<p>Kid is leaning towards a media studies major at Temple. This degree is more geared towards media production than acting but it has some performance classes too such as media performance. He is thinking a degree like this will give him skills in front of and behind a camera and make it more likely he can find some type of tv or film work when he graduates, even if its the production room if he does not cast for any acting roles. He will likely minor in theater, take as many acting classes as his major will allow, audition for shows and try to be in student films, etc. His goal is to be a television, film, or voice actor when he graduates. He does not have the singing voice to professionally be in any musicals upon graduation, except for small mostly non-singing roles. In fact, he is unlikely to be cast for singing roles at a collegiate level either. Any thoughts? Also, in looking at theatre programs, I see several acting classes, as well as voice and movement classes. What is covered in these classes and why are there so many of them? Bear with me as Im not an actor so I do not fully understand what is covered under a theatre degree. I assume each of these classes allows the actors to improve their craft but would love more details.</p>
<p>What I’ve learned about TV and film acting is that actors are trained on the stage, because if you can act for two hours live on stage than you can definitely act for the brief time periods needed for film/TV. Most acting schools do teach a class or two senior year on the subtle differences needed to act for TV/film.
What I’ve gathered from my D who has had movement, voice and acting classes is that acting class would be one where you are working on an actual piece like a monologue, scene or show. Movement class is study in the techniques actors use to improve their movement on stage and connecting their bodies to what they are saying. They might do monos and scenes in movement class too, or they might work on specific types of movement like “drunk work” or movement from a time period. (Characters from the 1800’s move differently than a modern character.)
Voice class is techniques on projection, diction and clarity and is sometimes called speech.
These are very general descriptions and I’m sure my D would shudder in horror at my ignorance. But these descriptions have helped other non-actors who have asked me what my D does in all her acting classes and what she will do in college!</p>
<p>Thanks, that helps and I too am seeing that theatre training can be very benefecial for film acting too.</p>
<p>Many folks say it is easier for a stage actor to adapt to screen than the other way around. And that is my experience as well. I have been a stage actor and director and just recently had my first (very small!) film role. One of the experienced screen actors I was working with told me he had no idea it was my first time working on camera.</p>
<p>And yes, basically, each of those acting classes improves your skills and abilities as an actor. Good actors always make it look easy, but acting is really quite difficult and requires a lot of skill and talent. When you see a great acting performance, you are seeing the end result of all that actor’s training and experience.</p>
<p>After graduating, your son isn’t just going to be given acting work because he has a degree. He is going to have to audition, which means going in and demonstrating his acting skills. So the more skills he has, the better able he will be to compete with the others auditioning.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>kevp, do u think he’d be wiser to just go for theatre BA degree then? Temple is BA only. We know about auditions in real world. His dad and I were talking kid may be wiser to just go for the theatre degree and per dad, minor in something “practical”. Dad was concerned that even if he had tv production skills, jobs may not pay that well anyway so he may not be that better off and may be worse off upon graduation. and kid has such great attitude. I mentioned downside of Temple is that with MFA and MT options, he may not have too many casting options. Kid figured upside of working with lots of folks who had stronger acting background than he did far outweighed risk of not being cast and just by working with those folks and taking acting classes in a true theatre community, he’d be better prepared upon graduation. He is excited about getting to study in a bigger acting pool since our local area has less options in that area than other places. </p>
<p>and congrats on your film role!!! :)</p>
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<p>You have a smart kid.</p>
<p>thanks njtheatre mom. I am amazed at how wise he is at 17 already and like many of us on here, it is such a joy watching them grow up and how they are turning out as adults, albeit young ones at this time. The maturity in the last 2 to 3 years has been delightful to see and I am proud, as I’m sure Dad is too, on what a great attitude the young one has. Many teachers have commented on his attitude as well as his willingness to help and be decent to others as some of his best non-academic traits.</p>
<p>TheRealKEVP, congratulations on your film role! You must post a clip for us!</p>
<p>(The film has finished principle photography and is now in the stage I think is called “post-production”. It was just an independent ultra low budget film, and I had a small role. I’m afraid I played a character who wasn’t very attractive, which would also make me even more self conscious about clips from the movie than I would anyway. In one scene I had to confront the leading man, and I thought about how my character looked like a slob while the leading man had a nice suit, makeup and so on. At the wrap party a scruffy looking fellow came up to me to talk with me, it took me a while to realize it was the leading man! Then even having said all that, I spoke with one of the other actors who told me one film role he had all of his scenes ended up being cut, so I am aware that could happen too.)</p>
