Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting for Film

at New York Film Academy - Los Angeles Campus USA

An MFA in Photography program at the Photo Arts Conservatory at the New York Film Academy (PAC at NYFA) is an accelerated, conservatory-based, graduate program designed for full-time study over the course of four semesters. We provide a creative setting in which to develop, challenge, and inspire the skills and talents of prospective photographers in an immersive, stimulating environment. By combining seminars and lectures with intense, hands-on classes, students acquire a sound understanding and appreciation of still photography and learn to integrate knowledge and professional experience.

At the Photo Arts Conservatory at NYFA, students engage with a diverse international student body and a core faculty of working professionals. This master's degree program includes visits to museums, galleries, and studios, along with guest lectures and critiques by photographers, artists, and curators. PAC embraces all lens-based media, offering a unique curriculum that includes digital and film-based photography. Though all MFA candidates must take two semesters of Lighting, Imaging, Printing, and Introductory Theory, beginning in Semester Two students are able to choose the rest of their course load themselves.

PAC faculty are committed to our Photography students and their futures as successful image-makers. Through demanding, hands-on coursework, instructors help students keep pace with technological change and push them to excel in all the areas needed to compete in the ever evolving marketplace.
Applicants to the program who have graduated from NYFA’s One-Year, Two-Year, or BFA in Photography programs, or an equivalent program from another institution, may attempt to test out of certain foundational courses within the MFA program. All evaluations and decisions are at the sole discretion of the department chairs, and are final. Students who successfully test out of any courses will substitute other courses in their place, and must fulfill the 63 total credit minimum, as well as all course category requirements.

New York Film Academy’s three-year bachelor's degree in acting for film is for highly motivated students who would like to enter an intensive, hands-on professional course of study. By completing the bachelor's degree in three years, students can:

• Save one year of expenses
• Enter the field of their choice a year early

The Academy makes this accelerated schedule possible by creating an extended academic year, allowing students to complete three full-length semesters in each calendar year. Students may also choose to complete the program in a traditional four-year time frame.

The New York Film Academy (NYFA) Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Acting for Film is an eight-semester conservatory-based, full-time study program. The curriculum is designed to immerse gifted and energetic prospective actors in all aspects of acting as a discipline. The program provides a creative setting with which to challenge, inspire, and perfect the talents of its student body. Students follow an intensive curriculum and achieve multiple learning goals.

Our prescribed eight semester acting curriculum serves to address the following core competencies necessary for the completion of a BFA in acting:

BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS ACTING FOR FILM: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• PERFORMANCE
  • Demonstrate the ability to create a fully articulated, believable performance in scenes exhibiting emotional depth which are appropriate for actors' physical type and age range in both stage and screen.
• LITERATURE
  • Provide critical analysis of the global standard of literature for film and theater, demonstrating an advanced understanding of the vocabulary, history and writing trends within the industry.
• PRODUCTION
  • Acting BFA students demonstrate an understanding of and basic competency in technical film/video production skills and standards relevant to today's film and television industry.
• KINESTHETIC EXPRESSION
  • Demonstrate technical mastery in the selection and execution of movement, gesture and vocal elements that reveal the subtext and intention of a character.
• BUSINESS
  • Demonstrate critical analysis by researching the industry for their own marketing niche and create a personalized business plan to meet their vocational objectives.
• SYNTHESIS
  • Evaluate the core training skills practiced and synthesize these into the formation of a unique artistic product (vision), allowing for continued growth within the industry.

Overall, the first six semesters of the program concentrate on developing the tools required to create a believable character, while the final two semesters refine these tools for use in film/video projects, preparing students for their careers in the entertainment industry.

The New York Film Academy Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Cinematography is an accelerated, conservatory-based graduate program intended for full-time study over the course of five semesters. Designed to instruct gifted and hardworking prospective Directors of Photography in a hands-on, professional environment, the MFA in Cinematography program provides a unique setting for the development of both the creative vision and technical proficiency necessary for a career as a Cinematographer.

Students will follow a rigorous program of classroom study, self-directed projects, instructor-led workshops, and school- facilitated collaboration with NYFA students across different disciplines. Upon graduation, students will be proficient with many of the state-of-the-art camera systems used by professional cinematographers today, and be able to confidently supervise the creation of sophisticated lighting schemes. Most importantly, they will be able to effectively harness the visual tools of cinema to tell meaningful stories.

