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  • Audience members participate in a relaxation exercise Friday during the Traverse City Film Festival film school instructional workshop at Northwestern Michigan College. Keith King/Record-Eagle

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  • Joe Carroll, an actor and a student at the University of Michigan, reads lines with Elizabeth Guest, an actress from California and a student at the University of Southern California, on Friday during the film workshop. Keith King/Record-Eagle

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July 31, 2010

Acting session provides industry insight

'There's a reason every word is on the page'

BY SHERI McWHIRTER smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

Traverse City — Actress Elizabeth Guest and student actor Joe Carroll played out a scene in a lecture hall at Northwestern Michigan College, trying to show how film acting comes together from table readings to blocking scenes for the camera.

"You are not real. You are a figment of my imagination," Guest said, in character as Margaret from the screenplay "Margaret and Izzey."

"That's what I'm saying," Carroll shot back, as the character Izzey.

The actors finished the scene — designed to show the audience that Margaret's imaginary childhood friend became a real person — and the crowd of more than 60 applauded, then took the opportunity to ask questions and make comments.

The session on acting for the camera is one of eight film school workshops the Traverse City Film Festival offered this year, with $5 lessons on topics such as screenwriting, making short films, financing a film in Michigan and animation.

"I think they're really neat," said Scott Pell, of Traverse City, who hopes to become a professional actor. "I think having these film school sessions is a good way to show what goes into a film so people can appreciate it all the more."

Robert Rayher, senior lecturer at the University of Michigan, discussed how table readings are the place actors can experiment with their characters and discover what works and what doesn't. He helped lead the workshop with Hollywood casting director and actress Pamela Guest.

"There's a reason every word is on the page," Rayher said.

Pamela Guest led the audience and actors through a closed-eye, deep-breathing exercise, working to release any tension and create the right atmosphere for the scene, she said.

"Do you feel the energy in the room? That's the state the actors have to get to," she said.

Carroll, a University of Michigan student, and Elizabeth Guest ran the lines again and again, in between asking for feedback or questions from the audience, continually making changes to improve the scene.

They performed with minimal props and used an open door and table to simulate a window and desk in the scene. Someone asked whether it's better for actors when scripts have detailed stage directions. Carroll replied it can be.

"To get a script that tells you, almost like a novel, how she wants it done is easier," he said.

Recent U of M graduate Erin Whittemore wrote the screenplay "Margaret and Izzey." It became a short film for a college class, but she said it's a full-length script that hasn't been financed.

The last two film school sessions will be today at Scholars Hall at NMC's main campus in Traverse City. The first is at noon on situational ethics in documentary filmmaking, and the other is on storytelling through documentaries at 3 p.m. For ticket information, go to www.traversecityfilmfestival.org. Free parking is available in NMC's Cherry Lot.

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