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Books
By Hooks
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Acting
For Animators
by Ed Hooks |
Purchase Acting for Animators
Acting for Animators
(Heinemann, $18.95) is the first book about acting theory that
is written specifically for animators. Until now, animators
who have wanted to learn about acting have had no option but
to study the subject side by side with stage and movie actors,
a group that uses acting techniques in a wholly different
way. This book distills acting theory that is relevant to
animation and leaves out the rest of it.
Animators need to know
a lot about acting, but they don't need to know everything.
For example, an animator does not need to learn how to make
himself cry because, if he started crying, he wouldn't be
able to see to animate! Much of acting theory, as it is taught
to actual actors, is devoted to training the actor how to
emotionally stimulate himself, a skill that animators simply
do not need.
In Acting for Animators,
acting teacher Ed Hooks explains seven essential acting principles,
focusing on the connections between thinking, emotion and
physical movement. He discusses the importance of empathy
in acting and tells how to achieve it in animation. This book
is chock full of good stuff for the animator and, already,
is on a growing number of "must read" lists. Many animation
schools are making it a required text.
In addition to the informative
text, Acting for Animators includes an entertaining CD-ROM
with illustrations of acting principles and narration by Ed
Hooks. Utilizing live-action improvisation, actors from Ed's
regular acting classes demonstrate what it means to, for example,
"play an action until something happens to make you play another
action". Also, the eight Efforts of Laban Movement Theory
are demonstrated.
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The
Ultimate Scene & Monologue Sourcebook
by
Ed Hooks |
Purchase The Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook
References
to over 1,000 scenes and monologues in 315 plays. First line-Last
line, synopsis, character descriptions, broken down by genre.
Extensive indexing. Invaluable for actors and acting teachers
who are in search of scenes for class and audition monologues.
Actors
are on a never-ending search for dynamic monologues they can
use at auditions as well as interesting scenes for workshop
presentation. Frequently, they rely on the limited material
that is excerpted in "scene books" and "monologue books."
The Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook presents
a revolutionary new way of finding useful scenes and monologues,
in addition to providing an overview of the body of contemporary
drama in the English-speaking world. The book, which took
two years to prepare, delivers an honestly unique approach
to the subject and will quickly become a necessary reference
for all serious actors and acting teachers.
Here,
actors will find references to over 1,000 scenes and monologues
in over 300 contemporary plays. Instead of the usual few verbatim
excerpts one might find in a scene book, The Ultimate Scene
and Monologue Sourcebook provides descriptions of the
characters, action and mood for each scene and monologue,
which are cross-referenced to brief synopses of the plays
the material comes from. The reader is instructed how to locate
the scenes and monologues in the original texts, provided
with first and last lines and, where Samuel French or Dramatist
Play Service acting editions can be cited, precise page numbers
are given. Finally, Mr. Hooks provides a professional assessment
as to the difficulty level of the material and notes challenges
that might be met in workshop.
The
Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook provides actors
and acting teachers with a way to make educated decisions
about which plays to purchase in the first place and which
material is best for their particular needs. It is designed
to save the reader time and money, as well as providing a
cohesive overview of contemporary drama.
Acting
teachers will appreciate this format for special reasons.
Student actors are sometimes in a big hurry to get from here
to stardom. They may be tempted to bypass deep study, opting
instead for quick memorization and fast presentation. Professional-level
acting teachers generally prefer that student actors read
the entire original text when learning scenes, and The
Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook solves this problem.
By using it as a reference, student actors learn which material
is best, but the book does not spoon-fee them. They still
have to locate and read the original text.
The plays
that are referenced in this book come from playwrights as
diverse as Tennessee Williams and Alan Ayckbourn, Sam Shepard
and Christopher Durang, William Inge and Jane Martin. They
include a broad range of acting styles, from the high comedy
of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward to the most quintessential
Actors Studio dramas of N. Richard Nash, from Chekhov to Shaw
to August Wilson.
Actors
and acting teachers will find The Ultimate Scene and Monologue
Sourcebook to be an extremely valuable and conveniently-designed
new reference book. Ed Hooks has been a professional actor and acting teacher
for twenty five years and has extensive credits in all media.
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Acting
Strategies for the Cyber Age
by Ed Hooks
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Purchase Acting Strategies
for the Cyber Age
In this
book, Ed Hooks describes the career landscape that is awaiting
the 21st century actor and compares it to that faced by the
previous generation. For example, when Marlon Brando was a
young actor, television was not a factor in his career at
all! Television networks didn't come into existence until
1948, and Screen Actors Guild didn't negotiate residuals until
the mid 1950's. Actors of Brando's generation worked primarily
on stage, with forays into film. Actors of the 21st Century
will work primarily in front of cameras, with forays into
stage.
It is
essential that the 21st century actor re-connect with his
shamanistic origins. In the beginning, acting was done in
a circle drawn in the dirt, for the assembled tribe. Actors
are healers, similar to priests and other religious leaders.
Acting Strategies For The Cyber Age connects the dots
between ancient shamanism and cyber-opportunities for actors.
It will be a must-read.
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The Actor's Field Guide:
Notes on the Run
by Ed Hooks |
Purchase The Actor's Field Guide
What every actor should carry at all times - in purse, hip pocket or book bag.
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