Screen Acting: A Cognitive Approach

About the Book

This book approaches film and television acting from an actor's perspective rather than that of an audience member, and therefore theorizes how screen acting works as a process that engages an actor's memory, imagination, emotions, and physical body in the creation of a character. It argues that film actors strive to perform profound empathetic connections with their characters and fellow actors, and then put themselves out there through performing to make those connections clear to the eventual audience. It combines interviews with working professional film and television actors, key insights and methods from Film, Television, and Theatre Studies, and theories of imagination and embodiment to show that screen actors are more than just "the moving parts" of the mise-en-scene.

Table of Contents:
Introduction – The Missing Parts Chapter 1 – The Moving Parts Cognitive Theatre Studies and Acting Television Studies and Acting Chapter 2 – All By Our Selves: Empathy and Acting Situational and Selfless Selfhood Empathy Embodied Simulation and Cognitive Scaffolding Connections are more than Imitations: Stein’s Intentional Pull The Project Ahead: Screen Actors as Solicitors of Empathy Chapter 3 – The Actor’s Three Empathetic Connections Intrasubjective Empathy Intersubjective Empathy Performative Empathy Conclusion: "Camera rolling… and, action!" Chapter 4 – Acting Culture and Audition Preparation Practice, Constraint, and Affordance "It’s nice work if you can get it…": Auditions and Precarity Audition Logistics and Empathy Auditions, Empathy, and Creative Guesswork Chapter 5 – Empathetic Work Prior to Shooting From Guesswork to Scaffolding A Note on Terminology "Bottom-up Script Analysis": Extrapolating Specific Memories into Emotional Common Denominators "Top-down Script Analysis": Imagination, Abstraction, Archetype Cayonne’s Minotaur: Balancing Memory and Imagination to find the character’s body schema Conclusion: Arriving On Set Chapter 6 – Empathy On Set Actors and Production Culture: Inductive, Ecumenical, and Self-Effacing Practices On-Set The Actor and The Camera: Habits, Techniques, and Technology The Other Actor – Creative Labour and Intersubjective Empathy On Set Real Fake Tears, and Talking to Tennis Balls: Incorporating Production Conditions into Acting Choices Conclusion Chapter 7 – Conclusion: "Ready for My Close-Up" Histories of Force And Eloquence Future Project 2 - Collective Cognition and Production Studies Future Project 3 - Sympathy for Kuleshov: (Re-)Introducing Acting to Film Form Acting Studies and Resets

About the Author :
Dan Leberg is a Lecturer in Media Studies and Journalism at the University of Groningen, and in Film Studies at Amsterdam University College. Prior to his graduate studies, Leberg worked as a professional classical theatre and film actor for almost 25 years. Alongside his studies, he worked as the Programming Coordinator of the Cinema Politica Network, the world’s largest exhibitor of political documentary cinema. His research focuses on cognition in screen media, motion capture performance, and Shakespeare on film and television.

Review :
In this important contribution to the study of screen acting, Leberg weaves together research from the cognitive sciences, different "Method" approaches to actor training, and his deeply-informed, practical experience as an actor to illuminate the process of creating moving performances on film. Screen Acting is an insightful and engaging book. How are we moved by actors on screen? This excellent book reframes the analysis of screen acting to highlight the actor’s creative agency in generating empathy. Drawing on professional practice and cognitive neuroscience, Leberg creates an impressively well researched conceptual scaffold that is inspiring, lucid, and far reaching.