Screen Acting: A Cognitive Approach - Paperback

by Dan Leberg (Author)

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.

Back Jacket

Screen Acting, proposes a cognitive model for analysing the creative practices of western film and television actors, from auditions through to their performances on set. Leberg argues that film and television acting is a practice of soliciting a range of simultaneous and complimentary empathetic connections with their characters, their fellow actors, and their anticipated audiences. Interviews with star actors and professional day-players alike are placed in dialogue with modern cognitive and phenomenological research from film, theatre, television, and literary studies to present a critical vision of acting that speaks from the actor outwards towards their audiences. The final performance may be what the audience sees but, for the actor, the performance is simply the endpoint of a long process of training, preparation, imagination, and creative experimentation. 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.

Author Biography

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.