Plan de Estudios
Bachelor's degree in Performing Arts & Screen Acting

Approach to acting from a state of relaxation and with a firm sense of attention. Improvisation, imagination and observation as fundamental tools of the acting technique. Techniques to develop psycho-physical states and reactions to sensory stimuli. The conflict, events and active analysis of a text. Improvisation. Introduction to character work. Relationships. Words.

Introduction to the actor’s work in audiovisual media. Fundamental theoretical concepts that assist the actor in extracting the necessary elements from the analysis of a script to apply them in acting. Basic techniques and concepts of working in front of a camera, and in different shot sizes.

Methodology geared towards a highly practical training, in which students mount different stage projects, beginning in Year 1 of the programme.

Vocal techniques and other elements that form the foundation for the correct use of the tools of acting: the body and the voice. Exercises to improve awareness; breathing techniques, vocal warm-up and stretching actors use to prepare before going on stage.

Aspects of music, rhythm and hearing, vocal technique and hygiene, to teach the future actor how to maintain a healthy voice and bring it to peak performance.

Elements and techniques to build the relationship between expressive movement and acting. Course content includes the teaching of the principles of movement (balance, proprioception and coordination); the qualities of movement; movement segmentation and combination, association and dissociation; objective and abstract gestural acting; physical expressivity to project images or psychophysical states; ensemble work; and collaborative focus.

Introduction to the technical tools of different dance styles, for the purposes of integrating these resources into acting, and primarily for the correct use of the main acting methods: body and voice. Rhythm, spatial composition, improvisation, creation and performance of short choreographies that are meant to be properly integrated into a stage context.

Immersion in the Spanish language through the reading and grammatical, artistic and literary analysis of historically significant Spanish dramatic texts. Introduction to the study of dramatic literature from its origins to the present day.

Survey of the evolution of the performing arts from Antiquity to the present day, in relation to the times and societies that generated its evolution. Emphasis on the main components of the genre: text, scenography, staging, authors; all within the historical, social and cultural context.

Outstanding milestones in the history of cinema: pre-cinema (pioneers and first film narratives), European cinema (avant-garde, German expressionism, Soviet cinema), silent cinema in Hollywood, pre-war cinema in Europe, Italian neorealism, meetings of Salamanca and new Spanish cinema, nouvelle vague and renewal of North American productions.

This course is designed as a laboratory of collective creation and production, culminating in the staging of an interdisciplinary group creation with an accompanying report.

Basic knowledge of hardware, software and internet applied to the needs of professionals in the Performing Arts. Office technology tasks in any format, as a collaboration and online, the commercial and marketing potential of social networks, creation of a web page, video editing, image and video resolution.

Acting training. Working on space and time. Levels of energy and working on atmospheres. Internal action. Expressivity in action. Style. Form. Words and working with images. Constructing the formal elements of a character. Introduction to ensemble work.

Further insights into basic techniques of realism applied to audiovisual media. Casting. Comedy and drama script analysis. Comedy scene practice for film and television. Drama scene practice for film and television. Dynamics of the shoot. Screening and analysis of own work.

Introduction to acting in non-realist styles/genres. Analysis of a non-realist dramatic work. Personal approach to character development. The character. Organicity. Concept of style and form. Specific work on dramatic proposals.

Anatomy and physiology of the voice. Development of a psychophysical awareness in oral expression for the actor. Application of vocal technique and oral expression in acting. From voice to word: the text. Anti-gravity reflexes. Head-neck-stern relationship. Resonators. Verse I: impulse-phrase relationship.

Inhaling and exhaling. Sound emission and attack. Hygiene and resources to conserve and care for the phonatory apparatus. Voice projection. Voice characterization. Gesture in the voice. Solo, vocal trio and choir singing. The singer’s posture. The larynx. The Joe Still Voice Craft method.

Neutrality. The mask. The larval mask. Stage composition using physical tools and masks. Styles of interpretive expressive movement. The rehearsal space as a creative space. Creation of stage works.

The body as a tool in acting. Body awareness. Contemporary dance techniques. Development of the creative capacity. “Viewpoints and Atmospheres” group choreography. Improvisation and contemporary dance

Morphology and study of shapes: facial types, basic elements. The art of make-up and corrective techniques. Technique and practice: prior operations, product application (golden rules), types of make-up (theater, photography, film and TV). Specific make-ups: “washed face” effect, fantasy, historical characterization.

The paradox of the stage actor in the new social order. The myth of Don Juan and Spanish Romanticism. Melodrama, bourgeois drama, romantic drama, etc. Surpassing naturalism. The crucible of the 20th century. The break with theatrical illusionism. Contemporary tragedy. Political, social and poetic theater. Contemporary comedy and the theater of the absurd. Theater of cruelty, sacred theater, poor theater. Postmodernism.