The New York Film Academy recognizes the critical role writers play in the creation of every film and television show. Yet writing talent alone is not enough to create successful work in these mediums; screenwriting is a learned craft. A writer must write every day to train for the demands of this field, and to truly understand the elements that make a screenplay or teleplay functional as well as engaging.

In addition to learning the conventions of the writing craft, students are given the support and structure to write and meet deadlines. Students write intensively throughout the course and complete several projects with the assistance of constructive critique from instructors as well as peers. To that end, BFA in Screenwriting students learn how to create great stories, and to tell them with a confidence and clarity that befits a professional.

The core screenwriting courses of the BFA in Screenwriting are supported by a full complement of courses in the liberal arts and sciences. These are designed to broaden the writers' education, feed their inquisitiveness, and give them the critical, analytical, and communication tools needed not just to be great writers, but also more fulfilled human beings.

The BFA in Screenwriting offers a well-rounded collegiate education in the arts and humanities and social and natural sciences, with a comprehensive study of, and practice in, the art and craft of screenwriting and related filmmaking disciplines.

Overall, the screenwriting courses concentrate on developing the tools required to create believable characters and stories in several major fields of screenwriting (film, television, web series, playwriting, and elective choices including comic books and games). The program builds to a final thesis project, either a television series pilot script or a feature film screenplay. This is plotted, written, and rewritten, with guidance and feedback from a thesis committee in a manner designed to reflect the development processes in the entertainment industry.

In the liberal arts and sciences, students complete the majority of the required Foundation Studies in the first two semesters. Courses taught in the area of Foundation Studies focus on communications, analysis, and deductive reasoning. Students practice critical thinking, scholarly research, writing, and reading. These courses build a foundation for more specialized subjects requiring advanced written and oral communication skills in later semesters. The skills mastered will prepare students for the advanced coursework of constructing an authentic voice in their writing projects. Coursework in physical and mental wellness provides focus on the theory and practice of lifelong wellness in a stressful industry.

Subsequent courses in the liberal arts and sciences bolster students' understanding of world history, political science, art history, social and natural sciences, mathematics, English composition, and literature.

It is geared to students with little or no experience in producing, but who recognize that an intensive and demanding program, much like the job of producing itself, will provide them with the knowledge they seek.

Students are treated as Producers throughout the duration of the course, and are challenged at each step of the way. Students are encouraged, but not required, to bring a piece of intellectual property - a book, screenplay, show concept or treatment-at the beginning of the course that will be used throughout the year as the foundation of their final project. Students take this project through the various stages of development: pitch, treatment, script, talent search, budget, schedule, and plans for marketing and distribution. Students learn the real-word strategies for successful producing and are encouraged to develop the professional network needed within the film and television industry.

Students must be prepared for full-days of intensive work throughout the entire program. They must be committed to a fast-paced, intensive learning and production schedule, and willing to work collaboratively with our filmmaking, screenwriting, and acting students.

Producers are confronted with a number of visual, dramatic, financial, legal, logistical, managerial, and technical challenges in the process of filmmaking. From the first day of class, students are immersed in a hands-on education on how to work through these challenges. Through an intensive sequence of classes and workshops, and with professional insights and encouragement from their instructors, students rapidly learn the fundamental creative and technical skills they need to produce for film and television.

Learning Goals

• Introduction to the roles, tasks and obstacles faced by film and television producers including development of script, casting and talent negotiations, budgeting, scheduling, locations, hiring of crew, payroll, contracts and deal memos, equipment rentals, applicable Union regulations and contracts, and post-production requirements.
• Master storytelling concepts of elements, conventions, structure and style.
• Understand basic principles of entertainment law.
• Introduction to filmmaking from the perspective of the screenwriter, director, cinematographer and editor.
• Hands-on study in camera, lighting, sound and editing

The NYFA Master of Fine Arts in 3D Animation & VFX is a four-semester graduate degree program intended to prepare animation & visual effects artists for technical and creative leadership in the various fields of the cinematic and emerging arts while nurturing a deep sense of service toward storytelling.

Students will:

• Develop a thorough technical understanding of the animation & VFX workflow & pipeline.
• Analyze and identify the industry trends that affect Pre-Production/Preparation of Animation & VFX.
• Hone their craft in intermediate and advanced Digital Element Creation, Motion Capture, Animation, Interactive Games, Stereoscopic 3D, Post-Production/Image Manipulation, Organization of Data Acquisition & Capture for use in the VFX pipeline.

