Acting
Film Co-op Training and Development - PAST
IMPROVISATION AND ACTING EXERCISES
(Intermediate- Hands on)
May 25, Sun, 11am - 5pm
Instructor: Dennis Poirier
Location: New Brunswick Film Co-op
(732 Charlotte Street, Fredericton)
Charlotte Street Arts Centre
Fee: $20 For NBFC Members/$30 For Non-Members
Class Limit: 8
Improvisation and acting exercises will explore how an aspiring actor can mentally prepare for a given role. Often on stage and sometimes film, actors will forget a line; it happens. It can throw off a whole scene if the actor and others on set can't recover.
Freezing is an actor's worst fear, because it takes away the element of telling a story away from the audience or mood the filmmaker is trying to create. On true film (35mm, 16mm or 8mm) it is not as simple as "getting it right" on the next take. Film stock is expensive.
On Mini DV and HD, the actor may think he or she has unlimited retakes, but you risk making a long shooting day longer than it should. Improvisation is a useful tool to help fill in the voids when needed. It does not mean you should constantly go off script, but if you can add unscripted actions and proper emotional reactions to a scene; the director will love you for it. Your goal should not to give continuity/script supervisor and the director headaches, but an actor should strive to add to the scene to make it look plausible and true to the character.
INSTRUCTOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Dennis Poirier is a writer and actor in Fredericton New Brunswick. With a growing resume of NB Filmmaker's Co-op films, he is also involved in theatre with 'Les Fous de la Scène', a French community theatre group, NoteaBle Acts and occasionally improv.
Dennis enjoys the higher emotional threshold of playing villains on film, even if his true demeanor is quite opposite. He is thrilled he has more opportunities to act on stage and film in the capital city and actively seeks training and workshops all over NB to improve his ability to step away from his real life shoes.