One Day Workshops

SPECIALTY INTRODUCTORY SESSION!

Date: Wednesday December 10, 2008

Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Age: 19+
Instructor: Joy Juckes  

Actors and singers alike find Joy's approach and techniques to be liberating and effective. Her work is based on the belief that we are naturally designed to be expressive and resonant communicators. This introductory session will allow participants to sample Joy's work, and to identify areas in which they would like further study and development - including:

Identifying and eliminating restrictive habits

Finding full range of vocal resonance and expression
Accessing core support and emotional resonance
Memorization technique and text work

Canadian Dialect Issues 

Identifying Canadian idiosyncrasies
Key Elements of General American Dialect (aka Standard North American)

Simple, Effective Warm-up Techniques

Getting in the Zone -vocal, physical and mental readiness
Achieving a relaxed and grounded presence
Warming the voice with the body

You can register online HERE or call the studio at 416.483.0056. Space is limited!

GUIDING PARENTS WITH SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN FILM AND TELEVISION

This one-night course is designed to not only help you better understand the audition process and the industry as a whole but also to help transfer that knowledge and understanding to your young actor.  Parents participating in this workshop will experience the on camera audition first hand.  Audition material will be sent to participants 24 hours in advance of the workshop start date.  Parents are required to consider the first hour of the workshop to be an official audition process and are encouraged to prepare the material the same way they would guide their son or daughter for their own auditions.  The on camera experience is not a mandatory requirement of the workshop.  Volunteers will be asked to demonstrate their preparation process in front of the camera and will be subject to a review of their work and how a casting team would assess their performance.


Additional discussion throughout the evening will include:

 
The Industry

- Learn about the gender and material statistics that your child is up against
- Review the opportunities and limitations of casting

The Agent

- When is the best time to contact one?
- Relationship dynamics
- What to do with audition feedback

The Audition

- Find out what casting directors and directors are looking for
- How to make a strong initial impact
- Understanding a breakdown with relation to genre and style of performance
- Breaking up the structure/text of dialogue
- How to handle rejection

The Job

- The etiquette and expectations of the on-set experience
- How to sustain a balance between work and school
- Working with directors

The Wrap

- Clearing up audition myths (ie. props, script while in the audition)
- Exercises: camera placement, reading aloud
- Q & A 

 The Group-Format Industry Consultation with Dean Armstrong

Dean Armstrong, School Director of the Armstrong Acting Studio and acclaimed coach and consultant within the industry has long been involved with the casting community. With his background as both pre-production and on-set coach, his opinion often plays an integral role in the decision-making process.  Working alongside directors, producers, casting directors, and other major industry figures, Dean's input is frequently requested at the crucial point where actors have been narrowed down to a select few for a specific role.  Sometimes the talent is new or inexperienced and competing against actors with prolific resumes.  In other cases, an actor might be young and there is doubt as to whether he or she can handle the responsibilities of a lead or supporting role.

It is at this juncture that Dean is called in as a screen test advisor.  By going through the audition process as a reader, Dean is able to better appraise each actor's capabilities and therefore contribute a great deal to dialogue with directors, in terms of selecting a best candidate.


THE INDUSTRY CONSULTATION...

This advisory service has since sprung up outside the parameters of the official audition under the label "industry consultation."   By replicating the screen test process, Dean can assess an actor's overall strengths, weaknesses, hooks, as well as his or her individual idiosyncrasies.  This evaluation enables actors to see whether they have created a tangible framework from which to launch and build a career.
 

...FOR AGENTS

These sessions are primarily of interest to talent agencies, seeking feedback for any number of reasons.  Sometimes it is in response to talent that has not yet been signed, pending opinion from a third-party industry figure who can objectively evaluate an actor's abilities.  Other times there are both nascent and veteran actors alike on a roster who, for whatever reason, are not booking roles and could use assistance with troubleshooting.


...FOR ACTORS

There is also a tremendous amount of interest for these consultations from actors who are interested in an impartial appraisal of their performance.  It is through these sessions that they receive invaluable information about what they are doing/not doing or, better yet, what is working/not working.
The Group Format Industry Consultation

In an effort to better serve the working industry as well as AAS actors, we propose the three-hour group consultation format.  This regular service was designed to meet the demand for this integral and potentially career-changing collaboration and features group interaction as well as highly actor-specific feedback.

Available exclusively to agencies and their clients on a per-agency basis, these sessions would be configured according to the outline below:

• Sessions will include no more than 10 actors, grouped by age and experience.
• It is each agency's responsibility to categorize actors, based on talent, as they see fit.
• The age brackets are: 13-15, 16-18, 19-25, and 26-30
  

• Material will be sent 24 hours in advance
• Actors will then go through an official audition process with Dean operating as screen test advisor.
• Following the auditions, Dean will sit down and critique performances with focus particularly on actors' demonstration of text analysis, character relationship development, and their ability to create the illusion of a real environment in the frame.
• Further discussion will include special attention to:
• Making the frame alive and active
• Ensuring the audition is not only competitive but also entertaining
• Acquiring the tools necessary to make unique choices with material so that an audition differentiates the actor from other competitors, enhancing the actor's marketability.
  

Using this format, the Armstrong Studio guarantees an immediate understanding and awareness of how to proceed toward achieving the most effective results within the audition process.

The fee for the three-hour group format industry consultation is $159.00 + G.S.T., which includes a DVD of each actor's work that day.