Acting in Film: Camera Close-Up (Los Angeles)

November 7-9, 2025
10:00 am-5:00 pm (PDT)

*** Before registering, all students need to be approved for this class. ***

Taught by Jean-Louis Rodrigue and Kristof Konrad, Acting in Film: Camera Close-Up is not your typical on-camera acting class. This is a standout favorite workshop because of its direct application to film and the real-time, on-camera feedback participants receive from start to finish.

An actor’s vision in film acting is to live truthfully – emotionally and physically – in imaginary circumstances. That kind of performance requires more than instinct; it needs interpretative intelligence and a mastery of physical, psychological, and emotional craft performance. Jean-Louis and Kristof lead this intensive workshop to explore the skills and tools required for the extraordinary creation of characters and performances geared explicitly for the camera close-up.
Geared towards actors and directors, we focus on camera close-ups, a powerful tool filmmakers use to uncover or conceal characters’ emotional lives, deep secrets, wishes, and/or fears. Participants see noticeable and often transformative growth in their performance from start to finish. All actors work with assigned partners on assigned scenes and are coached by Jean-Louis and Kristof.

All auditors have the unique opportunity to observe the full acting class without actively participating. They watch the exercises, scene work, and feedback process in real-time, gaining valuable insight into how Jean-Louis and Kristof work as a team with their students, how they use the Alexander Technique as a foundation for all work, and how they consistently help their students have transformative experiences within their craft while in class.

Having worked with acclaimed actors such as Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Binoche, Ke Huy Quan, Josh Brolin, Chris Pine, Hilary Swank, and Helena Bonham Carter, Jean-Louis and Kristof bring a distinctive perspective to the craft — blending physicality and the Alexander Technique in a way that’s uniquely suited to acting for film.

Areas that will be explored:

• Film acting is becoming; it is not performing
• Creating a heightened awareness state, where anything is possible
• Discovering stillness and vulnerability in the close-up
• Being at ease vs. relaxed & collapsed
• How to listen with your whole body
• If you are not actively breathing, you are not listening
• Breath is your fuel and vehicle for your emotional life
• Experiencing your emotions as an undercurrent
• Empathy’s role in relating to your scene partner’s emotions
• Letting go of the habits that interfere with your presence and availability
• Freeing impulse and response patterns