ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CINEMA ACTORS?

ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CINEMA ACTORS?

An actor is a person who plays the role of a character in a story: it can be filmed (in the cinema) or staged (in the theater). We also speak of "actors" to designate the actors. The actor interprets a character, "puts himself in the skin" of someone else so that the viewer can identify with that character.

ACTOR OF CINEMA AND ACTOR OF THEATER, WHAT DIFFERENCE?

The main difference between a film actor and a theater actor lies in the way to pass emotions to the viewer. The film actor must not exaggerate his game to be natural: he is often filmed close-up or close-up and he appears on a big screen. It must, therefore, bring nuances. In the theater, however, the actors must "do a lot" so that the viewer understands the emotions and feelings, even from the back of the room.

At the beginning of film history, the actors played as if they were giving a play. But the passage from dumb to speaking, in 1927, changes everything. This is a difficult stage for many actors: some have an unsuitable voice in the cinema and others do not manage to change their game; many must give up their careers at this time. What was suggested by gestures or grimaces can now be said with words or sounds? The actors no longer need to twist their faces to show the sadness, for example, they can now express it through their voice.

Today, some actors are however as credible on the screen as on the boards.

THE WORK OF A CINEMA ACTOR

Since the arrival of the speaking, the profession of movie actor has evolved a lot. Today, the objective of an actor is to be as natural as possible, so that the viewer can identify easily with the character.

But being a film actor is working with many technical constraints. For example, movies are not always shot in chronological order. However, the actor must always ensure that the viewer can follow the evolution of the character over time.

Some shots can also be shot with an actor without all the protagonists being present. The actor must be imaginative to be as natural as possible, alone in front of the camera. Conversely, very intimate scenes can be shot in front of a large technical team.

Cinema actors sometimes have to make many shots for each shot, unlike theater actors who are entitled to only one chance. This improves the game but sometimes makes the actor's work difficult, especially if he has to keep his naturalness and spontaneity as he plays the same scene for the fifteenth time.

Finally, the recent evolutions of the cinema (the special effects and the digital images) require the actors to be able to concentrate, to play and to be credible in shooting conditions sometimes very far from what will be seen on the screen: for example playing on a plain blue background while in the film, they will be virtually projected in the middle of a virtual desert scenery or on a boat sinking ...

Other technical progress, such as live sound recording and the new cameras (very light), however, contributed at the same time to make the acting of actors more natural and more "real".

ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CINEMA ACTORS?

Even if the work of a film actor seems to be the same everywhere in the world, there are different styles and different playing traditions depending on the country.

The French school: the Nouvelle Vague and the café-théâtre

In France, the New Wave disrupts the way of playing, at the end of the 1950s and in the 1960s. Before the appearance of this movement, the actors had an attitude still very "theatrical" and unnatural. The directors of the Nouvelle Vague make use of young beginner actors (Jean-Claude Brialy, Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Paul Belmondo or Jean-Pierre Léaud) to highlight their spontaneity. In addition, the films of this period are shot outdoors and with a light shooting equipment to promote the realism of the scenes; cinema becomes closer to (real) life than it ever was.

In the 1980s, this realistic trend is accentuated when actors of the café-theater begin to make cinema. This is the generation of Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere, Christian Clavier, Gerard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Michel Blanc, Josiane Balasko, Anemone, Marie-Anne Chazel or Miou-Miou. These actors and actresses bring a new comic freshness to French cinema, as do the actors of the Canal + television channel in the 1990s: Alain Chabat, Jamel Debbouze, Benoît Poelvoorde, and José Garcia.

The American School: The Actors Studio

In the United States, it is the Actors Studio which exerts a great influence on the American actors. This drama school was created in 1947 in New York by director Elia Kazan. The work is based on an identification complete with the characters interpreted. For this, the actors do not hesitate to do a long preparation work that allows to better feel and reproduce the emotions of the character played. For example, for Taxi Driver Martin Scorsese's(1976), actor Robert De Niro spent several weeks among New York taxi drivers to better play his character; the result is strikingly realistic.

Many American actors have been trained at this school: Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, and many others.