“Look at Me!”

In order to effectively identify the importance of acting in film, there are two essential requirements: first, the realization that film acting is an Integral, meaningful and vital element of film, and, second, the recognition of film acting as actually being acting—similar and equal in esteem to stage acting. As Cynthia Baron and Sharon Carnicke put it, “in theater and film, combinations of performance and nonperformance elements operate together to clarify and amplify the connotations already embedded in the individual components of the production.” ¹ The voice, movements, rhythms, expressions and gestures of the film actor are as central to film and the experience of the film's spectators as any other constructive principle. The spectators “make meaning out of the selection and combination of all filmic details, sifting through slight changes of framing as well as changes in actor's energy.” ² As a spectator establishes an engagement with an actor's artful performance choices, the actor's activity and creativity is fully acknowledged—including the composition of significant bodily gestures and facial expressions. Thus, the actor in film is an acting human being who changes and selects; the actor plays with energy and both communicates and meets with the spectator in close interrelation.