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With the growth of internet users, the Film industry has also witnessed growth.
Nowadays people across the globe are interested in movies, they show their love to the Cinema despite being from another country or culture.
People from several countries appreciate the film industry of other countries, they know that Cinema is boundaryless and cannot be bounded by language and culture. Films from the US, UK, India, and many more countries are appreciated and loved by people across the globe and they share love and appreciation for the cinema on various Social Media platforms.
With time, the British Film Industry has got immense love from audiences and they are well deserving because BRITISH cinema has given many legendary films to the world of Cinema.
Learning from any award-winning artist from British Cinema is a great honor and learning from Helen Mirren is absolutely a great opportunity.
It will not help you only to learn useful techniques but also will help you with your methods and character exploration. Once you decide to learn the skill of acting, you need not worry about the teacher and lesson, because Helen Mirren is here for you in the MasterClass.
Helen Mirren – The Champion of Acting
If you are a Cinema freak then Helen Mirren would be familiar to you because she is known to the world for her fine and best acting. Helen Mirren, originally named Dame Helen Lydia Mirren, is a British actor who is critically acclaimed for her works and contribution to the Cinema.
She has worked for many reputed film organizations like National Youth Theatre, which has added potential and excellence to her acting skills. She has won many awards including one Academy Award, four BAFTA, three Golden Globes and the list can never end.
She is one of the finest artists in the industry who has the skills and potential to develop character on her own. For an artist, it is a tough but most important task to build the characters and emotions written on sheets of paper. Her career is an inspiration for aspiring actors and she can teach you the techniques and methods of acting through which you can discover your potential and skills for acting.
Her role for THE QUEEN is just an example of a masterpiece in which she has shown her acting skills which are one of the best tills today.
What includes Helen Mirren MasterClass?
MasterClass has provided a great and helping platform to aspiring actors who want to learn the basics of acting and techniques by having Helen Mirren on MasterClass. Her MasterClass has 28 video lessons, which will give you deep knowledge about acting skills.
The overall video lessons are 6 hours and 25 minutes, each of 10-15 minutes, which will help you with your skill improvement. Each lesson will provide you with knowledge about a particular aspect of acting which will be useful for you.
After the end of class, you will get a workbook of 54 pages which will further help you in learning things. Her video lessons will explain to you every aspect of acting and character building while working on the stage.
Helen Mirren’s Acting Lessons Explained
Acting involves many elements which make acting natural and authentic, so the lessons of Helen Mirren MasterClass include all these elements. The lessons are explained below:
Introduction: In her very first lesson, Helen Mirren introduces students to her definition of acting where she puts the theory of naturalism in acting on the stage or screen.
Helen’s Journey to the Theatre: The quote “Experience is the best teacher” is very true and she teaches you with her experiences. In this lesson, she talks about the starting stage of her career and inspiration.
Evolving as a Theatre Actress: Theatre teaches you the best and this lesson is about how Helen Mirren learned the basics from the theatre which helped her in improvement.
Choosing Roles: For having a successful acting career, one needs to be clear with what type of content they want. This lesson will help you out to learn about the selection of content and auditions.
Breaking Down a Script: On stage, acting requires the breaking down of the script, it is an important process of the journey. Here Helen Mirren shares her views and tips about the process.
Shakespeare, Part 1: Shakespeare has been an inevitable part of Helen’s career. She has performed many Shakespearean dramas. In this video lesson, Helen talks about the breaking down of a passage from the Shakespearean drama “Merchant of Venice”.
Shakespeare, Part 2: This video lesson is an extension of the previous lesson, in which she discusses the process of breaking down.
Finding Your Character: Helen has been very open about her life and inspirations, her biggest inspiration is her real life. Here she talks about the process of finding your inspiration and character.
Research: Fictional Characters: There are two types of research according to her: literal and poetic. Research upon characters is an important part of the journey of acting and she shares her views on the importance of research.
Research: Real Characters: Research for any character from real life is a tough but important part of character analysis. When she chose her roles for historical films she went through detailed research and it helped her to understand the character.
Creating Characters: Costumes, Part 1 – Her love for dresses is well known to the world, and dress plays an important part in any character. She will guide you on how can you choose the dresses according to the characters and scenes.
Creating Characters: Costumes, Part 2- You need to dress according to the character and character’s identity, you can learn the process of selecting costumes in this lesson.
Creating Characters: Hair & Makeup, Part 1- Acting is not a single task, it includes many tasks like doing hair & makeup and you will be helped by Helen Mirren to analyze these tasks according to your character.
Creating Characters: Hair & Makeup, Part 2- This is an extended version of lesson 13, which teaches you how to make any character alive on stage through performance.
Preparation and Rehearsal: For performing our 100% on the stage you need to practice and rehearse the script to have a much more clear understanding of lines. You will be taught the correct process of rehearsing and modifying yourself according to the character.
