Tony Rollo: Actor | Film & Voice : Engineer of the Imagination Movies are short vacations for the audience. Among the many aspects of what makes a great film is that the characters live. If the actor is of quality and understands The Craft, the character is believed to be alive by the audience. The lens does not forgive and neither does the audience.

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THE CRAFT - Tony Rollo became a Thespian at 16 and has an extensive past life as a professional actor. He enjoys working with actors who understand "The Craft". While "filmmakers" rarely understand The Craft and treat actors as just another fixture on set, Tony embraces and fully understands the true actor and The Craft. I have enjoyed being an actor in other's productions but no longer (for now) have time ... I am concentrating on my own projects and voice acting for audio books and narration. However, I would like to share my view of acting which I call "internalism" ~ Acting for film "Internalism" ~ by Tony Rollo Film acting is a completely different form of performance than any other type of acting and performing. Other forms of acting and performing requires projection. The actor and performer must reach out to the entire theater or menu. The question is simple: Is film acting different from other forms of acting and performing? The answer is just as simple: yes. The actor and performer who appears before a live audience must project their performance. They must project into every nook and cranny of the theater or venue in order to reach the audience in total. Their voice must cut through the air and be understood to the last row. Their movements must be broad and large in order to be clearly seen. They must exaggerate the normal voice and movements that normally occur in everyday life. The main contrast between the stage actor and the film actor is as night is to day. The film actor must be internal while all other forms of acting and performing is external. The internal performance begins in the actor's mind. It is projected through the eyes. The actor's body then follows the direction of thought. For the film actor, thought is dialogue. The film actor as any actor relies on the script for spoken dialogue. But for the film actor, emotion is also dialogue that is spoken through the actor's eyes and facial expressions. Why is there such a contrast between film acting and other forms of acting? It is due to the extreme intimacy of the film medium. It is the very nature of film that demands intimacy from the actor. The lens of the camera is a state of over intimacy. It is the eye of the audience. What the camera sees restricts the audience to one viewpoint of a scene. In contrast, a stage performance is seen from many angles based apon the viewpoint angle of each member of the audience's position. The camera's lens only sees from the point of view of a single angle. The audience who views a scene on stage is a mob. When a camera captures a scene it is later projected onto a single screen which forces the audience into a single entity. Even in a crowded movie theater the audience becomes a collective. The experience of the movie audience is one of intimacy. This is true from the largest movie theater to the smallest living room in a private home. So for the film actor, the performance must be smaller than life if the intention is to imitate life. The closer the camera's lens approaches the film actor, the smaller the performance must be in order to maintain a sense of relative reality to the audience. The lens of the camera can even cause the appearance of an actor's performance to become louder and stronger over time. This is an old cinematic trick. The actor stands in one spot and presents a monologue while the camera is brought slowly closer towards the actor. Although the actor never deviates in strength or tone in voice and performance, the very nature of the lens moving slowly closer to the actor gives the illusion of ever increasing strength and tone. This does not mean that there are times that a performance on film can and should be larger than life. This depends on the very nature of the genre and story. If the intention of the film is a comical farce, the nature of the performance demands exaggeration in order to be farcical. If the scene demands intense terror, the closer the lens the more intense the terror will become. How does the actor speak emotion without words from the mouth? It is an old saying that the eyes are the window of the heart. The film actor merely speaks dialogue within the mind. The dialogue of the mind must be short and to the point. It must be repeated over and over again. It is internal dialogue that is reactive to what the actor's character is seeing and hearing. Film acting is more about re-acting than acting itself. The mind of the film actor is constantly in action. Like a skipping vinyl record, the mind of the film actor must remain in constant motion. Imagine for a moment a scene set in a romantic restaurant. Two characters are sitting at a table. One character begins to confess their love for the other character. The character who is listening to this amorous confession is reacting positively. The actor who is portraying the listening character internalizes the simple phrase "I love you too." This simple phrase is repeated loudly in the mind again and again. The result is that the audience clearly perceives the mutual feelings of love and acceptance of what is being said aloud by the other character. But suddenly, a third character steps into the room. The character who has been listening turns to see the new character who has entered the restaurant. That actor who had been loudly repeating within the mind the simple phrase of "I love you too", now begins to repeat loudly the simple phrase "I hate you" within the mind. Without any spoken dialogue, the audience will perceive this emotion. Without any spoken dialogue the audience will understand that this new character that has entered is not only known by the previous character but also speaks of a painful back story. Internal dialogue for the film actor is no different than the concept of "reading between the lines" in a novel. It reveals. It foreshadows. It moves the story along. Acting Philosophy: I am a Character Actor - I find it most satisfying when I no longer exist but the character I portray - the character enhances the story and fits like a glove rather than a blemish on the screen - My favorite actors are those in the range of Burgess Meredith, Paul Giamatti or Roscoe Lee Browne among others - I most enjoy a challenge where even the small role can be so pivital that it can shatter and unravel the entire story if not executed properly. My Perspective The Aspects of Making Art. ALL CONTENTS © Tony Rollo | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Return To The Main Menu Contact Tony Rollo Official Website for Tony Rollo Producer | Director | Actor | Writer Nashville - Music City USA