Advanced Acting Training with Tina Schei (MA Screen Acting)

Last year, we welcomed our first every MA Screen Acting cohort to MetFilm School London – and as they prepare to enter their third and final term, we’ve been blown away by the talent they’ve brought to campus.

Tina Schei is a current MA Screen Acting student, and has collected credits on feature films such as The Quake and Kristoffer Joner’s television series, The Machinery, alongside a wide-ranging career in performance, from classical ballet, to her experience as an aerial acrobat.

In today’s blog, we caught up with Tina to find out more about her experience on the course, and in particular, the recently completed webseries production, which involved collaboration across all seven of our MA Degrees in London…

Firstly, when did you know that you wanted to be an actor?

When I was five years old, my mum took my to see a children’s theatre production of Rock N Roll Wolf, and I was so moved by it that I cried to my mum, ‘this is what I want to do for others!’.

It wasn’t until I was 19 that I actively started pursuing acting, though. I landed my first part in a short film – an action-packed thriller complete with stunt coordinators, wielding guns, and driving cars. It was while working on this that I realised I wanted to make it a career, so I applied to acting school – and got accepted!

And how would you categorise yourself as an actor?

With my background as a professional aerial acrobat, I’ve found myself doing mostly physical roles in the action/fantasy genre – those are also the projects that appeal to me the most, since they’re so outside of ‘everyday, normal life’.

I’m trained in the Russian branch of Stanislavsky, and I believe anything is possible with imagination and a good intuition. I also particularly enjoy working when I can involve my entire body in finding the emotional journey.

Our MA Screen Acting degree offers advanced training for actors – what made you decide to enrol?

I graduated from my BA in 2019, and it was a challenge to continue working on my craft during the pandemic. Everyone tried to survive by coaching, giving advice and running acting courses – which had me very confused about what methods worked best for me.

That’s something I really like about MetFilm School – they don’t try to shape you into one ‘MetFilm School Actor’, they instead encourage you to find your own method, focusing only on achieving a truthful experience.

This, combined with the fact that you get the opportunity to work within a School full of film students, made me decide to enrol.

Can you tell us a little about your webseries, and how it helped you to develop your acting skills?

The webseries was crazy! It was a collaborative shoot between all the London MAs, and we created 12 episodes over six days, shooting in Stage 4.

We received the scripts and characters four days before shooting – so it was a really fast turnaround, pushing me to make quick decisions, and trusting that I’d done the work to help create the character.

My character, Jess, was an integral part of the story, but didn’t have much ‘presence’ in every episode, so I decided to play her as though she believed she was the main character. This allowed me to improvise and discover Jess in real time while shooting.

And you’re now working on motion capture – did you have previous experience of this?

I have some experience working on green screen, but none when it came to motion capture, so this has been a really valuable insight to an area of the industry I don’t know much about.

It’s become clear to me how much the world of performance capture has evolved – with the latest Avatar as a great example! The limits are endless, but it’s also opened my eyes to how important great, full-bodied acting and specific body movements are when working with this technology. Even down to your breathing – everything works to bring a character to life!

Finally, what’s on the horizon for you, as you prepare for your Final Project?

The past few months have given me a newfound confidence in my acting abilities, so I’m very excited to keep working with the wider MA cohort, and to gain more hands-on experience to solve new challenges.

I have a few exams to complete, and I’m working on finalising my private pitch, and then I start working on Final Projects! I’ve been so amazed by the talent and creativity I’ve seen so far, so I’m really looking forward to spending more time with the group, creating amazing screen content.

• Tina Schei studies MA Screen Acting at MetFilm School London. This course is launching in Berlin this September!
• Explore our full range of MA Degrees at the upcoming Virtual MA Open Event, Wednesday 8 May, 6pm BST.