“Ticket to Hollywood” Screen Test Competition
Are you ready for your close-up? Film a silent movie screen test of yourself enacting one to four of the common silent film emotions in the list below, post the video to YouTube, and email the link to us at marketing@nzfa.org.nz (or post the link to The Film Archive’s Facebook or Twitter page) for an chance to win fame and fortune, as well as great prizes. Remember to send us your name (or your movie star alter ego’s name) and the name of the emotion(s) you are expressing, along with your entry.
This competition runs alongside our Ticket to Hollywood: A Festival of New Zealand Stars Abroad series, which runs 3 May – 21 June in Wellington (but those of you who don’t live in Wellington can still enter the comp!)
Film your screen tests at home, or on location at the Movie Star Makeovers with WELTEC Fashion Make-up Artistry evening on 24 May – where you will be able to film your starring moment after your movie star makeover.
The top three screen tests, as voted by audiences online here, will be shown on the big screen – so the public can see their star quality – at the final screening in the Ticket to Hollywood festival, 7pm Saturday 21 June.
Prizes include our New Zealand Film: An Illustrated History book, DVDs of classic kiwi films, and free movie tickets.
Screen test instructions:
Select between one to four of the emotions in the list below. How would you express this emotion (or emotions) in your acting if you were a silent movie star? Record a short screen test (please keep your screen tests under a minute – and shorter than this is fine). Remember this is a silent movie, so you’ll need to use your facial expressions and gestures to express your character. If you like, you could get into the spirit of the era by applying a sepia filter to your film!
Emotions:
- Discovery
- Bliss
- Terror
- Lovesickness
- Determination
- Playfulness
- Remorse
- Expectation
- Laziness
- Vulnerability
- Contempt
- Good humour
- Haughtiness
- Infatuation
- Greed
- Repentance
- Other common silent movie emotions you can think of…
Silent moving acting drew heavily on François Delsarte’s System of Expression, which was developed in the mid-19th century. It presented a set of gestures and movements engaging the entire body that were believed to express internal emotions. Such systems formed a visual vocabulary for acting that enabled performers to be understood in large theatres, where members of the audience were far away from the actors, and in silent films, in which actors needed to express emotions without talking. Take your acting inspiration from the Delsarte images below.
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Need more inspiration on silent movie acting? Check out these films:
– Charlie Chaplin in The Goldrush (1925)
– Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Read more about melodrama as an acting style here.
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“Ticket to Hollywood” Screen Test Competition conditions of entry
- The “Ticket to Hollywood” Screen Test Competition is open to New Zealand residents only.
- By entering this competition you grant the Film Archive permission to post your screen test online on Gauge, the Film Archive blog, and on the Film Archive’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter profiles.
- Entrants may submit a maximum of three separate entries.
- Entries will not be accepted after midnight 16 June 2014.
- Prizes are not negotiable, decisions are final
- The Film Archive reserves the right to disqualify any entries which are fraudulent, objectionable or potentially offensive, and remove images of this nature from our social media.
- Online voting will happen here. You may only one vote for one entrant per email address please (duplicate votes will be disqualified).
