Film: Acting/ Directing AAS

The Acting/Directing associates degree program is designed to help performers discover their full professional potential while developing individual strengths and approaches to authentic and impactful creative expression. With hundreds of student productions that need talent each semester, the collaborations between screen actors and filmmakers immersed in adjacent areas of emphasis are essential to the high quality of projects that the Cinematic Arts community produces.

Using techniques based on Stanislavski’s teachings, students explore tools for honing and enriching their craft while gaining on-set experience and material that can be incorporated into portfolios and acting reels. The didactic methodology encourages students to embrace psychological realism in discovering the underlying motivations of characters to achieve and deliver emotionally immersive and truthful performances. With evolving realizations that psychological immersion can leave actors vulnerable to emotional trauma, the program also focuses on techniques that train actors to safely emerge from each role while embracing ethical creative practices important to responsible filmmaking in the dynamic media industry.