B-CC Theater and Media Conservatory
Course Descriptions
Introductory Courses:Theater A: Fundamentals of Performance Theater B: Advanced Fundamentals and Theater History TV Production A: News, Commercials, and Music Videos TV Production B: Talk Shows, Sit-Coms, and Reality TV Advanced Courses:Production and Performance A: Acting for Stage and Screen Production and Performance B: Directing for Stage and Screen Video Production A: Wake Up B-CC Video Production B: Wake Up B-CC IB Theater (Two Years): Advanced Composition: Writing for Stage and Screen Stage Design: Creating Worlds in the Theater IB Film (Two Years): Aural and Visual Storytelling Introductory Theater Courses:THEATER A: Fundamentals of Performance This is an introductory course about the art of acting and, more generally, the world of theater production. You will become more comfortable using their body, voice, and mind on and offstage. Also, you will learn to use a text as a basis for choices made as a character onstage. And, while acting is paramount in theater, students will begin to learn the basics concerning production and design. Units of study range from monologue work to scene studies to improvisation to puppetry. THEATER B: Advanced Fundamentals and Theater History Your study and practice of theater performance skills in this class will continue to build on the techniques developed in the first semester, now at a faster pace. In addition, you will explore several milestones in theater history, with an emphasis on the evolution of drama and its relation to improvisation. As with first semester, you will be on your feet every single class period. TV PRODUCTION A: News, Commercials, and Music Videos This course is essentially two related classes rolled into one: --a “hands on” laboratory where you will produce the school’s TV program, Wake-up B-CC (WUP B-CC), in order to learn the process of television production, the major pieces of television production equipment and their operation, and the functions of production personnel. --an introduction to television studies from a critical perspective where you will examine the form, meaning and style of television “texts” with an emphasis on news, commercials, and videos You will be introduced to the major elements of television form—scripting, shooting, mise en scène, sound, lighting, and editing. The course also examines broadcast news ethics, the persuasive strategies of commercials, and the constructed image of the rock/rap star. Through practical projects, you will develop the ability to conceptualize story ideas and effectively translate these ideas into video productions. TV PRODUCTION B: Talk Shows, Sit-Coms, and Reality TV This class will continue to build on the skills being fostered in TV Production A, but with an emphasis on prime-time types of programming. You will also take on leadership roles in the weekly production of Wake-Up B-CC. Advanced Courses:PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE A: Acting for Stage and Screen In Advanced Acting, you will explore and apply techniques developed by acting teachers Sanford Meisner, David Mamet, and others of your choice. Your exploration of these techniques is meant to instill in you the habitual use of the tools actors use to consistently "live in the moment"—a state in which one reacts impulsively to what the other actors in a scene do at any given instant while simultaneously "acting" in a way that accords with the demands of the script and director. Each approach strives to ignite the actor's imagination while disciplining the truth of his or her behavior; this, so that you may “live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” While you will receive training in particular techniques, the purpose of the class is not to teach you someone else's approach to acting but to help you develop your own. You will leave the class with a particular technique, but it will be something very broad and personal, a knowledge “of the tools that may be used by the actor and an understanding of how to apply them" (Mamet). The techniques associated with the class are presented in two phases: Phase One: Redirecting Your Focus (Meisner) Phase Two: Working with the Script (Mamet) PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE B: Directing for Stage and Screen In theater and film, it is the director who generates collaboration among diverse contributors, with a view to turning a play script into a theatrical production. In this class, you will be given opportunities to strengthen their interpretative acuity and knowledge of film and theater practice by undertaking projects from a directorial perspective. You will build their knowledge of directorial practices by exploring theater and film texts as "plans for action" and imagining these texts from a director's point of view. To this end, you will develop an imaginative and practicable understanding of the major elements out of which scripts are produced, and an awareness of the interrelation and interdependence of these elements. In short, you will explore how, in all relevant specifics, the script might find expression on stage or on screen. As a student-director, you will practice imagining a text under production and learn to grasp the practical implications of these imaginings. VIDEO PRODUCTION A: