Training

HENRY FORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Course Master

(Form revised November 2007)


Approved by:

Division: Fine Arts and Fitness

Academic/Career Education Council:
College Council:

I. Division: Fine Arts and Fitness

II. Course Number and Title: STH 265: Film Acting I

III. Credit Hours: 3 credit hours

IV. Total Contact Hours: 47

V. Prerequisite: None

VI. Co-requisites: None

VII. Course Grading Scale: A – E

VIII. Catalog Description: A course designed to introduce actors to film acting techniques. This course will focus on relating and communicating.

IX. Goal Statement: To prepare students for performance in film.

X. Measurable Objectives

Major Core Course Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

Relate to another actor as a real human being, not a preconceived “character.”
Evaluate the quality of film acting performances.
Recognize the qualitative and quantative differences between stage and film acting.
Apply sight reading skills to film scripts.
Apply the theories of Sanford Meiser to their film performances.
Apply the arts of concentration, not knowing, giving and receiving, and acceptance in their film performances. Prepare for film auditions.
Detailed Course Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

Engage in sustained eye contact and reaction when performing a 2-person film scene.

Identify and analyze the specific film acting techniques utilized by actors in the following films or films of similar range, depth, and quality: A Few Good Men, As Good As It Gets, Barber Shop, Basketball, A Beautiful Mind, Being John Malkovich, Blind Date, Bronx Tale, Casablanca, City Slickers, The Closer, Crocodile Dundee, Five Easy Pieces. Friend Green Tomatoes, The Gods Must Be Crazy!, Hero, He Said, She Said, The Hurricane, I Am Sam, Legends Of The Fall, Liar Liar, Map of the World, Mighty Aphrodite, Moonstruck, My Cousin Vinny, On Golden Pond, The Pledge, Raging Bull, Sister Act, Terms of Endearment, There’s Something About Mary, Threesome, Tootsie, Young Frankenstein.
Identify and analyze the specific film acting techniques used by the
Following actors in the following films:
Ben Kingsley in Ghandi, Brando in On the Waterfront, Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, The Ensemble in Fried Green Tomatoes, Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter in Once Around, Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield in Sounder, Michael Douglass and Benicio Del Toro in Traffic, Paul Newman in The Verdict, Robert Ryan in The Setup, Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left foot, Genn Close in Fatal Attraction, Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry, Ernest Borgnine in Marty, Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide, Sigourney Weaver, in Map of the World, Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, Jon Voight in Coming Home, Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July, Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption, Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted, Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, Kenneth Branagh in Henry V, Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, Doug Hutchison in The Green Mile, Everyone in Schindler’s List, Jon Voight in Runaway Train.


XI. Assessment of Academic Achievement
• Objective Quizzes
• 4-5 2 person film scenes
• Midterm
• Final
• A Final Project
XII. General Course Requirements and Recommendations

• Excellent attendance
• Full participation in each exercise
• Objective feedback for other students
• Full professional courtesy to other students
• Willingness to step outside one’s personal level of comfort

XIII. Text: Comey, Jeremiah, The Art of Film Acting, Focal Press, 2002.

XIV. Core Course Topics

Stage vs Film Acting
Sight Reading
The Art of Concentration
The Art of Not knowing
Working With The Director
The Art of Acceptance
The Art of Giving and Receiving
The Senses
Intimacy, Empathy, and Intuition
The Audition
The Comedy Audition

XV. Can credit for this course be granted through credit for prior-college level learning?

No.

XVI. Does this course satisfy MACRAO requirements?

No.