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FILM
ACTING By D. Balaji
The
histrionic tradition of the western world originated in sixth century BC. The first significant step toward dramatic impersonation of
mimetic dance recitation and song component elements of acting existed in most
early civilizations. In ancient Even
before the Greek history, when the evolution of human race started, acting was
the order of the day. Even the word acting seems to be a euphemism. It was the
tool of communication when oral language was not evolved. Anger, despair and
fear were all expressed through body language and gestures to the fellow human
beings. When
cinema overtook the performing theatres it adopted most of the techniques used
on stage to narrate a story. The terminology "Mise-en-Scene"
used in cinema is taken from the French theatre, meaning "Setting the
stage for an action". All the elements placed in front of the camera to be
photographed: The settings and props, lighting costumes and make-up and figure
behavior (Bordwell
and Kristin, film art, an introduction, 1990). Though figure behavior comes
at last in the list, it is the first and foremost Technique used to convey a
story. When the concept is converted into visual the figure behavior or the
performer occupies the centre stage. Pages and pages of descriptive words are
given life with flesh and blood (characterization) by the actor. What a script writer, as the author, and the director, as the visualiser, have thought about the character in
their minds is brought alive by the actor. Charles Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck,
Marlon Brando, Antony
Quinn, AI Pacino, Jack Nickelson,
Antony Hopkins, Tom Hanks, Daniel Day-Lewis, Dilip Kumar, Sharuk Khan, Amir Khan, Subartomitra, Mamooty, Mohanlal, Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hasan all share a common
platform -actors par excellence. Film acting is usually quite small and subtle. There is a
greatness to it that is magnified by the camera. The smallest thought, or
change in expression of the eyes is captured. The actor is often confined to an
uncomfortable space during a shot and a particular scene might be filmed dozens
of times in different angles and takes, with the actor repeating essentially
the same things over and over again. Often, there is little space in which the
actor can move. Each time he must appear fresh and real. Theatrical gestures
and many choices that one can use on the stage will not do under these
circumstances. A smaller gesture, with its origins organically stemming from
the actor is required for this environment. "Actors are professional
feelers". The trick is to learn how to feel many complex things and to remain
relaxed. This is true for all kinds of acting, but it is particularly true of
film acting, where the camera reads every thing and the actor is often confined
to little or no movement (Acting for
Film by Cathy Haase"). Even
though the stage and screen acting share the basic qualities they are actually
two sides of the coin, and tougher is the screen performance. Conservative
people from the profession always prefer drama over cinema. Even I agree that
cinema came from drama. But screen performance is eventually different from
stage. On stage the actors are supposed to occupy a position where it is marked
for them and start delivering the dialogues, but the same has been divided into
shots in films. And always these shots are not shot in continuity. To avoid
changing of lights and camera positions with every shot, which consume time, the scene itself is shot in complete out of continuity. Shot order
will be jumbled. And it is here most of the actors will feel the pinch of it.
The actor should always keep in mind the emotion, expression and action
continuity. Continuous flow of action on stage will make an actor immerse onto
the character easily. But during film production there can be minimum
half-an-hour gap between each shot. Most of the time it can
disorient a person from a given task. The actor can lose,
his concentration. But he should not. Film acting is very intimate: it is
public theatre. The
most difficult part is the close-up shots. Up against the actor's face, close,
the camera will be standing and watching, He has to perform imagining the
camera as the character standing in front of him. Easily said, but doing it is
a Herculean task. Why? Because here again the shots are shot out-of-continuity.
The most difficult part is not the action but the reaction. The actor has to
imagine how the other character standing opposite to him will react to his
action and thus plan his reaction and vice-versa. Take
for an example, this scene from the movie 'Mahanadhi’
(starring Kamal Hasan, Sukanya, and Direction: Santhana Barathi). The protagonist was arrested for misappropriation
of public funds. He is in jail. And now his mother-in-law, daughter and son
visit him. At that point of time the mother-in-law says that his daughter has
come of age (attained puberty). The protagonist once was rich man and very
closely attached to his motherless daughter. Now he is in a hapless position, unable
to do anything what a dutiful father will normally do at that point of time.
The shot is in tight close up. His eyes in tears, voice choking, unable to
speak, nervous lips, shaking cheeks! What a marvelous performance was that from
the actor. To divert the attention from this helpless situation the
mother-in-law tries to talk about his son, dog and other petty things. He
listens, shakes his head then nod his head, literally the whole cinema hall was
in tears. Now when you realize: that the whole scene is shot out of continuity
you can judge the veracity of the performer and his performance. Fascinating! Even
more disgusting for the actor during close up shots is the thermo cools which
is kept below for reflection of light on to their face. With absolutely no
space; to move in a tight close up, camera few inches away from his face,
thermo cools below it, rest of the cast and the crew watching, you can feel the
plight of an actor. With these kinds of
intrusions, memorizing the dialogues, delivering it in a right modulation with
facial expression and emotion all put together in right perspective. Is really
a tough job to accomplish? On stage, an actor can get away with a lot, because
the audience is distanced from him. The camera on the other hand, is a very
intimate thing. The actor cannot lie to it. Dishonesty in performance shrieks
at the audience. Sydney
Pollack, one of the best actors and directors in the business, said in an
interview, "I tell actors to watch candid camera, and then flick the
channel to something else, and then turn back; you will see how phony the
acting looks because real reaction so often means doing nothing. It is always
simple. On the stage, you can give a performance. In front of a camera, you
would better have an experience! Sir Alec Guinness, upon receiving a special
Oscar in 1980, said that when he started in films he realized he should do
nothing, and he's been doing it for twenty five years; being simple! The most
prolific and money earning area of the film industry is the most under studied
one. If you want to become a director, cameraman, editor) art director etc., at
least you will have to work as an assistant for quite some time to learn the
nuances of the trade. But for acting you cannot work as an assistant to somebody
nor are there good books to self learn. When I raised these questions with the
concerned people from the profession, the reply was even more revealing. They
said acting does not need any formal training. Actors are born not made. What a
blissful ignorance it was. According to their theory all great actors are only
born actors. They are not made into one. I would like to add here, that the all
time great actors of
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