The dramatic text: the main idea, two forces in conflict; themes; space, time and characters; super-objective of a dramatic work. The script: the literary script; premise, logline and synopsis; audiovisual narrative (structure); dialogue in film.

Brief reception history of aesthetic ideas: art and aesthetics, ethics and morality, the organization of the arts, art as a field, the historic avant-gardes as beginning and end. Theater/performance: history, characters, rhetoric as a creation of the ordinary. Art, theater, public and spectator.

Acting technique. Stanislavski. The biomechanics of Meyerhold. Antonin Artaud. Bertolt Brecht. Jerzy Grotowski and Tadeusz Kantor. Physical theater in France. Eugenio Barba. Dance and theater. Contemporary theories. Performance art and live arts.

Listening: short recorded conversations in Spanish. Reading of a variety of materials.

Literary language and stage language. The Here and Now. Listening. Impulse. Organicity. Quality of movement. Conscious convention. Ensemble work. The technical-interpretive structure.

Analysis of complex scripts. Film narrative and editing. Development of complex characters. Screen acting by genre. Onscreen historical drama. Screening and analysis of artistry. Technical work with green screen and extreme situations. Utilities and examples in the industry. Practical introduction to virtual interaction.

Introduction to contemporary theater. Text and pretext. Introduction to stage dramaturgy and semiotics. Approach to the personal creation of a work. Specific work on a dramatic proposal. Phases of creation of a show.

The vocal process (phonation). From word to text. The voice on stage. Verse II: punctuation-pauses-phrasing.

Introduction to the history of musical theater. Singing and vocal technique applied to theater. Acting in musical theater. Theatrical and musical creation.

Body awareness. Objective gesture in acting. Abstract gesture in acting. Construction and application. Physical architecture. Creation of stage combat and character works using movement and space.

Techniques of choreography applied to musical theater. Classic ballet. Jazz dance. Modern dance. Contemporary dance. Theater dance. Ethnic dance. Folklore. Expressivity in dance.

The dramatic text: analysis and structure; process of evolution of a story, sequencing and climax; genre; fictional construction. Script: versions and types; structure (shot list and dialogues); development of an original script.

Narrative techniques. Camera and object movements. Continuity. Sequence. Space and time. Narrative voice. Pre-production. Production. Post-production.

Overview of the history of technology applied to the performing arts. Technologies according to field of application. Practical stage design project using technologies. Preparation throughout the course + presentation of the projects.

Intellectual property in relation to the performing arts and acting. Author’s rights. Tools used in the negotiation of artist contracts. International property rights. Phases of artistic creation from a legal standpoint. Collective management of author’s rights. Systems of protection of intellectual property rights.

Definition and history of the cultural and creative industries. Financing in the theatrical and audiovisual industries. Production processes. Exhibition and distribution channels, theatrical tours. Strategy analysis and orientation. Analysis of the national and international theatrical and audiovisual industries. Markets and fairs.

Specific work on a dramatic/audiovisual research proposal. Personal approach to an audiovisual and/or stage creation. Phases in the creation of a stage or audiovisual work.

Applied theater: definition; theater pedagogy; socio-cultural activity; coaching for actors; creation and improvement of companies and organizations. Business initiatives: strategic plan and definition; methodology. Cultural management: foundations; organisms; theatrical production; basic ideas of Technique applied to theater.

The role of TV host. Interviews: preparation, question list, techniques of interpersonal connection, listening techniques, improvisation, techniques for being interviewed. The program rundown. Reading the news: tone, rhythm and naturality; teleprompter; handling floats/live voice over; connections and disconnections; summaries. TV programs.

Theoretical foundations: brief history of dramaturgy and staging; semiotics of theater; nature and polysemy of the sign in theater; the stage code. Dramaturgy and staging: information and documentation; elements of dramatic form and theme, contemporary reading; aesthetic and style; instruments of stage signification. Application in practice.

The history of dubbing. Synchrony. Interpretation. Vocal pitch. Dubbing equipment and techniques. Dramatic films. Animated movies. Singing in dubbing. The narrator. Embellishing the voice.

Body, time-space: the silence of action; rotation on an axis; mental and muscle impulses; unsteady balance; falls and tumbles. Group compositions: simple acrobatic figures with catcher; articulated groups; synchronized fights; group fights. Objects: tumbles and falls on and with objects. Styles and their application: combat and geometry; the duel and mêlée; comic acrobatics and stage fighting; film acrobatics/stunts.

The purpose of business internships is to obtain practical experience that helps towards insertion in the labor market and raises the future employability of students, contributing to their full education and training, and providing them with knowledge of the work methodologies in the field of performing arts and screen acting and improving the development of technical, methodological, personal and participatory methodologies.

Attendance to artistic, cultural, student and cooperation events of the school, and artistic entrepreneurship.

In the Undergraduate Thesis Project, students produce an individual, original, and autonomous work under the guidance of a professor, in which they apply and development the knowledge and skills they have acquired in their Degree.