A comprehensive training course in screen acting by an internationally renowned teacher and acting coach who has worked with actors of all backgrounds and experience – from drama school students at the start of their careers to Hollywood stars, including Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie and Keira Knightley.
Mel Churcher has developed a series of five workshops which take actors step by step through the process of creating, developing and delivering assured performances on screen. Accompanied by ninety minutes of online film clips, showing all of the work in action, this book builds on these workshops and lets you progress through them at your own pace:
- Workshop 1: Keeping the Life encourages you to find what is unique about yourself and how you can preserve this vitality when acting on screen
- Workshop 2: Inhabiting the Role focuses on the emotional and psychological steps required in preparing your performance
- Workshop 3: The Physical Life introduces a series of practical exercises to develop the physicality and imagination of the actor
- Workshop 4: Through the Eye of the Camera explains the technical skills you must master to act in front of a lens
- Workshop 5: Off to Work We Go covers how to prepare for auditions and then how to handle specific challenges when you get the job
Each exercise, technique and tip is vividly illustrated in online film clips taken from the author’s actual workshops. The result is a vital masterclass in every aspect of acting on screen.
Foreword by Jeremy Irons.
‘When the whole business seems to have gone loopy, dip into Mel Churcher’s book; somehow she always makes sense’ Bob Hoskins
‘Mel Churcher’s new book is one of those rare things… The whole package is eminently approachable, direct, entertaining and perceptive; the [film clips are] smoothly edited, explicit and professional. The written text is substantial, with lots of extra information and exercises plainly laid out and easy to find… a joy’
— Communicating Voice, British Voice Association
‘This book is not just exclusively for those who would be screen actors, but for all those, both teachers and actors, who wish to find ‘truth’ within the role they have been given. The plus is the [film clips], which are a joy to watch and a ‘gift’ for all those teachers of drama’
— Word Matters, The Journal of The Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama
