: Students develop confidence and competence in the art of auditioning. |
4 Weeks | |
| Commercial Acting
Course Description: Commercial actors must be able to deliver a character or a product in thirty seconds or less, with whatever material is given to them. Acting for commercials requires some unique skills not always taught in acting classes. In Commercial Acting, students learn- how to think of commercials as mini-plays with an objective, a motivation, and a purpose, the different types of acting, and the use of props. |
TV Commercial Basics Description: Every fleeting look and motion that an actor makes in a television commercial affects the end product. Spend the next four weeks learning to "sell" products and services by developing needed skills such as timing for the camera, where to hold a product, how to hold a line of sight and motivations that have creative insight. Students also learn the art of telling the commercial story in an extremely short period of time while emphasizing specific words, reacting to the product you are selling, acting with other actors and hitting your marks. Learn what advertising agents are looking for and how to become a model, spokesperson and presenter! Goal: Learn the differences that define acting in TV commercials from all other forms and how to become successful in "selling while telling" the story. |
4 Weeks |
| On Camera Acting Techniques Description: Mastering many different types of acting techniques can help actors to show their skills effectively and effortlessly. Through the next four weeks On-Camera Acting Techniques covers the variations and why they are important. Learn how to survey and understand the differences between the basic internal and external acting and the beginning steps of how to manage the differences productively. Goal: Become competent in many types of acting techniques and quickly focus those techniques toward the camera. |
4 Weeks | |
| Use of Props and Visual Presentations Description: Through this four weeks of study SCREENFX ACADEMY students learn how to become powerful product presenters beyond voice inflections and body movements! Learn how to use props and other objects in commercials or other camera acting scenes, including how to handle props to enhance the story. Tell the story while using objects in a way that extends your character and enhances the flow of the scene. Goal: Learn how to use your body, voice, props and set pieces to enhance your character while improving your acting abilities. |
4 Weeks | |
| Voice Acting
Course Description: Being a voice-over actor is not about your voice - it's about what you can do with your voice! Becoming an effective voice actor may seem like an easy way to act but actors must be able to discover, visualize and sustain the attitude and reflection consistently, often over numerous repeat appearances. The next twelve weeks, "Voice Acting" students learn how to break down a script for voice, the basics of voice acting and how to create your own character without the camera. |
Breaking Down a Script for Voice Description: Voice-over acting is a niche area of the television and film business. It takes acting ability to create credible characters from just the words in a script and understanding the technical side of the voice script is important. This four week session, Breaking Down A Script For Voice, reveals critical skills such as pacing, stopping and starting, keeping your voice in character, when to pause when changing topics and what words are emphasized for effectiveness. Students learn to improve personal monologue reading and how to "direct" themselves to a great delivery. Goal: Learn the skills to "billboard" or highlight the script in order to deliver the voice your client or director expects and is willing to pay for. |
4 Weeks |
| Basic Voice Acting Description: You can improve your voice using simple techniques and vocal warm up exercises. Basic Voice Acting teaches students how to use their voice by mastering many different scripts, commercials, monologues and simple practice exercises. Hear what your voice sounds like and learn word pronunciation and accents, techniques to avoid repetitive phrases and pinched sounds. Goal: Students learn the importance of pure speech diction and an understanding of when to use it and when to stay in character voice. |
4 Weeks | |
| Voice and Animation Description: Voice and Animation provides the opportunity to hear and explore character voices and to create a voice of your own. Students learn how to lip-sync their voice to real animated characters, short story scenes that blend live-action and animation and how body movement effects the sound of their voice with the animated character. Goal: Develop your own character voices and explore your range to create others including funny voices that may prove useful in improvisation. |
4 Weeks | |
| Claiming the Character
Course Description: How is it possible for the same actor to play roles with personalities, mannerisms and attitudes as dissimilar as Austin Powers and James Bond? Through the next twelve weeks, SCREENFX ACADEMY students concentrate on characters, costuming and scene study as they Claim the Character. |
Character and Role Development Description: Learn the basics that lead to great portrayal! Study the difference between "introverted and extraverted characters" and how to bring those traits to your character. Study the four quadrants of Socializer's and Director's, Thinker's and Relator's while studying scenes that assign behaviors from those quadrants to the characters you bring to life. Goal: Learn the art of finding threads deep inside yourself which enable you to "become" the character you portray. |
4 Weeks |
| Costumes and Hair & Makeup Description: Discover unknown aspects of your persona as you explore costumes, hair and makeup. Learn how costumes often enable character portrayal and why a "great costume" can empower a particular character. Learn how to take a stack of clothing and turn it into a powerful platform for character development. Students experience hands-on activities with hair and makeup including some special effect tricks. Learn what costuming colors may add life to your character as it combines with your skin tones. Goal: Experience hands-on training with costumes, hair and makeup as you develop unforgettable characters. |
4 Weeks | |
