3 September 2021 - 21 May 2022
The Prague Film School Acting for Film Program offers an intensive, conservatory style curriculum instructing both the art and the craft of acting for the camera. While the vast majority of acting courses world-wide train students for theater, it’s actually screen acting that offers the bulk of career opportunities. It’s also screen acting that allows actors to engage with the largest audiences, across time and geography.
Prague Film School is one of Europe’s leading institutions providing practical training in the core disciplines of filmmaking.
ACTING FOR FILM PROGRAM
At Prague Film School, the Acting for Film Program helps actors recalibrate their performances for the screen and provides students the skills to embark on a successful career in film and television.
Students rigorously train in on-camera acting, voice, movement, acting theory and the business of acting. The program makes use of a variety of techniques ranging from Meisner‘s behavior-based method, to technically oriented exercises designed to hone performances for camera.
The Film Acting Program works in tandem with the Filmmaking Program. Acting students have the opportunity to act in literally hundreds of student films that are shot throughout the year. By the end of the course, students will have ample footage for a reel.
Students in the course come from all over the world. This both enriches the course with a diverse palette of acting traditions and also provides students an invaluable network of international contacts to access upon graduating. The course is run in English.
Acting Class
Why study film acting in Prague?
Acting is both an art and a craft. Film acting students will learn the specific skills that make up the craft of film acting as well as delve into the entire filmmaking process. Students will learn, for example, how the cinematographer’s shot sizes affect performance, how the sound crew's needs affects the actor’s vocal range and volume and how the actor can make interesting choices using the frame as a proscenium device.
The Acting for Film program at Prague Film School prepares actors to become technically skilled, versatile and marketable in the film industry. Not only is Prague a beautiful historic location with an active student life, but hundreds of international productions have been shot in the city including Mission Impossible, Bourne Identity, Van Helsing, The Illusionist, Casino Royale, Wanted, and Prince Caspian, to name a few. Prague Film School provides access to the top local casting agencies and directors and several students from the Prague Film School Acting for Film program have landed roles in big budget productions coming to town.
Equally importantly, run out of one of Europe's premier film schools, students will be acting in student film productions on a regular basis, building up practical experience and a professional product show reel.
What does the program offer?
• total immersion in film acting
• daily hands-on work in front of the camera
• a serious, international and professional learning environment
• an intensive curriculum that encompasses all aspects of acting
• material for a professional show reel
• acting work in a number of short films
• access to local casting directors, agents and small to big budget film productions
• the opportunity to write and act in your own film role
How will the program helm actors enter the industry?
The department will provide:
• valuable contacts to a network of filmmakers including classmates and faculty at Prague Film School
• career guidance
• effective courses in on-camera casting technique and actor marketing
• direct links to film productions in Prague
• most importantly, SKILLS
Lunchreak with Alexandra - Acting For Film Student
Career Move
The majority of students enroll in the Acting for Film program to launch their careers in film and television. Students get invaluable access to local casting directors as well as to opportunities to audition for professional jobs. Indeed, the faculty at Prague Film School provide rare connections to the industry. All our faculty have been working in film for decades, both in front of and behind the camera, and continue to land jobs in international projects. Daniel Brown, with both academic degrees and teaching experience at Cambridge University, has performed alongside such major stars as Bruce Willis, Peter O’Toole and Ben Kingsley. Amy Huck, Acting for Film Chief Coordinator and instructor, has worked on numerous film and television projects, both as an actor and as a coach. Brian Caspe is currently acting alongside Jared Harris in Carnival Row starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne.
Acting Courses and Workshops
Acting for Film
Acting is both an art and a craft. This course will focus on craft, emphasizing the technical demands of screen acting. Students will learn to calibrate their performances specifically for the camera frame, adjusting for close ups and wide shots. Since the camera photographs thought, students will develop an active and varying inner monologue and understand the nuances of acting, thinking and listening with the eyes. A scene study unit will underscore how to break down a scene and play it effectively for camera.
Voice
The vocal chords are a muscle and must be exercised and strengthened. Students will work with a voice coach to expand vocal range, develop vocal control and work with developing select accents. The course also includes singing classes and performances.
Applied Acting Theory
Applied Acting Theory will explore acting techniques applicable to both ensemble work and film. Students will start with basic acting exercises and projects, progressively integrating more complex principles. Students will practice approaches to developing a character and analyzing text. Because film is primarily a naturalistic medium, the main emphasis will be grounded in the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavksi and Meisner. Actors will train in the basics of naturalist acting technique such as pursuing an objective, breaking scenes into beats, playing actions, and overcoming obstacles. Through a rigorous application of Meisner, students will build the foundation for listening and responding truthfully in character.
Improvisation
The skill of improvisation is essential to any actor. Over the course of the year, students are trained in the art of listening to impulse and taking risks, as well as building storylines and developing their imagination. This is a high-energy class, which culminates with a live performance at the end of the year.
Audition Techniques
Acting skills are of very little use if they can't be put to practice on a professional set. This course will teach actors how to prepare for auditions in a casting studio and how to make a self tape. Actors will learn strategies to tackle cold reading and how to make fast choices in an audition. Actors learn by doing, cooperating with local casting directors on recent scripts, and getting personal feedback on their performances.
