We talked again about ACTION VERBS and how we can use those to try to CHANGE the other person. We talked about how we can focus on the ACTION instead of other things like how nervous we are, whether or not the lines are completely memorized or how the lines should sound or look.

​I talked about how trying to make the lines sound or look a certain way is playing the RESULT and is INDICATING. If we focus on what we want and how we are trying to CHANGE the other person, NOW, emotions will come up if we are open to them and we will also say the lines exactly how they need to be said to tell the story we are trying to tell.

We then worked for a few hours on the scenes and everyone tried this technique. HERE IS THE LINK TO LAST NIGHT'S FILES.

Keep up the good work, everyone! Tonight is the AUDITION MASTERY INTENSIVE. I'm looking forward to having everyone in the studio tonight to get their audition skills in the best shape they can!

WP

We had a fun class tonight for the VO GYMDO! We did a few new exercises to work on our articulation and strength of our voices. We practiced our KATAs - Euripides and Grip Top and did a quick VO battle with Kata One.

We read a bit of Edith Skinner and the poem, "Articulatory Agility" that appears in SPEAK WITH DISTINCTION. 

We then recorded the first ad ever known to be produced for radio. It was for AT&T's WEAF radio and it was an ad for Hawthorne Court Apartments in Jackson Heights. It appeared for the first time on-air in 1922 and cost the company $50 for 10 minutes of air time (about $747.71 in 2018 dollars). AT&T later sold WEAF to NBC.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO HEAR THE AD (and to download your files).  Two of our VO GYMDO members recorded it. We did a few takes in a our natural voices, looking for a contemporary sound and we also tried it in a 1920's sound that broadcaster's would have used because of the way the microphones reproduced sound back then. It's a fun piece and I'm looking forward to hearing more people record it! 

I'll see everyone tomorrow night for ONGOING SCENE STUDY for FILM & TV (those of you who have signed up) and the rest of you folks (those of you who have signed up) will be in the AUDITION MASTERY INTENSIVE this week from Wednesday through Friday, 7-9:30 pm.

Keep up the great work everyone!

WP

This was the first project recorded by the ongoing Monday night voiceover class - VO GYMDO (it's like a karate dojo for your voice). We'll be meeting every Monday from 6:30-7:30 pm at 7 Innis Avenue, The Carriage House (Blue Door), Suite 5 in New Paltz.

Everyone recorded the whole monologue and then I edited it together and attached photos from our various Voiceover classes at Wayne Pyle Acting Coaching throughout the years. Seeing these photos brings back a LOT of memories of all the great times we've had throughout the years. If you're interested in taking a VO Class - CLICK HERE.

Thanks for listening! 

We've had a few new folks join us for Ongoing Scene Study for Film & TV. Everyone stepped up their game on Tuesday night and we had some scenes that really CAPTURED our attention. 

Before shooting, we talked about ACTION and some rules that apply for an action to be something you can act. One of the main criteria is that it must be able to be done, actively, to the other person in the scene and you must be able to tell if you are getting what you want by looking at the other person.

We went through each of the scenes thoroughly. Remember, we need to look for the BEATS (where the ACTION changes) and stay active in trying to change the other person, NOW.

Here's the LINK to your FILES from Ongoing Scene Study! We'll see everyone for the VO GYMDO on Monday evening and the rest of you for ONGOING SCENE STUDY on Tuesday evening. Have a great weekend and keep looking for those ACTIONS!

WP

We had a FULL house for the first session of the VO GYMDO. Thank you to everyone who came out to train with us. 

"What is a VO GYMDO?"

I'm glad you asked!

​A VO GYMDO is like a karate dojo but for your voice. Every Monday evening from 6:30 - 7:30 pm we will train our voices to be strong, flexible and dynamic. At the end of each session, we'll record different voiceover copy. After class, actors will have access to their copy on my Google drive. I just ask that the actors download the files to their computers so that I can clear the files when I need to.

After we explored several vocal exercises, we went through some articulation exercises to really get our mouths moving. We then worked on KATA ONE and TWO. In karate, a KATA is a "way of doing" and a structured practice for continued improvement. Our VO KATAs are the same but for voiceover work instead of for martial arts.

