We have new training centre and studio - now open
New luxury facilities in extensive grounds on the bank of a major
river.
Over the summer break we took the opportunity to move from Bourton on the
Water, to an equally nice location on the bank of the tidal river Severn
near Gloucester. As many of you will know the living and working conditions
at Moore House had become very limited and this new larger house with large
grounds and a studio room, will allow us to have more training events on
site, rather than having to go out to different venues.
Our new base is around 3 times the size of Moore House, which incidentally
fetched £300k when sold. Severn Sound, is a large house in an acre of
grounds. On the ground floor we have a lounge; study; library; dining room;
two kitchens; large studio; large conservatory and a second large conservatory
with a heated indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi, plus a triple garage and
two bathrooms with showers. Upstairs we have 5 bedrooms, some storerooms
and 4 bathrooms, all with baths and showers. Converted from an older building
it is all modern and fully double glazed. Outside we have a large back patio,
front lawn, rear lawn, orchard which is wild with a maze of paths mowed through,
and a river bank lawn. On part of the roof we have a sun trap/patio.
We are only located a couple of miles from the centre of Gloucester, yet
you will find we are at the far end of a lane 9/10ths of a mile long, situated
in countryside with picturesque views across the river and towards Wales.
With no through traffic and the last part of the road being private it is
very quiet. Every day we see a number of rabbits and pheasants in the garden
and foxes, badgers, squirrels etc are often seen.
Both the conservatory and studio are large enough for holding courses, and
other events. The studio is a modern large room, with a vast number of lights
and dimmers fitted, one wall is completely patio style sliding glass doors,
and second wall has two glass doors into the pool area, so it is very light.
One end of the room is double height allowing higher lights and backdrops
etc to be used. It has a vast number of electric sockets spread around and
sockets for TV, and telephones. This is the ideal room for filming, studio
experience and training, allowing scenes to be set, lit and several cameras
to move about. We can within a few minutes change it to a photo studio using
our 8 studio flash system.
The grounds include a slipway into the river, a track, as well as orchard,
lawns, patio etc. From the slipway you can walk along the edge of the water
when the tide is out, but beware with the Severn Bore. About half of the
days a tidal wave comes up the river and the water level rises by around
8 to 12 feet in 5 to 10 minutes, its quite a sight, both the bore and the
full size trees etc that get washed up and down. The name of the house, Severn
Sound relates to the sound of the Severn, the roar you hear when a large
Bore races up the Severn. The orchard at the bottom half of the garden through
the summer has produced larger numbers of both eating and cooking apples,
pears, plumbs and blackberries in many of the hedges.
The pool has been a major asset in the hot weather, it is around 35 feet
long, and has a fluvo, this can be used to set up a strong current down the
pool that when you swim you basically stay still or to create waves down
the pool. Sliding doors allow the pool, studio, conservatory and patio to
be joined up for pool parties.
As well as the aquarium, and two dwarf rabbits we have 8 baby dwarf rabbits,
all different patterns and colours and 2 chipmunks.
Change in Working Hours
We have changed our working hours to line up with the agency, and phone calls
will now be answered between 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday. An answerphone
will be on after 6pm and on Sundays, and if you leave your name, phone number
and message we will get back to you during the next working day. The fax
machine is on 24 hours a day.
We join the WWW
For some time now we have been looking at the Internet. We have email addresses,
and access to the full Internet. As some of you will know we have in the
past had experience with running our own bulletin board service and we are
aware that it is a bigger job than many realise if the site is to be really
good. After many experiments and at last deciding what we want to put on
we are now in a position to take the plunge.
Running our own web site is a major task, which we do not underestimate.
This will be a fully interactive site, providing information and help and
allowing you to book training, training experiences etc and request information
either for email or snail mail delivery.
Make sure you include your email address an Update Response form included
in this pack so that we can email you the Web address as soon as we have
it running.
We have now registered the address but the site is still under development.
