Chapter 5: Acting

Chapter Overview

Much less about key terms and memorization than the preceding chapter on cinematography, Chapter Five’s main gist is to show that the other aspects of film form—the narrative, mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, and sound—all influence the nature of acting performances, and that acting performances in turn can influence our perception of the other formal components of a film. This is a chapter to be read and understood as a whole rather than scanned for key terms.

Embedded in the chapter is a short history of film-acting styles. The most important moment in this history was the transition, in the late 1920s, from silent to sound films. This era provides many examples of how technological advancements can influence both the actors’ performances and audience expectations about those performances. 

Acting is influenced not only by formal qualities of film, but also by cultural and financial realities that surround the making of films. The chapter describes at least two ways that such contextual realities have influenced film acting: first, in the “classical studio era” in Hollywood, there was the “star” industry that manufactured famous personas much as other industries produced brand-name products, and second, throughout the history of film, especially in the United States, decisions about casting have often reflected cultural stereotypes and preconceptions.

Despite the many influences on film acting, Chapter Five also makes the point that acting is still the aspect of film over which directors have the least control. Acknowledging the active role that actors play in shaping a movie’s meanings, the author devotes the last major section of the chapter—“Looking at Acting”—to showing us how we might evaluate any acting performance.