Intro to Screen Acting: Refining Your Performance for the Camera

Intro to Screen Acting: Refining Your Performance for the Camera – with Cal Chapman

Have you ever been watching the stars in the cinemas or some of the genre redefining performances on television in the modern day and thought, ‘I’d love to try acting, I bet I could have good go at that.’? Well we bet you could too, and now here’s your chance.

In this 2 hour intro class, our team of industry insiders will lead you through the film actor’s process, from script to screen, with a chance to perform in front of the camera, work with our creative team on your character and discuss your process as we watch playback. Through this workshop, we will help you discover the tools to craft moving and impactful performances of your own.

This class is a wonderful way to build your confidence, whether it’s for your own acting pursuits, to give yourself more awareness of how you present yourself in a corporate setting, or just for fun and personal discovery.

About the Class

Over the course of the session, we will look at:

• Working with Text: how to interpret and approach scripts
• Working with Character: how to find yourself in a role
• Working with the Camera: how shot sizes and camera angles affect your performance
• Working with the Creative Team: how to take notes and develop your performance with a director

This is an all abilities class, perfect for beginners to learn new skills and helpful for those how already have some experience to hone their skills in a supportive, creative environment.

In this 2 hour session, we will discuss some of the core principals to be aware of when tackling screen acting, before then moving onto text work in front of the camera. We will provide a short script for our students to work with (or students are more than welcome to bring in their own materials too, just let us know prior) and we will provide all the film equipment needed to get your “Lights, Camera, Action” moment.

Our resident acting tutor, Cal, will be there to help direct you 1-2-1 and fine-tune your performance in a way that allows you to understand how you’re working, how to make acting choices, to empower you with the toolkit to shape, control and channel your best work.

This class can either be booked at one of our pop-up locations and studios across London, or can be hired for events at corporate locations.

About the Tutor

Cal Chapman is an actor, musician, writer and painter who trained at one of the nation’s top drama schools, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ArtsEd, where he received a BA (Hons) in Acting for Film & Television. He has since signed with the London-based Acting agency ‘Brood Management’ and has gone onto work in live theatre, feature films and musicals. Cal has performed in new writing, classical plays and indie works in venues all over London and across the UK, including Theatre 503, the Greenwich Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Currently, Cal has just wrapped production on his first feature film, “The Miner’s Son”, about a rock and roll band trying to make it big during the 1980’s Miner’s Strike, where Cal plays a lead role as the band’s singer and frontman. Cal has most recently appeared in a site-specific production of a classical work by Lady Mary Wroth preformed in her old stately home of Penhurst Place, in conjunction with Elart Productions and Lancaster University, where he had a leading role as ‘Philisses’, a star-crossed lover.

Cal has been working on his craft for over 10 years and has been working professionally in the industry since 2017.