Attending Acting School

King Goldfish

King Goldfish

My Daughter wants to take acting lessons and I remember taking drama in the 9th grade and I just thought it was weird that our teacher would have us make Animal noises and have these really Bizzare warm up rituals.

Are professional acting schools like this and though I suppose this is more for theatrical purposes but what is the real motive behind this. I mean maybe its an obivous answer to an obvious question but whenever we did plays it always seemed like, Just that *ACTING*

Alot of the indie films have over acting. I know these are people just starting out but im guessing they learned these traits from Drama class.

Again, Im not trying to insult anyone but alot of the indie films i see are as best as I can describe as Over acting? is it just only a small percentage of actors will ever be convincing on screen? So i guess my question is why must I act like a cat then a bird or make train sounds. I just thought it was silly and I really want my kid to get the best acting skills as she possibly can without having to move to LA .

Also does anyone know of a good school in the San Francisco area?
 
Always had warm-ups of some kind. Still do, with my current coach.

I guess the type varies from one coach to another... I remember one who was very much into sounds and such. Good luck trying to imitate colours ;)
 
I'm pretty sure the "act like an animal" school of warming up is used to help actors loosen up. There's a difference between being silly and taking chances in order to get the best out of a role, or even a line. (Example: the "stuff your mouth with cotton and mumble" approach to Brando's Godfather sure seems silly on paper, but it worked, didn't it?)

If you want your child to get the best acting instruction possible, you want to expose them to someone who's going to push them beyond their boundaries (don't you?). That's not to say you want them to be trained by a crackpot, but you certainly don't want them thinking there's only five allowable ways to play any given role, either.

Interesting that you don't want to use LA acting schools, though. Considering most "indie" films in which you refer to overacting were probably made outside of LA, it stands to reason that those actors were overacting because they were trained outside the Hollywood scene -- i.e., outside LA. Thus, it's possible you're looking to send your daughter to a school where she'll be trained by overacting amateurs...

A friend of mine wanted to study acting in New York, but her mother felt that was "too far from home," so she wound up studying in Pittsburgh. Even as a supporter of Pittsburgh arts, I ask you, in which city do you suspect someone is liable to get better acting experience?

Best luck with the school search, though. When it all comes down to it, we act every day. I'd be less concerned about learning HOW to act and more concerned with just being myself -- which, in a lot of ways, is all most actors do; play shades of themsevles. The bigger YOU are, the more shades you'll have.
 
stbd1 said:
I'm pretty sure the "act like an animal" school of warming up is used to help actors loosen up. There's a difference between being silly and taking chances in order to get the best out of a role, or even a line. (Example: the "stuff your mouth with cotton and mumble" approach to Brando's Godfather sure seems silly on paper, but it worked, didn't it?)

If you want your child to get the best acting instruction possible, you want to expose them to someone who's going to push them beyond their boundaries (don't you?). That's not to say you want them to be trained by a crackpot, but you certainly don't want them thinking there's only five allowable ways to play any given role, either.

Interesting that you don't want to use LA acting schools, though. Considering most "indie" films in which you refer to overacting were probably made outside of LA, it stands to reason that those actors were overacting because they were trained outside the Hollywood scene -- i.e., outside LA. Thus, it's possible you're looking to send your daughter to a school where she'll be trained by overacting amateurs...

A friend of mine wanted to study acting in New York, but her mother felt that was "too far from home," so she wound up studying in Pittsburgh. Even as a supporter of Pittsburgh arts, I ask you, in which city do you suspect someone is liable to get better acting experience?

Best luck with the school search, though. When it all comes down to it, we act every day. I'd be less concerned about learning HOW to act and more concerned with just being myself -- which, in a lot of ways, is all most actors do; play shades of themsevles. The bigger YOU are, the more shades you'll have.
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She is 7 years old. We have a home in Eastern San Francisco and so LA is about 400 miles south. I have absolutly no desires to live in LA. I lived in Orange County as a kid and i have family there now and just the air alone makes both my child and I asthmatic.

San Francisco also big in the Entertainment Industry. The Old Alameda Naval Station where I grew up was turned into 3 Studios. Manex that made the Matrix and Flubber and Miss Doubtfire among dozens of other films. Pixar, Lucas Ranch and many other Film Studios are spread out all over the San Francisco Bay Area. I admit LA is where the hub is but I cant believe only the best Acting Schools are in LA. So thats why I asked. Im sure there is at least one here.
 
Zensteve said:
Always had warm-ups of some kind. Still do, with my current coach.

I guess the type varies from one coach to another... I remember one who was very much into sounds and such. Good luck trying to imitate colours ;)
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How does an Orange sound? :D
 
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