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Screen Acting
A Cognitive Approach
by Dan Leberg
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Book Presentation:
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.
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.
Press Reviews:
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. -- Amy Cook, author of Building Character
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. -- Rick Kemp, author of Embodied Acting: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Performance
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
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