Catalyst - Institute for Creative Arts and Technology GmbH

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Acting

As well as leaving Catalyst with a brimming network of peers able to fill any role needed on set or on stage, your public-facing profile and body of work will equip you to apply to acting jobs across the board. You’ll be ready for performing in film, television, non-fiction and theatre productions, as well as voice acting in animations and podcasts or advertising or hosting on the radio. Online content and streaming services are continuing to grow, opening an array of job opportunities and routes into the industry. You’ll be completing your studies in the city of Berlin, which has a thriving film industry and growing English-speaking community of creatives. All of this, as well as being home to Berlinale – considered one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals, alongside Venice and Cannes.

Aside from being employable as an actor, there are other routes to take too. The course fully prepares you to be self-sufficient enough to make your own work – not just to take direction from others. Creative direction for theatre, film or television will be an option for you too. You’ll also be ready to work in a related profession, such as writing or teaching.

Year 1 (HE Certificate)

In this course, you’ll work on what we call impossible briefs. You’ll intentionally be given too little time to accomplish a given challenge that trains you for the industry – forcing you to stretch your creative and collaborative muscles to solve the puzzle. Almost every week you’ ll perform in a film, either as cast or crew or in a stage performance, in rotating teams so that you work with different groups from your class. You'll use freshly-written scripts and rotate directors each time. It’s a fast, fun, and powerfully accelerated learning environment. During the second semester, you’ ll showcase your skills to the public with a live theatre performance.

As you build your experience in a short amount of time and appear in a variety of projects for both stage and screen, you will generate a rich variety of material that you can use in your showreel and online presence. The curriculum gives you training in voice reels, live performance, acting for camera, voice, and movement, as well as industry insights through guest lectures throughout the year. You’ll apply what you learn as you feature in short films, commercials, music videos, and more.

Throughout the year, you’ ll gain a professional and creative toolkit that will enable you to:

• Practise and develop foundational skills in the craft of acting
• Practise your skills in front of the camera
• Develop your critiquing skills
• Learn to write scripts for film and television
• Practise foundational principles in training your voice and acting skills
• Learn about potential routes in the industry and what you need to do to begin
• Develop your own style and build a profile
• Perform in a showcase in front of a live audience

If you choose to enroll for our HE Certificate, you will take just the first year of this program as a standalone qualification. The one-year HE Certificate course is the same as the first year of the BA program and you'll be learning alongside the BA students throughout the year. You have the option of progressing into the second year of our BA program after successfully completing the HE Certificate, subject to results and availability of places.

Year 2 (BA)

Now it’s time to slow down in order to focus on quality over quantity. Although there will be fewer projects, they'll be more ambitious. With a broader artistic range, you'll bring your own artistic work to life, which you will collaboratively write, direct, and perform in. You will form an acting company with your peers and be tasked with creatively reimagining works for a contemporary audience. Learn to write, act, and direct sketches and comedy, while finding your voice in a Writers Room setting.

The mission of the second year is to dive much deeper into acting practice and get more specific. Alongside the task of developing yourself as an artist and creative professional, you'll focus more on acting skills and technique. You will explore the question of what it means to be an actor today, investigating new tools and trends, such as machine learning, and how these affect your practice. The results will give you a stronger foundation for bigger, more character-driven projects that require more time for development, rehearsal, and production.

The course content in your second year will focus on:

• Adjusting to increased pace and expectations in line with industry standards
• Finer details of planning in performance
• Developing critical reflection of both your own practice and various techniques within acting
• Refining your showreel and profile with higher quality endeavors
• Exploring the acting from a variety of different angles and roles
• Investigating the relationship of Acting with the latest technologies
• Fair division of roles within a project
• Creating an Actors and Company Workbook

Year 3 (BA)

This is the year that puts you on the industry runway, ready to take off into your chosen career path, with a curriculum that continues to refine your creative skill set and gives you practical experience of what is needed behind the scenes.

Over the year, you will complete a major and minor project. The major project begins with learning how to effectively articulate your creative work, mastering three distinct approaches that are used in the industry – written proposals, verbal pitches, and a comprehensive Pitch Package or Mini-Bible. Then, you will focus on the creation and development of your proposed projects, demonstrating your specialization, originality, and self-expression. Through workshops and feedback, you’ ll develop critical reflection of yourself and your role in acting. Don’t be fooled by the title “minor” project – You'll craft and perform a powerful and insightful theatrical solo, backed up with new knowledge of the nuances of storytelling, modes of performance, character development, and stage presence.

Continue to refine the practical execution of your creative ideas, using innovative thinking approaches, honed performance skills, and collaborative practices. Throughout this intense and rewarding production period filled with substantial creative work, you will build upon your project management skills, making you ready for the faster pace of industry projects, as well as bringing your creative endeavors to a polished and complete stage. This means a full understanding of your audience and where to publish, screen, or perform your work, as well as a portfolio that makes your work shine.

The course content in your third year will focus on:

• Overseeing a whole project of your own making from ideation to delivery using industry-standard tools and techniques
• Investigating a niche audience for your work
• Looking outward and forging a specialized path into the industry for yourself
• Exploring and refining both individual and group work techniques at greater depth