12-09-2020, 01:32 PM
I think acting is absolutely an artform, but it falls under performance and not creative. To use a musician analogy - Elvis was a performer, not a creator, as he never wrote any of the material, while Prince was both a creator and a performer. As an actor, you're tasked with breathing life into a character that you didn't create, and you're tasked with integrating that performance within the context of what's best for the film, which necessarily involves working with the director and often producers and writers. Are the best actors the ones who are best at roleplay, where they can "go into" and/or "become" the character, such as with Matthew Mcconaughey's staggeringly amazing performance as Rust Cole in the first season of True Detective? Or are they the adamant personalities like Jack Nicholson, where the character is always going to be 'Jack Nicholson', regardless of context? I think it's tempting to go with McConaughey but really it's apples and oranges.
A lot of people involved in filmmaking really enjoy the production time, because it's like being in a bubble world, and it is in fact roleplaying in a sense for almost everyone involved. In bigger productions, you're taking over streets and manipulating the world around you and creating large set pieces and you're always on or near the set for months surrounded by creative minds and working bodies all aligned to bring the world of the film to life, so it can start to feel like a world unto itself.
What's most important actors is the connection with all those other people. The connection with other actors first and foremost, with the filmmakers next, and ultimately the audience. Acting is not a solo effort. Even with movies like Castaway, you've got actors sandwiching the film, the before and after, and even during you've got Wilson, a Whale and other personified entities that the protagonist is interacting with, allowing for a sense of communication and progression that the audience can identify with. I've often heard that actors covet working with certain actors for that sense of connection becoming deeper and more realized through the mutual appreciation of that connection.
I think the beauty of roleplaying in environments such as online games isn't just that you get to be someone else-- and that it's supported by everyone around you as you support them-- but it's the connection with the other roleplayers. You're building a kind of world together, and it's not dissimilar to the world-building of a film production.
A lot of people involved in filmmaking really enjoy the production time, because it's like being in a bubble world, and it is in fact roleplaying in a sense for almost everyone involved. In bigger productions, you're taking over streets and manipulating the world around you and creating large set pieces and you're always on or near the set for months surrounded by creative minds and working bodies all aligned to bring the world of the film to life, so it can start to feel like a world unto itself.
What's most important actors is the connection with all those other people. The connection with other actors first and foremost, with the filmmakers next, and ultimately the audience. Acting is not a solo effort. Even with movies like Castaway, you've got actors sandwiching the film, the before and after, and even during you've got Wilson, a Whale and other personified entities that the protagonist is interacting with, allowing for a sense of communication and progression that the audience can identify with. I've often heard that actors covet working with certain actors for that sense of connection becoming deeper and more realized through the mutual appreciation of that connection.
I think the beauty of roleplaying in environments such as online games isn't just that you get to be someone else-- and that it's supported by everyone around you as you support them-- but it's the connection with the other roleplayers. You're building a kind of world together, and it's not dissimilar to the world-building of a film production.
