Do You Need Acting Classes? Everything You Need to Know!
Are you an aspiring actor or actress? Or, like me, have you already dabbled in some acting? No matter your skill level you are at, acting classes are important for everyone! Let’s look at what you need to know before you sign up to take acting classes...
Acting classes can help beginners develop self-confidence and improve their communication skills while acting classes for those with more experience can help them rediscover new confidence and techniques to fine-tune our acting skills and knowledge.
Why Everyone Should Try Acting Classes
I believe that anyone interested in acting, whether on a small-scale level for their school play or a bigger scale such as in commercials and television, should take acting classes. Acting lessons have helped me tremendously as an aspiring actress and I am very thankful for the opportunities and benefits that have arisen from them.
Here are some of my favorite reasons that acting classes have helped me and can help you too:
I am more confident
I am well rounded in my acting talents but have been able to figure out what type of acting I enjoy most
I have learned to communicate with people better
I have made like-minded friends who enjoy acting as much as I do
I have networked and gained acting opportunities
I can relieve stress and tension through my acting
Different Types Of Acting Classes
Here’s the best thing, acting classes are not one-size-fits-all. Picking an acting class is most beneficial to your success will depend on your skill level or what your end goal is for acting. These are some of the types of acting lessons you can try in-person or virtually:
Acting Technique
This class helps you learn all the basics of acting. This is the most common and the most important acting class that every aspiring actor should take. Sometimes this class can also be referred to as an acting foundation.
Audition Technique
This class helps you focus on the art of auditioning as the name implies. Not many actors like auditioning and feel it can be even more difficult than the performance itself.
Improvisation
Improvisation or improve classes are great for actors that want to pursue commercials or any type of film, TV, or theatre that requires comedic timing and thinking on your feet.
Improv requires actors to act off/without a script and be able to carry the storyline with other actors. Plus, it’s a lot of fun!
Scene Study
These classes focus on analyzing scenes and practice acting theme out. This can be done either on-camera or off-camera depending on the school and teacher and what you are interested in.
Cold Reading
Cold reading or sight-reading acting classes go deeper into the auditioning process and focus on just reading the script. These classes prepare you for auditions and are also great for any actor that is interested in commercials, where you have less time to prepare.
You will learn how to read the script, break it down/analyze it, memorize the lines, and deliver it when you are unfamiliar with a script.
Commercial Acting
If you are interested in acting in commercials—like I have—this class is important. It teaches you everything you need to know about commercials from auditioning, to reading scripts/improvising, behaving on a commercial shoot, etc.
Commercial acting is very different than film, theatre, or TV so if you want to explore or better your commercial acting this class is important.
Other Types of Acting Lessons
There are some additional acting classes that you can consider taking that are dependent on how much further you want to progress in your acting career.
These can include:
vocal/voice (ex. musical theatre camp)
body and movement (learn to explore your body and how you move)
classical (this is aimed at acting in a more Shakespearean time frame)
voice-over (think different characters for cartoons or animated movies)
You want to take time to perfect your acting skills. Take as many types of acting classes you can to become more confident and ready for auditioning. This will help you pursue and achieve your dream!
Growing With Acting Classes
Thanks to the acting classes I have taken, I have had some amazing opportunities as I explore my hand at acting. Acting is a highly competitive industry and acting classes will give you the best possible chance to stand out.
I have had the amazing opportunity to act in a few commercials, acted out parts of my book that I wrote, and I have many acting reels and shorts. No matter how much I think I may know, I am always learning more. If you are even considering taking the step towards acting or just want to fine-tune your craft make sure you sign up for an acting class or two!
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