If you want to visit our site then go to www.new-atlantis.org, Try in a number
of times and very shortly you will see something.
The Extras and Actors agency, Ace Star Management, also has a site under
development and should have information up and running soon. If you want
to visit them then you can at www.screen-actors.com.
Training Courses
We now have a training programme (on the last page) in place, the booking
form for these is on the enclosed form. We have tried to put together a varied
programme covering as many of the clubs as possible. All training listed
in the programme will be held at our new base in Gloucester, and we can collect
members from the railway/bus station if required.
Accommodation
Although our centre is larger and much better suited for training and events,
we are not now able to put people up here. So if you are coming for more
than a one day course you will need to stay in local accommodation close
by. We can collect and return you from this accommodation to the centre.
Club Services are producing a list see their section later in the newsletter.
Experience Programmes
4 new experience programmes to suit many needs.
You will notice on the programme that as well as running training courses
this year, we are also running some experience days. These days are being
run in conjunction with Ace Star Management, but there is no cost for you
to attend these days.
Studio Experience
Saturday 23rd October OR
Sunday 24th October
A one day workshop to be run in our own digital studio. It will allow you
to get practical experience of being in front of a camera, the commands,
to find out what the director wants, to go through makeup, and more. We can
play back the scenes on one of our large TV screens. The only difference
between this and the real thing is that there is not so much waiting around.
Being a workshop we can run a scene, look at it and then do it again to get
it right. Those who want can of course also do full acting and have speaking
roles. The number of people on a workshop can be kept to a reasonable number
Children's Studio Experience
Sunday 3rd October
Aimed at children too young to attend the Ace Star Management free basic
training days and the experience day's referred to above. This is similar
to the days we previously run jointly with Talent Club and Ace Modelling
Agency. It is a chance for children to learn through play, have a portrait
taken and gain experience on the set.
Voice Over Experience.
Saturday 9th October
A studio based experience day adding 'voice over' dialogue to cartoons and
commercials. This workshop allows several attempts and a chance to develop
styles and learn.
Ace Star Management have been running a project since January, called 'Rising
Stars'. These are a group of people who want to become screen actors. They
stay within the centre and undergo intensive training on screen skills, acting,
all behind the scenes work and help out within the agency as well. Below
is an experience day that you can attend and find out more about what they
get up to.
Rising Star Experience
Saturday 6th AND Sunday 7th November.
This gives you the chance to have two days with the Rising Stars, to see
how they work, what they do, and to take part in workshops with them. There
will be plenty of time to talk to them, find out what they think, and to
discover the full benefits of the centre, but there will be so much to do
that you will not want to spend too long in the pool.
You get to see the Rising Stars ensuite bedrooms, but will not be able to
stay here, but we can give you details of local B&B's and fetch and return
you from them or from Gloucester railway station.
The Rising Stars experience could be a taster aimed at those who feel that
they might like to apply to join the Rising Stars project.
How to get on an experience day
If you would like to attend any of these days, then complete the response
form on the bottom of the update form included with this newsletter.
Club Services
Club Services, a division of Maximum Coverage Ltd, are still handling the
administration for all the New Atlantis Clubs and the Screen Actors Association.
All membership fees and correspondence should be sent to Club Services at
the PO Box address and they will make sure it gets to the right person.
Membership Database
In the process of moving from Moore House to Gloucester we unfortunately
lost some of our membership database and Club Services have had to spend
a lot of time in rebuilding it, from both Tracey's memory and some pieces
of paper we had. When you rely on computers the worst always happens. As
part of this process it is possible that we now have old data on you and
not necessarily you latest up to date information. Included with this newsletter
we have put in a form to allow you to give us your latest details and we
would be really grateful if you could get this done and returned to us as
soon as possible. Also on this form is the response slip for the training
days.
As we are not absolutely sure if we have captured everybody, if you know
anybody who is one of our club members, could you please check that they
have also received this newsletter. If they haven't get them to call in and
we'll check their details and get one off to them straight away.
