Videos

Short-films & Clips from Rob Nilsson's "Direct Action Cinema" Workshop

Scenes from our "Advanced Film Acting" Classes

Short-films & Clips from Rob Nilsson's "Direct Action Cinema" Workshop

Rob Nilsson explains: For Actors, "Direct Action" is a way of working with impulse and instinct, on the pulse and in the moment. In its simplest form it starts with an idea, works with the given circumstances (location, available Actors, technology in hand) and proceeds to action.

For example, in the scene I directed below, the overall concept I presented was: in a public setting a private moment occurs, disrupting other people and ending with an emotional flashpoint. I asked the Actors who they were and how they related to the others. They immediately invented characters and relationships, back story and present circumstances. Together we fashioned the scenario. Everything verbal. No ink hit paper. Using a handheld digital camera and a boom-mike we shot the scene and did coverage. Total conception and production time: 1 hour. Then, a class member and I spent the equivalent of one day editing.

All the other work posted below were generated similarly, in a matter of hours and in class, through the collaboration of the Directors and the Actors enrolled. Some of this work is now being submitted to film festivals by their Directors and/or providing a basis for longer films in the making.

Scenes from our "Advanced Film Acting" Classes

The scenes below were shot and edited as the final project of our "Advanced Film Acting" classes. They were shot on location using HD digital-cameras in the same manner as a professional film-shoot. Each term, similar scenes are produced in our advanced classes and used by our students as part of their demo-reel for submission to agents and casting directors.