Performance



- melo drama - exaggerated (hair spray) 
- Naturalism - daily routine (a serious man) 
- Realism 
- Comedic                

Actors and their importance - expectations                       
- over acting 

The stars 

- The real person 
- The reel person 
- The star's persona 

The star image has four parts 

- What the industry puts out 
- What the media says 
- What the star says or does 
- What we say 

Stars can mean different things to different people (so Sidney Poitier has a different relationship to black audiences and white audiences) 

Overall stars might be considered 'Intertexual' - a cluster of meanings and parts, often referencing one another

Stars might be considered 
- As a deviant - stars life controlled by studio and there is little room for resistance 
- As a cultural value/sign/fetish - stars are shifting signifiers; they reflect the time in which they work and their work becomes a sign reflected in society; the star is also a mediator between the real and imaginary world 
- As an object of star gazing - two audiences observing the star: the diegetic and non diegetic audience - the spectators look is often mediated through the diegetic audience. With regard to the female star, this look often becomes one of objectification/fetishisation 

Method Acting 
- Christian Bale in The Machinist starved himself for the film 
- Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot where he refused to leave his wheel chair 
- Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man
- De Niro in Taxi Driver  

Casting 
- Stars sell films 
- Stars can help change the ending 

Associations between star and director 
- can help to develop status as an auteur - Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood; Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro

Associations between star and spectator
- Look of a film star is an illusion - constructed appearance - we as spectators except this construct as real e.g Clint Eastwood being the laconic, violent, macho gunslinger
- Seeing Eastwood on a poster is synonymous with these values and the spectator therefore has preconceptions regarding the film before entering the cinema - so is interesting when an actor subverts theses values e.g Robin Williams in 24 photo

Non - verbal communication
- as important as verbal
- Used in conjunction with other micro features to generate meaning - e.g. Kuleshov effect
- Links with films of the silent era, Chaplin - in cinema of the far east (Japan, China), which have strong traditions of mime in theatre, non - verbal communication is endemic in performance

Throne of Blood

- Non - verbal communication prevents exposition and places the production of meaning in the lap of the spectator
- Kieslowski, uses long cuts and allows his actors to express meaning through their acting

- tracking into static = hold
- true romance









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