Film & TV Drama Workshop 1:

Devise, Write and Shoot A Film in a Day

We will send an Award Winning Writer and a Director to your school for a day.

They most recently workshopped and wrote a script devised by the students which was mounted very successfully at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

They are now able to come to your School/College and devise, workshop and write a script for a short film with your students which will all be done in a morning and then demonstrate how to shoot this film in the afternoon, the film will then be given to the students to edit.

This will give the students an insight into the screenwriting process and also demonstrate how to shoot the scenes with a single camera.

As part of the process they will be engaged in a highly creative manner for the whole day by involving themselves in devising, improvisation, writing, Acting to Camera and then operating camera and sound.

This workshop is ideal for Media Students, Performing Arts Students or ideally a mixture of both.

Your Workshop Leaders will be:

Elizabeth Heery (Writer)

Elizabeth trained at the Guildhall School of Drama. She worked as an actress before she started writing after winning first prize in a short story competition sponsored by Time Out. Drawing from her own experience as a writer she has run workshops in London and Nottingham primary schools teaching students how to find ideas for creative writing and employ them in a structured way. She has written for theatre, TV and film, specialising in developing and selling original ideas.

Her writing credits include "Less Than Perfect" a six part series for the BBC; "Salsa" a Theatre Play produced by Imogen Lloyd Webber and Bill Kenwright; and "Cutting Loose" for BBC1.

She has also written for the TV programmes "Hollyoaks" and "Doctors" and most recently devised and wrote with the students at Battersea Park School "Feeding The Troll" which was mounted at this years Edinburgh Fringe.

Sally Millest (Director)

Sally Directed "The Sunshine Boys" Palace Theatre Westcliff in association with Southend Theatres and The Winslow Boy also in the main house 2007. Sally co-founded the actor’s agency Billboard in the early 80’s and Cornucopia Theatre Company (Canal Café/ Jersey Arts Theatre). She directed the first Fakespeare The Lamentable Tragedie of Yates Wine Lodge performed and written by comedian Russell Kane (This years winner of The Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award). She has recently mentored at Battersea Park School on their production "Find Me" and as a Director in collaboration with writer Elizabeth Heery to develop their own devised piece (Feeding the Troll) The Vault Edinburgh 2010.

Most recently she has Directed and Edited a short Film titled "Beached" and is Head of TV & Film for PQA.

click for Workshop Testimonials

For information on any workshop please contact us at workshop@act-ed.co.uk or Tel:01702 352007.

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An Introduction to Pantomime

Bespoke Workshops.

One day or Two day workshops, tailored to suit all ages and activities from 6 years upward incorporating the study/history/techniques and terminology of Pantomime through a uniquely constructed series of Physical/vocal & characterisation games and exercises. These are geared to suit any particular requirements you may have and will culminate in the devising of short pieces based on existing Folk and Fairy Tales.

The Areas we can cover include:
The origins of Pantomime	Mime/Animals	Experiences and Memories	Props
Conventions	Basic Make-up (two day workshop)	Audience Participation	Quick Change/Jokes/Puns
Games/Trust Exercises	Dame Speeches/Chase Scenes	Characterisation/Stock Characters	A Comic Fight Sequence
Slapstick/Physical Theatre	Front Cloth Scenes	Using the Voice	Comic Sound Effects
Creating Songs & Dances	Chorus and Juveniles	Students Devised Short Pieces

click for Testimonials

The workshop will be led by professional Director/Actress Sally Millest [click for her CV] and Actor/Writer John Henry Keating [click for his CV] both of whom have a wealth of experience as industry professionals.

For information on any workshop please contact us at workshop@act-ed.co.uk or Tel:01702 352007.

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Stage Fighting & Stunt Work Workshop

Many Schools and Colleges who are staging their own productions will need to have an understanding of "Stage Combat".
In this workshop we demonstrate how to safely arrange various stage combat routines.
This is not only a huge amount of fun for your Drama/Performing Arts Students but also terrific exercise as an hours stage combat is the equivalent of an hour or so in the Gym.
This will also help to promote team building between students as mutual "trust" is very important when carrying out these routines and safety is of course paramount.
We will send two experienced facilitators to you for the day who can work with a maximum of 40 students over the course of the day.

For information on any workshop please contact us at workshop@act-ed.co.uk or Tel:01702 352007.

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Teacher Training Days Creative and Media

We are now offerring Staff Development Days for Teachers delivering the Creative and Media Diploma.

We will send you an episode of the popular TV Drama "The Bill" and then travel to your LEA and carry out a days Training Day with your Teachers. We will show them how to shoot scenes from a popular TV Drama on a single camera.

The Workshop Leader will be Nigel Payn, one of the Country's leading 1st Assistant Directors who is currently working on "The Bill". Nigel was responsible for helping to set up and run the ITV Directors Course where he trained young trainee Directors to become fully fledged TV Drama Directors.

Nigel will be accompanied by a camera operator and a very experienced TV Performer who will work on Acting to Camera techniques.

The workshop will give an understanding about where to position the camera, eyelines, reverses, the Master Shot, Crossing the Line, and sound.

At the end of the day we will hold a Q&A about working in the industry, career pathways and how to train.

We recently carried out this Staff Development Day for Derby Education Business Partnership and received the following feedback from them. "I wanted to say Thank You to you all for a fabulous learning opportunity for our Teachers, one of them remarked that it was the most exciting training she had had in her 11 years of teaching!"

For information on any workshop please contact us at workshop@act-ed.co.uk or Tel:01702 352007.

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World Premier of Your Own Play

We will send an Award Winning Writer and a Professional Director to your school/college and write a play with the students which can subsequently be entered for Festivals and other Events.

We recently carried this out with Battersea Park School where Elizabeth Heery and Sally Millest helped to devise, workshop and write a play inspired by "A Clockwork Orange" which subsequently was mounted at The Edinburgh Fringe and received very good reviews, the play was titled "Feeding The Troll".

This was a highly enriching experience for the students as they gained invaluable experience of the entire Creative and Production Process whilst being mentored by professionals together with the excitement of appearing at The Fringe in front of the critics where they more than held their own.

For information on any workshop please contact us at workshop@act-ed.co.uk or Tel:01702 352007.

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