Kata One - Euripides - is the repetition of a few lines from Euripides' play The Trojan Women. Kata One will be used in different exercises to strengthen our voices. We'll make sure we're connected to our breath when speaking these lines. Memorization of the kata is the first step toward mastery.

Kata Two - Grip Top - is a long form rhythmic poem with difficult sounds to articulate rapidly. The purpose of Kata Two is to get proficient at speaking at a fast tempo with full articulation in a very specific rhythm. Mastering Kata One and Two can lead to breakthroughs in how we use our voices.

We then recorded a piece called, "This is my Voice."

Each actor got to record their version of this lovely piece about what it means to be a voice actor. Every actor's voice was unique and each person brought their experience and perspective to the piece.  You can hear the files by CLICKING THIS LINK.

I would say that our first evening of the VO GYMDO was a success! I'm looking forward to exploring our voices further in the next session, Monday, January 27, from 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Drop me a line if you have any questions, or anything you'd like to explore in the next session of WPAC's VO GYMDO.

Osu!

Tuesday night started off with a few new folks joining us! Give a warm WPAC welcome to Jeremiah Wenutu, Gina Probert and Kristine Gallo. Great work on your scenes everyone!

Before we got in front of the camera, we went over the basic concepts of The CAPTURES Method again.

I took a little bit more time on RELATIONSHIPS this week. We talked about how we have a relationship with the other person in the scene (a LOVE relationship) but also how we have a relationship to WHERE we are, the OBJECTS we deal with, and HOW we feel about what we are doing AND we looked at our relationship to our WORK as actors.

I talked a bit about CONNECTION, VULNERABILITY and LISTENING.

Active listening is when you are able to really be there in the PRESENT for the other person. As you go on your journey toward changing the other person, you need to be LISTENING for whether or not you are getting what you want. If you aren't getting it, you need to try a new TACTIC for getting it. If you feel like you are edging away from your DREAM and toward your HELL, emotions may happen. You keep playing your SUBTEXT (what's underneath what you're saying) to get the CHANGE to happen in the other person. 

I didn't get a chance to show them in class, but here are two videos from an interview with Annette Bening on LISTENING and VULNERABILITY (and gardenias), two of the topics we talked about in class.

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​We then took a break and got in front of the camera as always. I really love the scenes people are working on in class right now. I think we'll be able to go deeper into these scenes as we progress along. As we move forward, keep looking for AUTHENTICITY and trying to change the other person. Ask yourself, "Am I really listening? Am I staying open and vulnerable?"

Here is the link to the class folder with your files: CLICK HERE FOR FILES

Welcome back, Everyone! 

We've had a lot of great interest in all of the new classes at Wayne Pyle Acting Coaching. I'm looking forward to working with everyone to make 2020 their best acting year (decade?) ever. If you are interested in checking out all the new classes CLICK THIS LINK.

Last night we had the Ongoing Scene Study for Film and Television class. We had a lengthy discussion about how important it is to have your acting work solid by using some of the ideas of the CAPTURES method because of how important the technical aspects of working on a film or television show become in the moment of shooting. I shared my experiences shooting a few days on the new television series KATY KEENE on the CW. We talked about how the technical elements of an onscreen performance (one of the T's of the CAPTURES method) are just as important as living life truthfully in the given imaginary circumstances and trying to change the other person in the scene. 

We kept coming back to that question, "What am I trying to CHANGE (one of the C's of the CAPTURES method) in the other person NOW?" when we got in front of the camera to work on the scenes. It is one of the KEYS to living life truthfully onstage or onscreen. (It's also a great question to think about in your own life as you pursue acting work.)

We went through the scenes a few times and had some very interesting breakthroughs in the scene work. I'm looking forward to next TUESDAY from 7-9:30 pm. Please join us!

Here is a link to your files from last night's class. CLICK HERE

Hope your 2020 is filled with joy, success and love!

​WP

Just a reminder that there will be no Ongoing Scene Study for Film & TV this Tuesday, November 26.

To hold you over until our next class, please watch this informative video called, "How the World's Most Successful Actors THINK". Along the lines of working on our character's thoughts, here are the thoughts of actors who have been successful at doing this. We can see from this video that how and what we think affects what we do and our outcomes.

Enjoy your holidays and stay safe. Keep on working on those scenes.

​See you on Tuesday, December 3!

