Learn Some Acting Riffs From The Real 'Guitar Hero' Article from Fort Mill Times
What do Tony Hawk video games, Guitar Hero, Disney’s “Mars Needs Moms!” and The Playroom Academy of Music have in common? They all feature the amazing acting abilities of motion capture artist Adam Jennings. Adam will be in Fort Mill’s Baxter Village to teach Intro to Acting and An Actors Life for Me at The Playroom Academy during summer camp. For five years, Jennings has been the face of Guitar Hero, his lip-syncing and facial expression talent bringing life to arena rock favorites like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and James Hetfield from Metallica. Jennings’ website features clips from his motion capture sessions for Guitar Hero as well as a jaw-dropping full-body rendition of Michael Jackson’s video “Beat It.” From his home in Los Angeles, Jennings took a few minutes to answer questions about his unique work as an actor and motion capture artist and his upcoming classes at The Playroom Academy.
Q: You have to be a music fan to pull off the mo cap for Guitar Heroes! Where did your love of music start ? A: Yes I’m a huge music fan! I have family who works in the business, but I was also exposed to a lot of different types of music growing up. Then when I started performing in musical theatre productions, I developed a better understanding of style and composition. But actually, through my work with these games, I have learned so much more by having access to both old and new material every day at the studio. Q: You’re the “face” of Guitar Hero but you’ve done work in other video games. Has your work ever involved full-body motion capture? A: I have never been the only full-body motion capture actor for a game, but I was the only facial mo-cap actor on a bunch. But most of the projects I have worked on have required me to perform both face and body animations. In a few Tony Hawk games, I acted out the main character as well as several background people and some basic skateboarding tricks. And for Guitar Hero, they have used some of my general full-body performances for many songs over the years, but specifically, it is me dancing as the lead singer for “Beat It,” “You Give Love A Bad Name,” “Play That Funky Music,” and the list goes on. It’s like having the opportunity to totally rock out at karaoke night, except I am wearing a tight, glowing suit and it’s also my job. Q: Is there a course of study or classes for motion capture work? A: Not that I know of. Although with movies like “Avatar” being produced more regularly and the technology becoming more popular, training may be available sooner than you think. Of course, any animation school will have programs that cover the computer and input aspects, but for the actors, our best resource is the current market. Q: How did the opportunity for you to teach at The Playroom Academy’s Summer Camp come about? A: The Playroom is an academy for arts and music, and those fields are the foundation of my passions and career. My experience with Guitar Hero was a major point of interest too, and I’m really looking forward to joining the staff. Q: Can you tell us what sorts of things you’ll cover with the camp students? A: Acting classes at camp this summer will be both fun and informative. My goal is to teach the students how to be comfortable on stage, to eliminate embarrassment and fear, and to hopefully ignite their interest in performing more often. We’ll play improv games and even try out scenes with scripts, but I will also spend some time discussing the process of how a movie is made from start to finish. Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice for aspiring actors? A: Everyone says it: the business is tough. I am so lucky to have found regular work in this unique industry. But if all I thought about were the auditions I didn’t get, I would drive myself nuts. That being said, an aspiring actor can still find ways to perform or participate without going for a career. The best advice I can give is to be proactive and stay busy. Research your favorite directors and actors, read scripts, see live shows, take classes, join the drama club at school. If you love it, soak up as much as possible. And always remember it’s supposed to be fun, that’s why they call it a “play.”
For more information on Adam's Summer Camp at The Playroom Academy, please visit our Summer Camps page.
THE PLAYROOM ACADEMY IS PROUD TO PRESENT OUR 'MUSICIAN OF THE MONTH!' Each of our students is so special and unique and we're proud of each and every one! The Playroom instructors nominate one super-outstanding student as Musician of the Month. The winner's photo is posted in the Academy for a month and his or her name is permanently engraved on a trophy plaque display. The Musician of the Month is selected on criteria such as viewing lessons, progress, initiative, practice discipline, pieces of music learned and lessons scheduled and attended. The nominees for the month of April are (drum roll please)! Jeremy Munden Drums Serena Walker Bass Mckenna Baird Piano Bennett Jones Guitar Michael Haggerty Piano Jonathan Bruney Guitar Logan Lassiter Violin Julia Belk Voice Sam Risser Music Production Jordan Thompson Audio Engineering
We're so pleased to see our students passion and progress and look forward to choosing each months Musician of the Month.
Come visit The Playroom Academy of music Booth. We will have our booth set up April 30th and May 1st at Walter Elisha Park in Fort Mill. Visit the festival website here. We will be offering free introductory Guitar, Voice and Piano Lessons. Also enter a drawing to win a months worth of free music lessons at The Playroom Academy. NOTE: The Festival runs April 29th-May 2nd, but booths will be set up at Walter Elisha Park on April 30th from 6-9pm and May 1st from 9-6pm.

FUNDAMENTALS & TECHNOLOGY CREATE PERFECT TEACHING MODEL AT THE PLAYROOM ACADEMY 02/09/10

Within six weeks of opening its doors, The Playroom Academy of Music in Baxter Village SC signed up a staggering eighty five students for lessons. Founder and musician, Eddie Zimmerman (known as Eddie Z) attributes the avid interest in his program to The Playroom Method, the unique patent applied for teaching style his staff utilizes.

