The last couple of weeks have been eventful. We have been very privileged to have a special guest teacher come and take one of our classes, no other than the talented director  Philip Wood.  It was thrilling to have someone who has spent his time directing Coronation Street and Emmerdale to take time out to teach us!  Which is a testament to Peter Hunt really who organised for him to come.  Philip was very charming and charismatic character and was brilliant at getting the best out of the whole class in front of the camera.  He gave me a valuable tip on how to look thoughtful on camera which im not going to share, you would have to come to our class!  The other thing he taught us was to be an "interesting" actor.  We are carrying on from what we learned from Philip with the lovely Erin. This week we performed a script from the Street in front of the camera and our class.  We will all get a chance to watch it back next week, learning the importance of subtext when to use it and when not to use it.  Erins asked us to all to find a short monologues ready for next week to help us all with auditions.  A few of us are starting to go for them now.  I cant put into words how valuable I've found these lessons, Thursday night is my favourite night of the week!

 

 

 

 

 

We finished our classes on impro last week, this week we moved onto filming!  We had to pair up, practice our lines quickly then go into a room one pair at a time for our wide angle shot run.  Each of us had to do it.  Later we got a chance to watch them all back with the whole class.  Our teacher gave us his tips as we went along .  It was compelling viewing!!   I had to try to contain my nerves and giggles about seeing myself act on tv for the first time.  There were a few laugh out load moments for our whole class as a few of us didnt do too well with the tea cup!  The camera man could have been soaked a few times! We dont mind laughing at ourselves in Liverpool! -  I managed to drink my make-believe tea like it had "gin in it"!.  Loved it though, got my lines to learn for next week

 

 

 

I've just landed a place in Liverpools ActUpNorth. I was made up to get in! My first trial class was only last week. I found we packed in more in one lesson than we packed in on all my previous lessons which were double the price! The class was fast paste, with our interaction and attention needed at all times, I found my self absorbed and engrossed. I even had to get up and do a quickly improvised three part seen and found myself slapping a class mate! Who took it well, thank god! As part of our role play. Some parts of the two hour class wizzed by at one point our teacher had us passing clicks around the room. The games where random but entertaining and enjoyable and some how, I just knew that they were very relevant to the skill set I will require to become an accomplished actress. I came home feeling like the fun had just become and a whole new road of opportunities had just opened to me...

 

...Last night was my 3rd class, we built on from the things we learned about Status within a scene in role play, using actions, tone and words, body language and possitions to hold power, or under play possitions as status levels within a scene. This week we learned about acceptance and blocking, and how people can over emphasise and take it too far or assit the progression of a scene naturally. What are other classes upto in other areas?

 

Jacqueline