| Scene Study Description: Actors in Scene Study, learn to recognize and expose their character's awareness and understanding of plot progression throughout the sequence of important scenes. Develop the skills that enable you to define what the actor should know and "not yet know" within a particular scene, what happened in the previous scene that affects the scene being shot and what freedom the director might allow for self-interpretation. Goal: Develop the ability to visualize your character's awareness and contextual role development in the minute by minute plot progression. |
4 Weeks | |
| You as an Actor
Course Description: On a movie set it pays to know when to talk and when to listen. It is all about clear communication. You as an Actor focuses on learning to find and define yourself as an actor and then telling others about it. |
Crafting Your Demo Reel Description: Take control of your image as you learn to create your own demo reel. Take what you have learned up until now and use it to develop your marketing presentation to show off your skills. SCREENFX ACADEMY professionals help you understand what you need and how to deliver it as you showcase your talents and skills by creating your very own demo reel. Goal: Learn how to build your demo reel, what works and what doesn't. |
4 Weeks |
| Working With A Director & Crew Description: Making a movie requires lots of teamwork and a movie set is a perfect playing field for team members to work together. While each team member understands their own role in the production, a greater ability to execute that role comes from knowing how to relate to each of the others involved. Actors learn to execute their roles in harmony with other professionals in Working With A Director & Crew. Everything you have learned up until now is put to the test as you interact with the Director and the Crew on the set. Actors learn a new perspective as they reverse their attention to the other side of the camera, exploring what the director expects from the actors. Goal: Gain knowledge from a director to become a better informed actor. |
4 Weeks | |
| Discovering Your Genre Description: Discovering Your Genre explores the different acting types to discover which best fit your abilities. Does sitcom fit your style, is drama something that makes you shine or is being a spokesperson where you belong? Learn how your own strengths and weaknesses can guide your career path as you find your place to grow. Goal: Discover where you best fit in the world of acting and filmmaking. |
4 Weeks | |
| The Art of Auditioning
Course Description: Actors are never more vulnerable and exposed than when they struggle for employment. The enemy is self-inflicted fear from the desperation of wanting to book the job! The fear of failure is one of the most intense fears anyone can experience and many are so afraid of failing they simply avoid the situations. To lose we need only visualize failure: to win... success. Over the next twelve weeks, SCREENFX ACADEMY students discover some tools to help overcome such fears, beginning at interacting with key decision makers, auditioning live and on camera. |
Interacting With Key Decision-Makers Description: Get an overview from the viewpoint of a director, a client and a casting director and learn how each affects your overall success. The first four weeks of The Art of Auditioning reveals the in's and out's of the casting process and exposes some of the fundamentals of what gets Actors hired, or not! Goal: To enlighten the student about the roles of key decision-makers and their points of view. |
4 Weeks |
| Auditioning On Camera Description: Auditioning On Camera trains Actors how to make a compelling audition when there is no human audience present. Learn to work from memorized monologues as well as sides. This course teaches cold reading, slating, tips on speaking, eye contact, poise and how and when to look into the camera. Other important OC auditioning practices include staying in character and staying in the frame. Goal: To build auditioning skills while learning "what to prepare" is just as important as "how to prepare". |
4 Weeks | |
| Auditioning Live Description: Learn through Auditioning Live, how to enter the room, deliver your part and exit with style and grace to make the best impression. Students learn to play off of the auditors while listening and watching for opportunities to exploit. Learn to work with confidence from cold reading or from improvisational skills. Discover how to walk away confident and how to internalize the successes of the opportunity regardless of the outcome. Goal: Learn to work the auditors to your best advantage. |
4 Weeks |
SCREENFX ACADEMY® Actor’s Track courses may be downloaded as a .pdf document. CLICK HERE.
.SCREENFX ACADEMY® Producer’s Track offers the following courses. Class details, such as description, days, times and fees are available upon request.
SCREENFX ACADEMY® Producer's Track
COURSE GROUP NAME |
COURSE TITLE |
COURSE LENGTH |
| Required Pre-requisite | Choosing Your Production | 1 Week |
| Development | Choosing Your Content | 1 Week |
| Preparing Your Treatment | 1 Week | |
| Developing Your Story or Screenplay | 1 Week | |
| Pre-Production | Breaking Down Your Script & Budgeting | 1 Week |
| Hiring Your Crew | 1 Week | |
| Developing Your Shooting Schedule | 1 Week | |
| Production | Working With Your Director of Photography | 1 Week |
| Continuity On The Set | 1 Week | |
| Keeping A Happy Cast and Crew | 1 Week | |
| Post-Production | Working With Your Editor and Your Director | 1 Week |
| The Cost of Special Effects | 1 Week | |
| Music and Soundtrack Legalities | 1 Week | |
| Final Release – On Time and On Budget | 1 Week |
SCREENFX ACADEMY® Producer’s Track offers the following courses. Class details, such as description, days, times and fees are available upon request.
SCREENFX ACADEMY® Director's Track
COURSE GROUP NAME |
COURSE TITLE |
COURSE LENGTH |
| Required Pre-requisite | Choosing Your Production | 1 Week |
| Development | Choosing Your Content | 1 Week |
| Preparing Your Treatment | 1 Week | |
| Developing Your Segment, Story or Screenplay | 2 Weeks | |
| Pre-Production | Hiring Your Cast | 1 Week |
| Character And Role Development | 1 Week | |
| Costumes And Hair & Makeup | ||
| Scene Study With Your Cast | 1 Week | |
| Production | Directing Your Director of Photography | 1 Week |
| Directing Your Cast | 1 Week | |
| Directing Voice Overs | 1 Week | |
| Post-Production | Your Editor and Re-Sounding | 1 Week |
| Your Editor and Special Effects | 1 Week | |
| Your Editor and Music | 1 Week | |
| Stock Footage Versus Original Footage | 1 Week |
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