"I realized student retention could be improved by implementing audio and video recording and high speed Internet capability to capture the individual lesson. Students are then able to log onto our website and review their lesson at any time." Eddie Z explains. "I created a concept and got in touch with a patent attorney to secure a rights to The Playroom Method."

Enter Registered Patent Attorney Chad Tillman with Tillman and Wright, who navigated Eddie Z's concept through the complicated world of patent law. "A patent is one type of intellectual property along with copyrights, trademarks,trade secrets as well as other property." Tillman said in a recent interview."A patent enables the owner of the patent to exclude others from making, using, or selling the patented invention."

Tillman provided guidance and legal expertise in preparing written descriptions and claims for The Playroom Method, as well as filing the proper forms.

"I really could not have figured this out if not for Chad Tillman." Eddie Z is quick to point out. "I'd highly suggest hiring a patent attorney first thing when creating a concept or original method."

"Eddie even has the capability at this juncture to assign a patent to a third party and grow his method and business by creating licensing for other entities." continues Tillman."Intellectual property is creative and one should always seek protection for concepts dealing with creativity and business."

At The Playroom Academy, the Method is working amazingly well for new students as well as instructors. "Retention is the key when teaching a musical instrument." says Eddie Z."Learning is built upon remembering each lesson. With our technology, students and parents are able to see progress much faster than with traditional lessons. We pride ourselves on bringing lessons into the age of Guitar Hero!"

PRESS RELEASE: THE PLAYROOM ACADEMY IN BAXTER VILLAGE OFFERS TOTS ROCK!  MUSIC FUN FOR TODDLERS AND PARENTS. 02/02/10
The innovative spirit continues to grow at The Playroom Academy in Baxter Village SC with the introduction of Tots Rock!, a program aimed specifically for toddlers age two to four, and their parents.

"Tots Rock! is a lot more Yellow Submarine than Raffie; more Rolling Stones than Wiggles and more Taylor Swift than Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." explains Playroom's founder, Eddie Z. "It's a current way to musically engage young kids and their parents. Kids are aware of technology like Guitar Hero and understand IPODs. We're bring a totally modern curve to the standard way kids learn about music."

Parents will play an integral role in Tots Rock! as Eddie Z develops the program. "We're so interested to hear suggestions about the curriculum. This is an innovative, progressive and flexible program and we anticipate parents will have brilliant ideas to give children a unique understanding of music as a part of life. Your child will be exposed to all sorts of fun musical instruments and noisemakers while learning the correlation between emotions and music, happy and sad, loud and soft, left and right, music vs noise etc.”

The Playroom Academy plans to kick off Tots Rock! at the beginning of March. Forty-five minute classes are held twice a week for twelve weeks and are $240.00. Alternately, one lesson a week for $120.00 is also available. For more information and to register, call The Playroom Academy at 803-802-NOTE (6683).

Class offerings will be:
Class 1 Monday and Wednesday 10 am - 10:45 am

Class 2 Tuesday and Thursday 9 am - 9:45 am

Class 3 Tuesday and Thursday 10 am - 10:45 am

Class 4 Wednesday and Friday 9 am - 9:45 am

Class 5 Friday 5:30 pm - 6:15 pm

Classes require enrollment of 3 children to become active and classes will be limited to 12 participants.

PLAYROOM ACADEMY OF MUSIC NEWS UPDATE 01/05/10
THE TEACHING HAS BEGUN! Last night, on January 4th, we had our first lessons at The Playroom Academy of Music. The students and parents both seemed very excited to check out the 4 new studios and see how fully equipped our new rooms are. Everyone commented on the color scheme. It seems that we are “Parent Friendly and Kid Kool”. The audio/video capture systems worked well with only a few minor glitches that Chuck and Mike quickly took care of. Last night’s students should be able to view their lessons and get to practicing by this afternoon. How Exciting! Please come in and visit us at The Playroom Academy and see what everyone is so excited about. This is a music school like no other!

REGISTRATION IS STILL GOING STRONG.
It’s not too late to get started. We will even help you get motivated. For the entire month of January, we are offering a 30% discount (yes 30%) off of our one time only PAM Registration fee (normally $99). The discounted price will be $69.99 and this gets the student the lesson book, manuscript book, and computer access that that they need to get started. This offer will expire on January 31, 2010.

MUSIC IS AGELESS.
Please remember that we are not just a facility for children. Our youngest student is 5 and our oldest student is over 70. As a matter of fact, over 20% of our students are adults. It’s never too late to learn or if you already play, let us help you get better!

TOTS ROCK IS COMING!
A music program for 2 - 4 year olds to do with a parent. Sound like fun? E mail us and ask for more info at by clicking here.

LESSONS BEGIN JANUARY 4, 2010
A friendly reminder to all students and families who have registered: Lessons will begin the week of January 4, 2010. We look forward to seeing you!

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
Experience music educators are invited to submit their cover letter and resume to resumes@theplayroomacademy.com. We are hiring teaching professionals for all band/orchestra instruments, voice/choral, keyboard, guitar, percussion, mandolin, banjo, music production, and audio engineering.

PAM FEATURED IN COMPASS MAGAZINE
Take a look at a feature article on PAM that was recently published in the Fort Mill Compass Magazine. Click here to view the full article.