Your Own Hollywood

Have your ever watched a movie and thought, “I could do better than that”? Or had a great idea for a plot or a character? If the saying that everyone has a book in them is true, then surely in our visual age, anyone has it in them to make a movie…

Okay, I hear you say, but what about the technicalities? What about the secrets of acting or scriptwriting? Surely it’s not so easy that anyone could have a go, or else we’d all be movie actors or directors, no? Thanks for the reality check, I’d respond. Truth is, anyone can learn the arts of movie-making, like any other craft. It’s simply a matter of studying hard under good teachers, tapping into your own creative skills, and learning how a film is put together. Of course, knowing this is no assurance of success as a director or an actor, but it can raise you head and shoulders above all the other wannabes... Now consider that, for a modest sum, you can experience the thrills and pitfalls of being an actor, camera operator or director on a real film set, with expert lecturers and film crew to show you how it’s done and give constructive criticism throughout the week-long course or “camp”. And the camps are held by the New York Film Academy in the Big Apple, or other glamorous cities around the world, from Florence to Shanghai, and Budapest to Abu Dhabi, under the Academy’s auspices. Unlike most other acting and movie camps in the US – which are for kids to goof around – the New York Film Academy’s courses are a serious induction into film making. Whether you want to learn to be an actor or a director, the effort demanded is intense.

At the directors’ camp each student must write, produce, direct and edit their own short film, as well as assist other members of the crew in the roles of director of photography and assistant camera person, so that everyone gets a broad experience of how sets work. The acting and animation workshops are just as thorough and intensive, and the studios used are fully lit and equipped. There are 12-15 students in each class. Students in New York can draw inspiration from the view of Union Square’s busy East Side, and such film legends as Mel Brooks, Billy Wilde, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock, after whom the seven classrooms are named. You may even find yourself sitting in the same room as Hollywood progeny, as the Academy has trained Steven Spielberg’s and Pierce Brosnan’s sons, Peter Bogdanovich’s daughters, and Luc Besson’s sister. And you can certainly expect some Hollywood players to share their secrets. Lecturers include the producers Paul Zaentz (The Talented Mr Ripley) and Hardy Justice (About a Boy), scriptwriters Bob Fisher and Steve Fabor (The Wedding Crashers), and the actor John Favreau (Swingers and The Replacements). Kristen Coury attended a directors’ camp, where she ended up directing her own film, Friends and Family. The experience was grueling. “We did everything ourselves: shooting, picture and music edit - everything! We were working seven days a week, night and day – sometimes all night in the editing room.” The first few sessions focused on basics like threading a camera and lighting a scene; after five days, they spent the weekend shooting their first short. The next five days focused on editing, with time spent watching films to see how to ‘make it work’. “We rotated with three other people, so we were teams of four, and we each held a different position each time.” By the end, Kristen felt confident enough in her script and her skills to start a new career in film making.

If you’d rather try your hand at movie acting, the Academy does a one-week crash course, with thirty hours of classroom tuition over six days. Lecturers advise on voice and movement, scene study, film acting technique and film craft. This camp is not for the shy; every student is obliged to face the camera and respond to the cry “Action!” on the first day of class. “Calibrating performances based upon shot size and angle, hitting marks, emotional and physical continuity, and strength and imagination in acting choices” are also part of the course, as are the basics of film making. The logic behind this is that actors perform better when they understand what happens behind the lens as well as in front of the camera. So there it is. What’s stopping you from realizing your dream to make movies?