Acting Strategies for the Cyber Age [Paperback]

Ed Hooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0325002401 | ISBN-13: 978-0325002408

The entertainment industry is a lot different now than it was fifty years ago. With the advent of the Internet, digital technology, and broadband communication, the twenty-first century actor will have to dip into a new bag of tricks, promoting himself and communicating in ways that previous generations could not possibly imagine. Acting Strategies for the Cyber Age provides the tools he needs to make that transition a profitable one.

A career guide for the twenty-first century actor, Acting Strategies for the Cyber Age connects the dots between the traditional values of the actor's art and the career necessities of the future. Urging actors to reconnect with their shamanistic roots as primary storyteller, Hooks offers essential advice on how to make long-range plans and select the proper acting training. It is not enough, for example, that a new actor study only acting technique. Now, he must understand the ins and outs of camera technique, film editing, motion capture, and the relationship between live action and animation. And because each actor's needs are different, Hooks offers personalized advice based upon age, gender, and circumstance, laying out what kind of training and promotional tools will be necessary.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ed Hooks has been a respected acting teacher for three decades. In his work with animators, he has taught for many leading studios, including Disney Feature Animation, DreamWorks/PDI, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Will Vinton Studios, Valve, BioWare, Tippett Studio, Wild Brain, OddWorld Inhabitants, Microsoft (X-Box/Fasa Studio) and Sony Computer Entertainment America. In addition, he has been a featured speaker/teacher at many international animation conferences, festivals and schools. Hooks welcomes questions or comments-just email him at [e-mail] or visit his website: www.ActingForAnimators.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann Drama (May 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0325002401
• ISBN-13: 978-0325002408
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,207,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After working as a professional actor for 27 years and teaching professional-level acting for 15 or so years, I was invited in 1996 to teach an acting class for the animators at DreamWorks/PDI in Palo Alto, California. They were working on a movie entitled "Antz", which would turn out to be only the second CG movie ever made. The first was "Toy Story" I had landed at a transitional point for the animation industry, and what happened there literally changed my life. It was at DreamWorks/PDI that I learned how animators perceive and apply acting theory, which is markedly different from the way that stage and movie actors do it. Given a green light by studio executives, I experimented with ways to teach acting theory specifically to animators, and the result was what today is explained in my book "Acting for Animators, revised 3rd edition" published 2011 by Routledge.

Even I am amazed by the journey I have taken with animators. There have been many thousands of students, the majority of them working pros, in studios and schools from L.A. to Sydney to Beijing, Singapore, Germany and India -- and many more cities. My Acting for Animators master class is now a respected and popular part of the animation industry.

This is an incredibly exciting time for the animation industry. It has been less than 20 years since "Toy Story" was released. Look at how far animation has advanced. Now try to imagine where it might be 20 years from now. Amazing.