<p>But to return to ctl987’s kid. I think your kid knows what he wants to do, and should be encouraged to pursue that. I don’t think it is worth worrying about how much jobs will pay. I became a lawyer because I thought that would get me well-paying jobs, but it hasn’t. I’m stuck with low-paying legal jobs. And periods of unemployment. I’m thinking now, “If I was going to be stuck with low pay and periods of unemployment ANYWAY, why didn’t I stick with something I really enjoyed?” I think I mentioned in another thread the character in the movie THE COMMITMENTS who says “It’s a lot more fun being an unemployed musician than an unemployed pipefitter.”</p>
<p>I was struck working on a movie for the first time how “technical” the knowledge of the crew was. They were working with a lot of very expensive hi-tech equipment (cameras, sound equipment, etc) and I imagine needed some very specific training. Not necessarily a degree, there are schools that will give the training to do this sort of work. They all knew exactly what they were doing without some supervisor sitting over them watching. Even, for example, the boom operator, who basically just has a mike at the end of a long stick, I could see he was quite experienced so he never bashed anyone in the head, or hit the set, or something like that. Not a job for amateurs!</p>
<p>This was in contrast with the cast, that although they were all very talented, had a wide variety of acting backgrounds. A couple of us had degrees in acting or theatre, a couple had different non-degree acting training, and a couple seemed to have just learned “on-the-job” in a long acting career.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>hey guys, a couple of follow up questions, and kevp, thanks again for the input. kid will get to make the call for college major, i just want to make sure I know enough to give him good advice. Does kid’s plan make sense, ie taking a major which has him in front of and behind a camera with a minor in theatre? he is actually excited about working in temple’s news room as he saw it when he visited campus. He will have to give up some theatre classes if he goes this route, in fact several 
He is thinking that if can find work in a tv or film studio after he graduates, he can get to know industry people that way while he is trying to develop his acting career and he will more marketable as an employee, not necc as an actor, but at least more marketable so he can find work. if he is wrong and going this route will not help him, he will likely reconsider and just go for the theatre BA. Also, he gets some stipends at Temple so he would have option of getting into summer intensive acting programs while an undergraduate. at least, we hope so. I’m not sure if the stipends have to go along with his major but they def have to be preapproved. anyone with advice, recomendations, etc. we are all ears.Thanks again.</p>
<p>oh and the committments is a great movie 
thanks for the quote from that movie kevp</p>
<p>I think if your son is excited about the prospect of working in a newsroom, and is more excited about working in a newsroom than he is at the idea of taking acting classes, he should be encouraged to work in a newsroom.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like he is heading for a career in broadcast journalism. Nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>he wants to be an actor. Broadcast journalism would be a backup option and he is very good with oral presentation(as i’m sure all the kids are on here) so he could pull it off. even though it is competitive, it seems more doable from a making some sort of income perspective than acting. i could also see him from an ability level being a press sectretary or in sales too; he can probably pull off high end sales deals. But his main goal is to be an actor and he plans to give it a shot. I’m thinking he will try it for 5 years post graduating at this point. If that does not work out, he is interested in other fields where he can use his vocal skills. so he seems to want to learn various things in college that will help in any of the above fields and be more of a dabbler with his class choices than be limited to only one field. thanks again for input. and I agree with where I think you’re going. Let him do what he wants. He’ll be better educated upon graduation regardless of what route he takes.</p>
<p>Having originally come from a hardcore theatre background, it obviously isn’t the route I took to making my living as a screen actress, but I’ve heard it said more than once that one of the best ways to learn to work on-camera is to spend some time behind it. Once you get a little past basic acting, there are profound differences between screen versus stage and I can see where the people who say that are coming from. There’s even a stereotype in LA of “the clueless actor with a lot of theatre training.” However, those same actors who came from “the other side” often lack the depth, range, and facility with text that a theatre background can bring so you really need a balance. Your son should be able to get the basics pretty well by taking acting classes at Temple and getting experience doing student and indie films. Just expect that he’ll need more training - perhaps a lot - post-graduate if he doesn’t get into some good summer acting intensives along the way. </p>
<p>OTOH, most college acting programs - even the top conservatories - really do a pretty sorry job of preparing students for the on-camera world at the studio and network level. Most offer maybe a semester’s worth of on-camera work at the very end and most graduates need at least some additional post-graduate training before they’re ready to work.</p>
<p>I’ve actually gone on and on about this in the past in several threads. I guess I kind of gave something of a summary of most of it in this one … <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1561010-wrong-i-dont-want-study-four-years.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/1561010-wrong-i-dont-want-study-four-years.html?</a></p>
