Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433871
"STRIKING "GRIPPING, STORYTELLING" "ADDICTIVE "GRIPPING, But just as close-ups amplify emotions, they can also make it apparent when you're disengaged. As your acting teacher told you, really listen to the other performers. "Listening is truly one of the most important things an actor can do," said editor Amy Duddleston, ACE, who recently worked on Mare of Easttown. "Especially for day players and smaller parts. I'm always looking for somebody who's listening, someone who's not just waiting for their next line of dialogue." Be the MVP Creating a movie or television show is a team effort, but no one in the process is more visible in the final product than the actors. Every choice you make, whether it's about your character's motivations or how they choose to move, has the potential to end up onscreen. That gives actors enormous power to influence how the project turns out, but, as they say, that comes with great responsibility. If you deliver a solid performance, you're a lot more likely to make the final cut. If you deliver a killer performance, you're likely to be asked to reprise that role or sought out for a future project. So, focus on the basics and put yourself in the shoes of the editor, director and others whose decisions will impact your work. Be a team player and make choices that give them what they need to create the highest-quality project possible. That will make everyone look good and lead to more work for you. Put in the work to sharpen your acting tool and be ready for your cue: the word "action!" Watch How to Avoid the Cutting Room Floor at sagaftra.org/videos. THE POWER OF EDITING I n the early 1900s, Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov performed a cinematic experiment: He created a short film in which he alternated between clips of silent film star Ivan Mosjoukine gazing at the camera and various other subjects, including a bowl of soup, a child in a coffin and a beautiful woman. He found that audiences believed Mosjoukine to be expressing hunger, grief or desire — even though the same clip of the actor was used each time. Kuleshov's demonstration — dubbed the Kuleshov Effect — helped to underscore not only the enormous power of editing, but also how viewers are quick to project their own biases and expectations upon the actors, and the implications that has for filmmaking. Amy Duddleston GETTY IMAGES X3