Acting for Screen

Modules

Foundation in Screen Practice (30)

This module will introduce you to CFS filmmaking equipment through technical induction sessions, workshops and supervised studio practice.

Your understanding of the equipment will be applied to the making of a short film where you will also learn about the basic production management paperwork required when producing a film project.

Screen Industries Research (15)

This module will familiarise you with study skills and research methodologies that develop your ability to search for, locate, extract, organise, evaluate, use, present and retain relevant information appropriate to their study. 

Writing Short Scripts (15)

This module will introduce you to dramaturgy, narrative structure and character development through lectures, seminars and practical exercises. You will be introduced to different genres and explore these through the analysis of short films.

Professional Practice (30)

This module will introduce you to the practical film production processes, including the production stages, elements and organisational requirements.

Final Group Project (30)

For your final projects, the filmmakers will choose a screenwriting project and develop that into a short film on which all of you will collaborate fulfilling the production roles.

Modules

Visual Storytelling (30)
In this module you will engage with moving image as a specifically visual medium; drawing on traditions of art, photography and theatre. This module will foreground the importance of narrative sequence, with emphasis on framing, staging, and syntagmatic storytelling.

Screen Studies (30)
This module focuses on the study of films from multiple perspectives, including thematic, narrative structure, genre, ideology, and the relationship between style and technology. A number of critical responses to cinema – including genre study, auteur theory, and feminist critiques, will also be applied to featured titles both fiction and documentary.

Acting 1 – Acting for Camera (60)

This module facilitates the learning of the methods and approaches to develop the skills, techniques and understanding needed to be able to act in front of the camera.In this module, you examine the techniques of different practitioners and how to apply their approaches to character and scene. Through individual and group work, you develop the necessary skills required of a naturalistic Stanislavski-based approach such as improvisation, textual analysis, practical realisation of contemporary text and reflection. Movement and voice sessions support your understanding of technique and its application.

The Virtual Actor – Voice, Action & Motion (30)
 In this module, you will organise, prepare, rehearse, perform in and edit a short filmed fight sequence. You will be encouraged to display attention to detail in terms of vocal and physical characterisation. You will have access to film and sound equipment as well as editing facilities.

Character Development (30) 

This module combines and integrates the core acting disciplines of movement and voice, allowing you to develop a working knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and the recognition of your voice as an expressive instrument. You explore the fundamental components of movement and space including weight, tension, effort and rhythm. You improve spinal alignment, flexibility and strength, and begin to work with breath awareness. By focusing on these technical principles, you work towards neutrality and centring, eliminating any tensions to utilise psycho-physical awareness in relation to building character and worlds, and the analysis of voice and sound in differing and challenging spaces.

Modules

Acting 2: Episodic Storytelling (60)

This module sees you develop a polished level of confidence in the methods, approaches, techniques and understanding needed to be able to act in front of the camera. The importance of technique and styles will be emphasised in this part of your studies and demonstrated through a filmed performance. There will be a focus on workshopping and character development. This module builds on the technical screen acting and camera skills acquired in Acting 1. You also look at the nature and significance of different roles and communication processes in a studio environment. You explore communication, mass media and audience reception theory and incorporate these into your work.

Self Scripting (30)

This module supports your understanding of the scriptwriter’s intentions and practice while providing you with the skills to develop your own script and story writing, as well as understanding the construction and theories of narrative and authorship. This module offers you the option to continue to develop your writing skills for specific mediums, such as camera and audio, applicable to different media platforms and mediums. You analyse narrative forms, devices and technicalities used in dramatic writing with specific considerations for camera and audio. You will learn how to use your written materials practically. This will include how to get your work produced, schemes to help fund script development and how to effectively leverage your screen industry contacts to realise your projects.

The Professional Actor (30)

 In this module, you prepare for your next steps after graduation. With links to your performance-based work, you focus on presenting yourself to the industry. You cover essential elements including audition and interview technique, creating a digital showreel, building a website for self-promotion and developing other marketing tools. You are encouraged to improve your entrepreneurial and project/event management skills by taking on a production role in the management of your work.

Acting 3 – Final Major Project (60)

You will be challenged to fully research, prepare and rehearse a number of roles in a two-scene filmed project in a multi-camera set-up. Furthermore, you will be challenged to meet predetermined blocking and technical camera requirements in that performance. A professional approach to rehearsal will be encouraged and you will be required to keep a written log of all information needed to effectively take part in the live filmed performance in any of the given roles. At the conclusion of the module, you will have acquired a filmed scene for your showreel for future employability.

Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

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