Wake Up B-CC As a producer trainee for Wake Up B-CC, you will learn how a producer is responsible for the show's overall quality and survivability. You will mentor with the class teacher assist him with conceiving new segments, maintaining a schedule, getting new students trained on equipment and jobs. VIDEO PRODUCTION B: Wake Up B-CC As a full fledged producer for Wake Up B-CC, you have the unique opportunity to be involved in the background and forefront of the show, suggesting changes to the format and making sure the show runs smoothly. You will be expected to conceive new segments, maintain a schedule, and participate in activities such as screenwriting, set design, casting, and even directing. ADVANCED COMPOSITION: Writing for Stage and Screen This course is designed for students who read and write regularly, and who have an interest in writing for the theater or cinema. The course is also an introduction to the workshop method of writing and revising plays, which includes readings by student actors. During the first quarter, you will explore the elements of play writing. You will learn the fundamentals of dramatic structure and develop skills in creating compelling characters, dialogue and plot. You will read a selection of short plays in order to discuss the elements of drama. Students will also complete a number of in-class writing exercises, or etudes, and then move toward completing a short play (10-20 minutes). The second quarter of class will be a study of screenplay format for the feature film (teleplay writing will not be covered in any depth), screenplay structure and screenwriting, including a workshop of student pitches, , treatments, screenplays and synopses. Students will be required to write a short (minimum thirty-minute/maximum forty-five minute) script but may also write the first half of a feature-length (ninety-120 minute) script. STAGE DESIGN: Creating Worlds in the Theater Designing for the stage means working within specific time limitations and a predetermined stage space while striving to remain true to the script and satisfy the visual and, to a lesser degree, audio requirements of each production. This class will provide you with the means that enable you to successfully manage your time, consider your space, and use the script to discover and anchor a particular production's technical design needs. In short, you will explore how, in all relevant specifics, design can help a script find expression in theater. All design work will be a practical undertaking involving plays under production in the theater program itself. IB THEATER: Theater in the Making, in Performance, in the World This course emphasizes the importance of working individually and as a member of an ensemble. You will explore various aspects of theater arts from the perspective of dramaturg, director, performer, production team and spectator. You will be encouraged to develop the organizational and technical skills needed to express yourself creatively in theater. A further challenge for you in this course is for you to become aware of their own perspectives and biases and to learn to respect those of others. This requires a willingness to understand alternative views, to respect and appreciate cultural diversity, and to see the varied role that theater plays in reflecting these. As a result, IB Theater can become a way for you to celebrate the international and intercultural dynamic that inspires and sustains some forms of contemporary theatre, while appreciating the specifically local origins that have always given rise to performance, and which, in many parts of the world, still do. IB FILM: Aural and Visual Storytelling The film course at B-CC is unique among all of the film courses you might ever experience, even in film school. Because you take the course for two academic years, it's possible to meet four to five times a week for approximately twenty months (with an additional two month summer break), leaving enough time for us to cover in some depth what is typically the content of four usually separate classes: Film Studies: an examination of aural and visual choices that comprise films Film Production: an application of cinematic production concepts to create films Screenwriting: an exploration and application of the building blocks of screenplays Film History: an exploration of canonical films, film movements, and their significance The real benefit of being able to study these different areas of cinema in a single course lies in the simple fact that these areas are not really independent from each other, at least as far as a filmmaker is concerned. If one agrees that the essential aim of filmmakers is to create a story or make a point that resonates with an audience, then filmmakers need to understand the choices available to them, both technical and aesthetic, and apply those choices in a way that builds honors their vision for the story, a job made easier with some historical and critical context of the art form. By studying these four areas of cinema collectively, you get the added benefit of seeing the myriad points at which they intersect and overlap—an understanding that will help you make more effective choices when creating your own film texts and film critiques.
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