Human Behaviour: Learning human behavior will help you to deliver more natural acting and you will be educated about this in this lesson.
Film Acting Technique, Part 1: This lesson will teach how to master the on-screen acting and technique through inspiration.
Film Acting Technique, Part 2: This video lesson will take you deep into the sea of acting skills of Helen Mirren where you can learn as many things as you want. For making your character alive you need to put the right emotions and feelings through your dialogue delivery. This is another aspect of acting and Helen Mirren will teach you the best.
Film Acting Technique, Part 3: While you are on the stage, you face many distractions and you need to focus only on your work, so for helping you out of these distractions, Helen is here.
Case Study: Prime Suspect: Helen Mirren, with the help of a video clip from Prime Suspect, teaches you how to put the right emotions in the character’s dialogue.
Case Study: Elizabeth I: You need to know how to face the camera in a particular direction, and this is taught too in this lesson.
Case Study: The Queen: She has won an Academy Award for the movie THE QUEEN, about which she guides aspiring actors. She guides them on what they can learn from this film.
Acting on a Film Set: In this Video lesson, Helen shares the secret to success on stage and teaches what a film set looks like and what to do, and what to avoid.
Characterizing the Set: The set of any film plays a very important role in the character’s portrayal about which you will be guided in this video.
Props: Props add a lot to your character and the correct use of props on stage can enhance the quality of work.
Working With Writers & Directors: Once you are on stage, you need to have a good relationship and understanding with directors and scriptwriters so that you can learn from them.
Conclusion: This is the concluding video including tips and suggestions for the younger generation of artists.
Bonus: Naturalism: This is like an additional video but beneficial for actors who can learn what inspires Helen to act so naturally.
Pros & Cons of Helen Mirren MasterClass
Pros
Helen is a legendary artist of Cinema who has contributed to global Cinema through her fine acting skills. There are numerous benefits of learning from her directly through MasterClass. Here are a few:
- She is a theatre artist from her starting days which has taught her incredible acting skills and she can educate you better than anyone.
- She has deep knowledge about every element of acting, may it be on stage or screen. She can guide you on how you can learn about those elements.
- She has won many prestigious awards because of her talent and learning from her is a blessing, which can benefit all aspiring actors.
- Acting is a complex process that involves a series of actions from analysing characters to discovering your style. Such a complex process is made easy through Helen Mirren’s MasterClass.
- Her MasterClass lesson doesn’t only focus on one aspect but also focuses on every aspect and process which makes acting natural. Naturalism is very important to learn and here she is, to help you out.
- She is a global icon and you can learn many things from her, in an acting career you need to know many things regarding how to handle the problem and balance personal and professional life. So for teaching you balance, her lessons would be helpful.
Cons
There are no such cons and harm of Helen Mirren’s MasterClass but if we consider some aspects of her video lessons we can count only two which are:
- Her overall timing of lessons is more than usual MasterClass, which makes it uneasy to watch in a single time.
- Her lessons don’t focus on only one topic, her videos are about every aspect of acting which is not good for a certain audience who seeks information on a particular aspect only.
What can be learned from Helen’s MasterClass
One can learn many things from her video lessons, which are not available on the internet. The video lesson will take you deep into the sea of acting skills of Helen Mirren where you can learn as many things as you want.
She teaches you voice modulation as well which is a very important aspect of your acting journey. Acting involves many methods and techniques which you will learn from her classes. She is an experienced artist who has contributed incredibly to the film industry and is an international star. So you can learn the basics and important elements of acting.
Is Helen Mirren MasterClass Worth The Money or Not?
If you take classes from Helen, there is no doubt regarding its worth because she is a legend of her field. Her classes are very valuable and the fees are super affordable if you want to learn acting skills in a detailed way. You can get access to her knowledge by paying only $90 and it is guaranteed, you will never regret it. You will explore your side of life and character too.
Conclusion
Helen Mirren is a successful artist with a successful career. She has been awarded many awards across the globe because she is appreciated across the globe for her incredible work and dedication. You will learn not only theories of acting but practical aspects too which will improve your skills. In an acting career you need to have a balance between your emotions, feelings, professional work, and personal issues, MasterClass has a solution for you to get rid of these hurdles and imbalance. The MasterClass provides you with a great opportunity to learn the best from the best.
FAQs
Dame Helen Lydia Mirren is the original name of British actor Helen Mirren.
Helen Mirren is a citizen of the U.K. and hence she is an English artist.
The Queen is one of Helen’s most appreciated works which has been critically acclaimed across the globe.
Helen Mirren has won a total of four BAFTA for her incredible acting skills.
The overall duration of Helen Mirren’s MasterClass is 6 hours and 25 minutes, each video of 10 – 15 minutes.