The Business of Acting
Students will learn specific marketing strategies and confer about how to navigate their career and attract professional representation. Specifically, actors will learn how to organize a professional CV, choose a winning headshot, organize a successful website and best take advantage of the internet for actor marketing. They will also learn how to produce and edit a professional reel, a film actor’s most important asset.
Film Production
It is an imperative part of the training process for actors to work on an actual film set. Therefore, each student will be expected to participate in a number of short films produced by Prague Film School directors. Other legitimate film work that an actor may obtain while in Prague might also be used towards course credit. Students will be encouraged to combine this material with scene work to produce a marketable show reel. This class will also instruct students to use basic editing programs and provide an introduction to screenwriting, namely how to write characters for oneself.
Movement for Stage and Screen
The actor must be physically fit and flexible. Each class day will begin with a strengthening warm-up regime, preparing students for the physical and vocal aspects of the craft. Units in this class will include yoga, dance, physical acting and stage combat.
Workshops
Throughout the year, students are involved in several workshops that provide further training in various disciplines. These have included such topics as acting for mocap/virtual reality, Shakespeare, make up techniques, to name a few.
Guest Lecturers
Every year we bring inspiring professionals from around the globe to offer students insider information about the film industry. Most notably is Nancy Bishop, the founder of Prague Film School Acting for Film Program, and a CSA, Emmy-nominated casting director. She teaches film acting and auditioning techniques several times throughout the year.
We also offer a workshop with Francisco Medina, a life coach and acting coach, who teaches internationally and works alongside acting teacher Bernard Hiller from Los Angeles.
Other notable guests include Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike, Oscar-winning screenwriter, director and actor Taika Waititi, producer Judy Levine, actress Rachel House, film director Bruno Coppola, and Guy Roberts, the artistic director of Prague Shakespeare Company.
The faculty at Prague Film School all work in the film industry in Prague and are constantly in contact with professionals working on international projects. We try to create as many opportunities as possible for students to meet and learn from industry professionals as the possibilities arise.
Acting for film students will also be expected to enroll in one elective offered in the general Prague Film School program.
These include: Directing Actors, Comedy, Lighting for Film, Write, Act and Shoot, Writing the Feature, Art Direction, Central and Eastern European Cinema, among others.
Alumni Testimonials
Brian Colin Foley (2012) was cast in Snowpiercer while studying at Prague Film School, directed by the legendary Oscar-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho and starring such talents as Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton and Ed Harris. Brian earned his SAG/AFTRA card for roles in the HBO mini series Show Me a Hero, directed by Paul Haggis, NBC's The Mysteries of Laura, and most recently Netflix's Orange is the New Black, in which he worked with Emmy Award Winning Actress, Uzo Aduba.
Scott Lipman (2017) was cast in National Geographic’s Genius, directed by Ron Howard, while studying at Prague Film School. Several months later he was cast in The Catcher Was a Spy, starring Paul Rudd, Sienna Miller and Paul Wilkinson.
Xander Turian (2018) was cast in what has become a recurring speaking role on the Amazon Prime Original Series Carnival Row alongside stars such as Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne. Since graduating from the program, he has been back to Prague to shoot multiple projects including Shadowplay starring Michael C Hall and Taylor Kitsch, as well as the second season of Carnival Row.
Rutger Lysen (2020) was cast in a supporting role in a Netflix feature film, after working with casting director Arwa Salmanova in an audition class at Prague Film School. The film will be released in 2021.
Isabel Stewart (2018) landed roles in National Geographic’s Genius, Ophelia (opposite Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley) and Taika Waititi’s Oscar-nominated film, Jojo Rabbit. She was also cast in three Amazon Prime Video productions: The Romanovs as Tatiana Romanov, Lore as Dahlia, and as Louisa Pembroke in Carnival Row, all during her two-year study at Prague Film School. Her Prague credits all helped to land an agent in London where she is now based.
Olivia Coyle (2019) was cast in a supporting role that appeared in two episodes of Carnival Row from Amazon Prime Video while studying at Prague Film School.
Anssi Lindstrom (2016) was cast directly out of school in Child 44, starring Tom Hardy & Gary Oldman. After his work on the film he was signed with his first agent and soon after appeared in NBC's Crossing Lines, various short films, and even got selected to Cannes "Talent Corner" in 2016 which celebrates and promotes young actors who have had a promising starts to their careers.
Karin Torbjörnsdóttir (2019) was cast in The History Channel’s Nightfall immediately after graduating from Prague Film School. She also landed a role in the upcoming A Boy Called Christmas, starring Kristen Wiig and Sally Hawkins.
Peter Hallin (2012) got his his first feature film role in Snowpiercer while studying at Prague Film School in 2012. There he can be seen sharing scenes with the likes of Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Jamie Bell. Peter, now based in his native Sweden, went on to land a feature role in the series Crossing Lines and made an appearance in the Swedish crime drama The Bridge.
Martina Hemmingsson (2016) was accepted to the Bachelor's Program at the Malmö Theatre Academy in Sweden following her studies at Prague Film School. This prestigious academy accepts 12 acting students out of 800 applicants.