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Re: [indiefilm-172] Film acting versus stage acting

From: Elizabeth M.
Sent on: Thursday, July 17, 2008, 11:54 AM

I was searching for an analogy and never came up with one, golfing is perfect... Anyway, I do think you're absolutely correct. I think the problem actors, and those who employ them, are facing is that actors see film and theatre as two different worlds, and most actors don't pursue the sort of education that will tell them otherwise, mostly because they don't know it's available. I've heard actors say things like "Oh, I can't do that kind of acting," "I can only act this��way," implying that they can handle one kind of style or character type. This is not because they are necessarily bad actors, but they have no training, and are under the assumption that when they see somebody play a part entirely different from the way they would, its only because that's what's natural for that other actor.��
This may have evolved from the two forms developing in two different places, but a part of me thinks that the American tendency to throw away restrictions and guidelines has something to with it as well. The American spirit gets us far, but sometimes we toss things out that are tried and true, in favor of "follow our" hearts, guts, instinct, - fill in the blank. Thats another disturbing trend I see with other actors, they say "acting comes from the heart", or "you really have to feel it" etc. Which is appropri ate for only certain styles of acting.��
Well, we know where we stand, now what do we do about it? Does anybody else have any thoughts?
~Liz ��


Good Elizabeth.You really got me thinking.

An actor is a skilled artists using different tools in different conditions. 
Tiger Woods does not use the same gulf club for every situation. Neither does an 
actor.

The actor  must recognize the the space involved and the medium used. Even then 
the characters may be a 'loud' or 'shy' stuttering characters and techs may have 
to take that into account when balancing sound on a stage or film set.The 
legendary Ethel Barrymore was rumored to be able to whisper at the back of a 
stage and be heard in the nose bleed seats. When Sean Penn played Huey Long in 
"Kingfish" the director and sound people had to take that bombastic character 
into account.Peter O'Toole says he 'thinks'  his lines on film.

Character analysis is always the same. Who am I? What is my connection to the 
other characters? What is my viewpoint and why should the audience like me?

We have come a long way in stage acting since the melodrama. Action is bigger on 
stage and you have to be aware of 4th wall. And you have 
to deal with sound 
constraints but most large union theatres are mic'd.

The US is unique in that the stage and film industries developed on different 
coasts as I believe  actors were fighting the syndicate. Hearst exploited the 
fight and created his own syndicate. Correct me if I am wrong on this.   My 
point though is that in most countries the center of stage acting and film 
acting resides in the same area so  the actors trained all mediums in the same 
place. Here we tend to make a greater distinction into types of acting but in my 
opinion the body and voice are tools to be used differently in different 
situations.

 Just my thoughts

ann


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