Introduction:
SOCAPA’s Acting for Film Program is closely tied to our Advanced and Introductory Filmmaking Programs. When the filmmaking students go out to make their assigned films each week, they utilize the talent in the Acting for Film Program. This provides our acting students with immediate on-camera experience and allows them to walk away from the program with a DVD portfolio of films in which they have performed. Our filmmaking students are shooting on both 16mm film and state-of-the-art digital cameras with sync-sound and are cutting on nonlinear digital systems so your reel will look slick and professional.

Curriculum:
Classes are designed to prepare our students for being on camera as quickly as possible. Many acting schools will spend weeks, months, even years on theater games and exercises before they give their students actual scenes to work on. At SOCAPA, we instead choose to prepare you immediately for the films you will be performing in during the program and the auditions you will be going on once you graduate. Casting directors will give you scenes at auditions and filmmakers will give you scenes in their films; our focus, then, is on scene preparation. This is not to say that we will not teach you exercises and tools to draw upon, but rather that these exercises and tools will always be taught within the context of preparing for a scene.

Technique:
SOCAPA embraces two major closely-related Acting Techniques which we use to help our students “live truthfully” under imaginary circumstances: the “Meisner” technique, which involves fully immersing oneself in the moment of a character and experiencing all sensations as the character would, and the “Method” technique, in which one uses their own experiences as springboards into the emotional life of the character.

Culmination Scene (aka "Your Reel"):
In addition to performing in the many student films, each SOCAPA acting student will be directed by one of their instructors in a scene of their choosing. This culmination scene will be professionally filmed and edited by a SOCAPA directing instructor and will be shown at the Showcase Festival at the end of the three-week program. The culmination scenes will be put on a DVD compilation along with the many student films. In this way, each acting student will leave the program with a DVD portfolio of all their summer work.

Monologues & Headshots:
An actor without a monologue is like a photographer without a camera or a dancer without feet. At auditions, casting directors will often ask actors to perform a monologue of the actor’s choosing. A prepared actor will have an arsenal to choose from. With this in mind, SOCAPA has each acting student select a monologue from our library of favorites. Monologues are memorized and rehearsed during the final week and are performed live on the last day of the program. In addition, acting students at our New York City campus are scheduled a block of time in the studio to have their headshots done by the Photography Program (see Photography Program for more info).

- Sample Headshots by Photography Students

Schedule:
On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, our Acting for Film students will take classes in Meisner Technique, Method Acting, Scene Analysis and Preparation, Auditioning, and Acting for the Camera. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays they will perform in the many films being shot by our filmmaking students or they will be directed in their culmination scene by their instructor. One day during their stay, acting students are scheduled a block of time in the photography studio to have their headshots done by our photography program led by professional photographer Tom LeGoff (New York City Campus Only).

College Credit Option:
High School students in the three-week Filmmaking, Acting for Film and Dance Programs may opt to take the course for three AP College Credits issued by Long Island University. The additional cost of $95 per credit will be billed to you separately by LIU once you fill out and return their Summer Visiting Student Application which we send out to all eligible students in the spring.

Actress Julia Stiles signs an autograph for a SOCAPA Acting Student.	Actor Brendan Sexton III autographs a student’s shoe after leading a Master Class.

Master Classes:
At least once per session, SOCAPA invites a top young industry professional from the New York or Hollywood film or performing arts scene to come to campus and lead a master class for all students, regardless of focus. Some past guests included actor Brendan Sexton III (Empire Records, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Hurricane Streets), actor Dwight Ewell (Chasing Amy, Dogma, Flirt), filmmaker Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas, Five Feet High and Rising), actor Sarah Clarke (TV show "24," Thirteen) screenwriter Andrew Marlowe (Air Force One, End of Days, Hollow Man), director Morgan J. Freeman (Hurricane Streets, American Psycho II, Desert Blue, Just Like the Son), and comedian Matt Walsh ("The Daily Show," Bad Santa, Upright Citizens Brigade).

Acting Students with Sopranos' Casting Director, Mary Clay Boland

Showcase Film Festival
On the final Friday afternoon of the three-week program, SOCAPA holds its "Showcase Festival" followed by a reception for friends and family. All the acting reels, photography slides, music videos and student films are shown on the giant silver screen. In addition to the projected work, there are live dance performances, actor monologues, and a photography exhibit. We encourage you to invite your fellow collaborators, friends and family. Although we do have a final live performance/film screening of all the two-week work just for the camp, please note that students in the two-week program do not have a final showcase festival for friends and family.

College Credit Option
High School students in the three-week Filmmaking, Acting for Film and Dance Programs may opt to take the course for three AP College Credits issued by Long Island University. [ More Info on College Credit ]

Extra-Curricular
We at SOCAPA believe that you should work hard and play hard. Discipline and drive are two of the most important attributes of all successful artists, but hey, what's a summer without the beach? Every evening, Monday through Friday, we plan an activity for the students, whether it be a barbecue on campus, a dinner in the city, a cool-off swim, a theater/musical performance, or a film screening. On the Saturday afternoons that are not devoted to shooting and performing, we organize a group excursion. This could include a trip to a museum, the beach or a Broadway show. Past evening and Saturday excursions have included trips to Coney Island Amusement Park, live tapings of MTVs "TRL," Shakespeare in the Park, shopping in SoHo, Unity Sessions Hip-Hop Concert in Prospect Park, Universal Studios, Pilobolus Dance Group at the Joyce Theater, Jones Beach, Off-Broadway Shows De La Guarda, Stomp and Rent, Six Flags Amusement Park, Fourth of July Fireworks, and Bryant Park Film Screenings, to name a few.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. -Jack Nicholson, "The Shining"