In these MFA courses, students will learn from faculty that bring knowledge from the industry, many with experience from major brands including Disney, Dreamworks, Universal, Netflix and more. Students will master tools and techniques to create compelling 3D Animation & VFX shots that culminate in their final Thesis courses.

The integration of Animation & VFX curricula has been fine-tuned at the Los Angeles campus at the bachelor's level, to provide students with a specific technical and artistic education. The curriculum has been tailored to fit industry standard technical and artistic roles as laid out in the Visual Effects Societies Handbook.

At the master's level, NYFA does not just create artists or technicians; they effectively execute on a hybrid learning curriculum for students seeking to become leaders and innovators in 3D Animation, VFX, Computer Imaging, Feature Film, Television, New & Emerging Media, Research & Development, and the Interactive & Game Industries.

The New York Film Academy is proud to offer a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree program in Documentary at our Los Angeles Campus. This two-year conservatory-based graduate program is designed to educate talented and committed prospective documentarians in a hands-on, total immersion, professional and supportive environment. The intensive curriculum challenges, inspires, and prepares candidates for professional work both as an independent documentary filmmaker and for the non-fiction film business.

In Year One, students undergo a thorough regimen of class-work and film production that builds the groundwork for a professional life in the art and craft of documentary filmmaking. Starting the first day of class, students are immersed in a hands-on education and an environment that empowers them to artfully tell their stories. Through a sequence of workshops, students begin to work through a number of visual, dramatic, and technical challenges. They rapidly learn the fundamentals of creative and technical skills they need to make a documentary. All students participate in an intensive series of courses such as Producing, Directing, Writing & Research, Cinematography, Lighting, Production, and Post Production Sound, and Digital Editing to prepare them for more advanced topics and projects in Year Two.

The Academy makes the MFA Acting program's accelerated 20-month schedule possible by creating an extended academic year, allowing students to complete all five semesters of the program in under two years.

The first semester of NYFA's MFA Acting program concentrates on building a foundation in the craft of acting, using training techniques rooted in the theater but applicable to the screen. Students participate in an intensive array of core classes that guide them to find the actor within, simultaneously training their instrument to do the kind of technical, emotional, and physical work necessary for film acting. Acting for Film students will shoot a short film project on location with a professional staff.

MFA Film Program at New York Film Academy (NYFA) is an accelerated two-year program made possible by an extended academic year. Candidates will complete three full-length semesters in each calendar year

Qualified candidates have the option of completing course work at the New York Film Academy in New York City in a one-year non-degree program and then applying their course work to be accepted for advanced standing in the MFA Film degree program. No previous experience is required for NYFA’s Filmmaking School; however, MFA Film candidates must work with self-discipline, energy, and mutual respect.

Mfa Filmmaking Program Experience
Beginning on day one, our MFA Film candidates participate in an intensive sequence of classes in Film Directing, Screenwriting, Cinematography, Digital Editing, Directing Actors and Production. While the theory they learn in the classroom is important, the heart of program is the production of original, short 16mm films. Candidates will team up to make these films, working in crews of three of four where each candidate will gain experience in writing, producing, directing and editing.

The New York Film Academy Bachelor of Fine Arts in 3D Animation & Visual Effects is an eight-semester conservatory-based, full-time study undergraduate program. The curriculum is designed to immerse gifted and energetic prospective 3D Animation and Visual Effects Artists in all aspects of the discipline. The New York Film Academy Bachelor of Fine Arts in 3D Animation & Visual Effects provides a creative setting in which to challenge, inspire, and perfect the talents of its student body.

Students follow an intensive curriculum and achieve multiple learning goals.

The structure of this program emulates the workflow and pipeline of a professional production in the industry, which will provide students with the following:

• Preparation for a competitive professional environment
• Knowledge directly applicable in current work field using the latest software and technology
• Practical skills developed from intensive discipline and practice
• Ability to deliver a project from the beginning to the end in the manner used in actual professional production

The program will also be dedicated to strengthening fundamental visual storytelling knowledge. Students will dissect principles and techniques rooted in the real world and discover how they apply to a CG-generated world. This will enable students to have the choice to mimic reality and photography or to create more stylized imagery.