HOLLYWOOD acting coach Paul Parker wants Marian College students to learn the “money shots”.
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Mr Parker has been working with a small group of the school’s drama students in an intense six-week program to learn on-camera technique.
Perfecting the “money shots” – closer shots when the audience really starts to remember and recognise your face – is what he said was essential to keep getting good work.
“I want them to learn how to act on camera,” Mr Parker said.
“They’ve had to learn performance in shot. They’ve had to learn the ‘money shots’...if you want to be remembered you need to know the ‘money shots.
“They can take these techniques into auditions as well.”
There are three “money shots”: a mid-shot (waist-up), close-up (shoulders up) and extreme close-up (tight in on the face.
Marian drama student Angus Stoffel, who had already started auditioning for commercial television work, said the classes were making him think more about his technique in auditions.
Angus travels to Geelong for extra acting classes each Friday night and said it was fantastic to access to classes like Mr Parker’s, much closer to home.
He said it could be really hard for rural students trying to improve their craft.
They've had to learn the 'money shots'...if you want to be remembered, you need to know the 'money shots'
- Acting coach Paul Parker
“It’s good to learn the basics. There’s nothing like it I do close to home,” Angus said. “It helps with a good understanding of acting in front of a camera, which is completely different to the theatre. Something we don’t just get to do a lot.”
Mr Parker runs acting schools in New York and Los Angeles in the United States. He also has acting and corporate clients on Skype in Osaka, Japan, and across Australia on the Gold Coast, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Ballarat.
He is also an adjudicator for Ararat One Act Play Festival.
These on-screen film classes were something he felt could also help more locally in Ararat, in what is understood to be a first for Marian College. Students use real television scripts.
Mr Parker’s clients have appeared on nearly every major US drama, he said, while in Australia, he has coached actors who have appeared on The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Neighbours and national commercials.
