I am back from UCLA! It was a 2-week course for camera acting, and it was truly a special experience in many ways.
First off, I have to say that the campus is beautiful. I loved the architecture! On my way to class every day, my eyes were blessed to see this picturesque scenery. I especially loved the sculpture garden (1st picture).
I posted about the overwhelming amount of pre-arrival work before I headed to UCLA. I am proud to say I finished everything because it seemed like an impossible amount of work along with all the packing and farewells. Also, it turned out that not everyone was diligent enough to finish the work 🙂
Along with a couple of workshop classes like Voice, Dance, Casting, Marketing, and Voice-over, the main classes were Scene Study, On Camera Class, and Screenwriting. My favorite classes were Scene Study and Voice.
Since I was a beginner in this field, I didn’t (and still don’t!) have the eye to differentiate the subtle differences between “good” acting and comparatively “bad” acting for each individual. But our teacher in Scene Study seemed to be amazing at that: she gave such interesting feedbacks after watching her students perform. And when they perform it the second time after applying her feedback, it was so much better even to my eyes. The comments were something like “try to pack up all of these objects while doing your monologue,” or “your mission is to find three ways to use this chair and include it in your monologue.”
I asked her to tell me one thing I can improve on and one thing I am doing well. She said it would be better if I project my voice a bit more, and that I am a great listener!
But I must admit that the course was extremely intense. I was struggling, everybody was struggling. The schedule was very tight; the coordinators had to make a semester-worth course into a 2-week program. It was understandable, but it was a bit too much for me.
Nearly everybody was an experienced actor, learning how to act professionally. Some of them had agencies and were already in the industry. Since I wasn’t experienced, I needed double the time everyone would need to memorize and process the lines. And it was physically impossible to perfectly memorize the assigned scripts because I didn’t have enough time! So on the fourth day of the program, I messed up my dialogue(in the most pathetic way possible). And the teacher was too intimidating and the atmosphere in the classroom was terrifying. I pretended to be okay and thought I was okay, but I was disconcerted and started to feel anxious. I was sleep-deprived and upset. I think I called my parents and my grandparents a lot since then! That evening and the next day(4th of July!), I didn’t have any classes except for a studio tour (fortunately!). So I had a bit more personal time when I wasn’t memorizing lines. This was an opportunity to really rely on God and ask for his help. I sought peace and comfort, and I believed He would grant me those. And He did! I felt a lot better in a couple of days. The sermons that my mom sent me and my worship playlist helped me a lot too. I had never felt anxiety like this before, and it’s special because God helped me overcome it!
Shooting was also an interesting experience. I put in so much effort to really digest the lines. In fact, my partner and I wrote our own script in Screenwriting class, and let me tell you, it was a painful process. I spent around 12 hours memorizing! The next day, we shot the scene, and it was one of the coolest experiences I had in the States. The set was simple but it looked very professional with all the lighting and cameras. It was very calm, and quiet, and was perfect to focus on my character and my partner’s character. Yes, we both forgot some of our lines, but we coped well with our mistakes. The whole thing went really fast, and we were both proud of ourselves after we filmed it. My partner was already in movies and stuff, but I had almost zero experience in front of a camera. It was nerve-wracking, but also fascinating! We watched all of our scenes during the Screening event on the last day. Every scene was impressive and my peers’ acting was flawless.
I am so grateful that I could be a part of this course with talented people! These 2 weeks will be present in my memory for decades.