Gloucester Accommodation Listing
Club Services are currently compiling a list of local B&B's in the area
so that when you come to training or events at our centre, you are able to
find somewhere to stay locally. In the meantime, if you need to organise
something in advance of booking on to one of the training courses or experience
days in the programme, then please call Gloucester Tourist Information Centre
on 01452-421188 and they will be able to help you find something suitable.
Special People
A number of you have been asking what is the current position on Special
People.
Well at the beginning of the year we were unable to do any filming due to
the weather and once it got nicer, we were waiting for Rob the Director to
become available. Eventually towards the end of June, he informed us that
through other commitments he no longer had time to be involved in club projects
and Special People in particular. Since we have been trying to work out what
to do next.
From the outset we always said that one of the problems with 'Special People'
would be the reliability and availability line up of all those taking part.
The size of the project meant that doing filming weekends only was going
to take time, and this year our worst fears have been realised. Also more
recently due to circumstances beyond our control we do not have access to
all that we have filmed so far. We have therefore decided for the meantime
to put a freeze on this project.
This does not mean the project is finished, just that when we have things
more under our total control we can decide what it is exactly that we can
do to rescue the situation and you can see how your efforts within the project
turned out.
Don't despair though we have got a new project just about to start and details
of the Mini Dramas are later in this newsletter.
Commercial Competition
A new and exciting competition which runs nicely across all the clubs in
the New Atlantis Group, and one that you can be involved in whether an actor,
scriptwriter, or behind the camera.
This new competition is open to anyone. It is for those taking part to produce
a TV commercial of any length from 10 seconds to 2 minutes. You will need
to write it, do all the pre-development and produce it. When it comes to
filming you can get it done yourself, or club members will have the opportunity
to use the clubs facilities under supervision.
Amongst the training programme you will see that a day has been arranged
for those interested to come along, find out more and start to prepare their
piece. Further details and information such as themes, closing date's etc
will be issued just prior to this training day on the 20th November.
If you have access to the Internet we have a dedicated email address that
you can send suggestions to or communicated with us on. It is
commercialproject@new-atlantis.org
Mini Dramas
Following our experience with the Special People project, and the problems
of availability and reliability, the clubs have decided to put together some
mini dramas.
These will be short pieces anything from 5 minutes to 20 minutes, something
we can film in a weekend or two.
This is totally a club project, and will allow opportunities for those of
you who are script writers, cameramen, sound men, and actors.
If you have an idea for a mini drama the please send it into Club Services,
if you want to write the script, then send in an overview first. Once we've
okayed it then you will be able to go on and write the script.
Mini Drama Casting
Those cast for the roles will be auditioned and then attend a workshop to
go through the script and technicalities prior to filming.
If you want to be considered for an acting role then tick the relevant box
on the response form. Once we have some scripts up and available we will
invite you along to audition for parts. If you want to be part of the technical
crew then again tick the relevant box.
The first of these new dramas are likely to be filmed in the Gloucester area,
but it will depend on the scripts. All meetings and workshops will take place
at the new centre in Gloucester.
New Contact Information
· Main telephone number operating Mon-Sat 8am to 6pm 01452 413702
· 24 hour fax number 01452 524863
· Reserve main line number (just in case main line is out of operation
with a fault) 01452 418081.
· Tracey's mobile number (emergency and last resort) 07977 006672
· Email clubadmin@aol.com
· Other Email addresses:
tracey@screen-actors.com
commercialproject@new-atlantis.org
· Full address: Club Services, PO Box 403, Severn Sound, Rea Lane, Hempsted,
Gloucester, GL2 5YG.
· You can also by post use the short address: Club Services, PO Box
403, Gloucester GL2 5YG
Please note: There is a local commercial radio station also called Severn
Sound, that is not connected with us or the house Severn Sound where we are
based.