We had a FULL class on Tuesday night, 11/19/19. Kia Abilay and Sean Contreras joined us for the evening. Welcome! Sean did a great job reading for everyone and Kia worked through her scene for the first time. I think the new scenes are a really good fit for everyone.

Chris and Rob, great work on your scene. If you'd like to continue with that scene, great, but I'd like you to also take a look at HAPPY TOWN (click this link) and have Rob look at BIG DAVE and Chris look at TOMMY. I think it would be a fun scene for the two of you to work through. We could possibly get this up on its feet and shoot it like a scene.

Sean take a look at the SIDES FILE (click this link) and pick a scene for next class.

Kia, let's take a look at the other scene you picked for the next class. We can decide from there which one you'd like to keep working on. 

Geede, great work on your scene from . Let's look at the blinking in the scene and also take a look at exactly what kind of TACTICS you can use to really get to the priest (SHAMING, BLAMING, PLEADING).

We talked a bit about CHARACTER and how we find character for our scenes. We watched the following video:

What we got from the video is that rather than thinking ABOUT character, we need to think AS the character. I reiterated how important SUBTEXT and CONTEXT were and how we can use CONTEXT (given imaginary circumstances) to find out what our SUBTEXT is. The SUBTEXT are your active thoughts as the character to get what you want (DREAM or OBJECTIVE) and avoid what you don't want (your NIGHTMARE).

This experimentation, this search we are on is for honesty, truth and authenticity in our acting and in our work as the character.

Here is the link to your SCENES FROM TUESDAY (click this link).

We will NOT be having class on Tuesday, November 26.
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Please have a safe holiday season! I'm grateful for each of you: your bravery in class, your talent that you share with us, your creativity that you are exploring and your time and focus to try to figure out this, at times, mysterious-seeming craft. Thank you! 

I'll see everyone when we return on DECEMBER 3!

​Please check here and your email for any further announcements.

cWow! What a great night on Tuesday night. We watched an intense video (see below) about TEXT, SUBTEXT and CONTEXT, a video about writing dialogue, and we related it to the ideas we've been discussing in The CAPTURES Method about Subtext in Acting.

We watched two versions of an audition that someone in class submitted recently and discussed what was strong about them and what we could do to make them better.

We then took a few moments to set up the camera and lights and everyone worked on great new scenes in class.

We took a look at the idea of SUBTEXT again in regards to the new scenes and I urged everyone to dig deeper into the subtext to find the calculated emotional verbalization of the character's objective.

By knowing the CONTEXT (given imaginary circumstances, moment before, relationships, etc.) we can find in the TEXT (the words on the page) the coded messages (SUBTEXT) relating to what the character wants (an action word, a VERB, that relates to the OBJECTIVE) to change the other person in a powerful way through TACTICS that evoke an emotional charge.

As we move forward, we'll continue to explore this idea in depth in class. I highly recommend watching these videos more than once until the concepts really start to sink in. If you have any thoughts or questions, please ask them below, or bring them with you to class.

I've uploaded your files from class to the Google drive. Please make every effort to download your files before the next class so I can clear the servers! Also, as we approach the holiday season, please keep an eye on your email for weather and holiday cancellations. 

LINK TO FILES

We had only a few folks join us for our first November Ongoing Scene Study class, but everyone did some great work on their scenes.

We talked a bit about AUTHENTICITY again. I think it's a really important part of The CAPTURES Method. Finding out what is authentic about the character and how they react and respond in the scene is key.

I showed a bit of the following video:

We did a quick recap of some of the important steps of The CAPTURES Method and then we got up on our feet and worked through the scenes. Everyone made some great progress. We looked at STILLNESS, SUBTEXT, how if we are really PRESENT, we can respond AUTHENTICALLY to what the other person is saying. We examined what we were trying to CHANGE in the other person and then we made some adjustments and worked on the scenes a bit more.

Watching back, we could see how certain movements (blinking, too much distracting hand movement) can take away from the power of your acting. We looked for "tells" - micro-expressions that give us away as someone who is pretending instead of really responding and listening.

Here are the links to this week's files: CLICK HERE FOR FILES

We start the November VO Intensive tonight at 7 pm! Looking forward to working with everyone! Time to get ready for those Commercial VO auditions!

WP