<p>Also, the best book I’ve found on the differences between stage and screen is Patrick Tucker’s [Secrets</a> of Screen Acting](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Screen-Acting-Theatre-Arts-ebook/dp/B000PLXDE4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387040090&sr=8-1&keywords=secrets+of+screen+acting][u]Secrets”>http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Screen-Acting-Theatre-Arts-ebook/dp/B000PLXDE4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387040090&sr=8-1&keywords=secrets+of+screen+acting). I’ve always thought that digesting it along with the “You’ve Booked the Job” chapter of [One</a> Less Bitter Actor](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Less-Bitter-Actor-Markus-Flanagan-ebook/dp/B002KLHEQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387040240&sr=8-1&keywords=one+less+bitter+actor][u]One”>http://www.amazon.com/Less-Bitter-Actor-Markus-Flanagan-ebook/dp/B002KLHEQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387040240&sr=8-1&keywords=one+less+bitter+actor) should render someone who already has a solid acting background a little less “green” the first time on-set although I don’t recommend the rest of the second book. Actually, the Tucker book was recommended to me by an older actor I trusted when I dumb-lucked into my first major on-camera job the summer before my final year of school and it was of definite help. One other fun fact about Tucker is that he teaches a workshop in First Folio to the UM/Guthrie kids when they’re in London junior year, so he definitely has the background to speak with authority on either stage or screen. </p>
<p>There’s also a working actor in Santa Monica named Brad Greenquist who conducts a class in camera technique and gives a nice summary of [a</a> few things you’ll encounter on-set followed by some videos on his website.](<a href=“http://bradsclass.com/students.html]a”>Brad Greenquist, Hollywood film & television actor and Los Angeles acting class instructor - Pet Sematary, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Heroes, CSI, more...)</p>
<p>thanks fishbowl, wonderful advice!!! I will comment more later too and copy this for future reference, and congrats on your success!!!</p>
<p>Succeeding as an actor is so difficult that I tell people that if they want to be actors they need to commit to it 100%.</p>
<p>Your son SAYS he wants to be an actor, but in reality he is more excited about the prospect of working in a newsroom than by the prospect of taking acting classes. I am suspecting he doesn’t really want to be an actor. If he wanted to be an actor, he would be taking those acting classes.</p>
<p>But there is no reason to require someone to be an actor if he really wants to be a broadcast journalist.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>no, he wants to be an actor. He’s wanted to since he was a kid, and has never lost sight of that dream or goal. I’m not forcing him to do this. In fact, he and I have to deflect comments regularly of shouldn’t he do something more “practical” since he’s one of those lucky kids who can go into any field he wants(other than singing or professional sports). But truthfully, all he has done is stage so far so he may try camera acting and realize he does not like it as much. As I posted up earlier, he does not have the singing voice to do musicals which is why he is leaning towards either TV, film, or speaking voice acting(eg cartoons, documentaries, reading books out loud). part of his excitement in seeing that room is that his options are limited where we live so a full blown room with all sorts of mixing equipment(or whatever it’s called) was really cool to him. He also commented on how much one of his friends(who is the behind the camera guy) would go nuts if he saw that room. He was backstage at another school that had extensive props and a huge backstage area. He really liked that too and how it was laid out. Not that he wants to work backstage post graduation but he’s been on enough stages and behind them to realize this other school had a great layout, was exceptionally organized, and had a lot of room on and off the stage to make their shows a success. It also showed a committed theatre dept that worked well with what they had. He admires anything impressive he sees in a good way and since he’s been acting since a kid, he picks up on things I don’t.</p>
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<p>Lots of stage actors cannot/do not sing. It is only in high school that musicals sometimes seem to constitute the majority of opportunities.</p>
<p>that is a relief!!! it has been so hard to find non-musical opportunities in this area, esp at the high school level!!! He even joined the high school choirs so he could at least be presentable for the musicals. He is VERY happy he will only have to do straight acting in college! I am under perhaps the mistaken impression that his employment options will be more limited since he is only an average singer. however, even if wrong, I would think a kid who can sing will nonetheless have more options than one who can not post graduation as the former can be in musicals and non-musicals. again, any input is appreciated! and to all, if he does not get enough acting under his belt in college, an MFA, if a good idea when he graduates, is not out of the question. at this point, a BFA is not the route he wants to take and I agree with him 100 percent on that for a number of reasons. he may realize when in school he needs the rigor of a conservatory and if so, we can look at MFA options as he wraps up college. Right now, the route he wants to go looks like it makes a lot of sense for him and fishbowl’s comments, perhaps inadvertently reinforced that. one reason i initially started looking at the mass communications major was because Temple, and many other EC schools, only has 1 acting on camera class. I guess you can retake it but when I looked at the mass communications degree, there were actually 3 classes, if I remember right, that were up in his field in performing in front of a camera and/or voiceover work. we talked about it, he has visited, and plans to revist both departments next semester. He would probably prefer a theatre major and media studies minor with those 3 classes; however, that option is not available. however, a media studies major and theatre minor is an option.</p>
<p>Ctl897. Has your son had voice lessons? Aside from choir? Most choir teachers are not teaching for music theatre. They are teaching voices to blend, and not stand out.
It took us 4 different voice teachers to find the right teacher who clicked with my D. My D was not a strong singer but now can definitely hold her own. We don’t feel now that her singing is a detriment. She’s still an actor first, but she can sing. She’s not had a music theatre lead but has been called back multiple times. So there is hope even if you think your S is not a good singer!</p>