New Atlantis Clubs
Training Programme
All training events listed here are free to club members this includes members
of the New Atlantis Club's and the Screen Actors Association.
Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th September PR and Interviewing
You will be taken through, What is involved in putting a PR campaign together;
How to go about being interviewed and getting the best out of it for you;
How to carry out an interview both individually and as a panel, and how to
improve your interviewing skills. At the end of the two days you should have
enough basic knowledge and the confidence to both be interviewed and to be
the interviewee.
Saturday 2nd October Portfolio Day
For those club members who want to have a portfolio taken. If you haven't
already had a portfolio done and would like one, then use the form enclosed
to book a place on this day. Photographs will be taken in the studio here,
and if the weather holds out in the grounds. If you are not able to make
this day, then don't worry other days will be organised.
Sunday 3rd October Young Children's Experience Day
On this day the children get the opportunity through play to experience a
day in front of the camera. They get to experience the waiting about, dealing
with other people in the form of chaperones, being asked what to do by a
director. They also get a chance to meet new friends and have a photograph
taken.
Thursday 7th October The Location Manager
The Location Manager has one of the most difficult tasks to carry out behind
the scenes. They are the ones who get the job of trying to track down the
locations, houses and other venues that line up with the script and what
the fussy director wants. During this day you will get to experience what
is involved in being a location manager, what the pitfalls are, how to go
about finding locations, how to identify people who can make sets and places
look like the location the director wants.
Saturday 9th October Voice Over Workshop
The aim of this day is to allow you to experience what it is like, and what's
involved in doing voice-over work. It is a studio based experience adding
'voice over' dialogue to cartoons and commercials. This workshop allows several
attempts and a chance to develop styles and learn.
Sunday 10th October Script Writing Workshop
We look at what is involved in script writing. We take you through, the
technicalities of putting a script together, from the idea, through putting
an overview (treatment) together, then a step outline, and onto the final
script right through to how you can check out if the timings/length is right.
Thursday 14th and Friday 15th October Directing Workshop
The Director is the person who tells the actor what to do when in front of
the camera. He has an idea of what he wants to get out of the script and
he has to portray this to the actor and crewmembers to get the final result.
The NEW mini dramas the club's are putting together will give plenty of
opportunity for those who want to take on this role. So come along on this
day and find out what it is all about. Could you be the Director.
Saturday 23rd October OR Sunday 24th October Studio Experience Day
A one day workshop allowing you to get practical experience of being in front
of a camera, the commands, to find out what the director wants, to go through
makeup, and more. We can play back the scenes on one of our large TV screens.
The only difference between this and the real thing is that there is not
so much waiting around. Being a workshop we can run a scene look at it and
then do it again to get it right. Those who want can of course also do full
acting and have speaking roles. The number of people on a workshop can be
kept to a reasonable number, so you only have to attend one of the days.
Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th November Rising Stars Experience Day
A weekend where you can spend time finding out what the Rising Stars get
up to. This weekend is for those people who think they may want to join the
Rising Stars project, but just aren't sure if is really for them. Rising
Stars have to be at least 18 to join the project and have total commitment
to give up friends and all normal activities they are used to. However if
you are between the ages of 14-17 and think you may want to join the project
later then you can also use this weekend to find out what it is all about.
More description on this in an earlier part of the newsletter.
Saturday 13th November Characterisation
Characterisation is something actors do. When you are given a part to play
in a TV/Film you have to get into that character to make it appear that you,
are they. This day allows you to practise characterisation techniques and
shows you how to go about getting into that character.
Saturday 20th November Commercial Competition Preparation
The rules of the competition will be issued shortly before this day. You
can come along and spend some time in the clubs facilities and get help to
prepare what you are going to produce. Whether you need help with putting
the script together, to find out what club facilities and equipment could
be at your disposal (under supervision of course). We will also go over the
rules in much more detail and help you where required.
If you want to attend any of these courses complete the response slip enclosed
and return it to Club Services.
