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Essay about Acting

OUTLINE

  1. Introduction.
  2. Talking pictures.
  3. Invention of cinema.
  4. Change.
  5. Good salaries.
  6. Dark side.
  7. Effective speaking.
  8. Conclusion.

Essay about Acting

The stage as a profession was never looked upon with favor by the educated and highbrow classes in Pakistan. There was suppose to be attached to the profession’ sort of indignity and looseness, which scared away men from the better-class families.

Women votaries of the stage were few and those, too, from quarters anything but respectable. Most of the theatrical companies had boys to portray female characters. Barring a few exceptions: perhaps in the case of Eastern India, the stage here was of a haphazard character. The art of portrayal of emotions was reduced to mere artifice of melodramatic gesticulation and high-sounding phrases. Some provinces, including the Punjab, had no stage of their own and any enterprising set of players from Bombay and Calcutta could carry such provinces by storm.

The itinerant theatrical companies, it appears. Have ceiled a death-blow with the advent of the talking pictures. The only shortcomings that were experienced by cinema-goers, in the silent days-lack of songs and all their discomforts have fallen into n-popularity. Excepting a few big companies in the largest towns, age acting here is reduced to naught.

The work of providing amusement for the over-wrought millions is, therefore, being gradually monopolized by the cinema. Unhappily, ours is a land of’ deep-rooted orthodoxy and there exists a prejudice against every of conservatism mustered strong in raising a storm of protest against the growth cinema industry and to begin with it was impossible for any educated talent to find its way into the industry. The actors and actresses were mostly drawn from the existing stage in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent or, with the invention of the ‘talkies,’ from the public songstresses. Naturally, such an atmosphere was not inviting to girls and boys from respectable classes taking up this profession.

The conditions, happily, have changed and are still changing for the better. There is a sprinkling of educated boys and girls among our film stars and there is a constant demand for more. The industry a certainly developing and this demand are likely to remain strong for a considerable time.

Cinema acting as a career affords great attraction. Film stars draw fabulous salaries. In Hollywood, which leads the world film industry, film celebrities like John Gilbert, Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplain make nearly $500,000 a year, Mae  West for here picture” I am No Angel” received more than $ 75,000 and numerous stars are paid higher than the President of America. In Pakistan also actors who cannot spell their names draw five figure salaries.

But the picture is not entirely rosy: there is a dark side to it. The glamour of the cinema has drawn many young boys and girls to the center or industry at Hollywood in Pakistan at Lahore but few of them have had any amount of success. These are the places where are found strange inconsistencies in life, beauty in rags vainly knocking at the door of fortune while humpbacked ugliness rolls in wealth. A person who is a star to day may be in the gutter a few days later. On the other hand, starts have been made overnight. In one film a nonentity may sky-rocket to the heights of celebrity. Freddie Bartholomew and Shirley Temple, the child prodigies, were taken from very humble surroundings. The profession of acting for the silver screen is, therefore, a gamble. Only real work and talent can hope to succeed, as it is bound to.

 

A passion for acting and determination to take it a study of lifetime are essential. Sustained industry and perseverance, sociability and social attainments, such as being a good conversationalist, swimmer or sportsman, are the requisite qualifications for a successful actor. Good general education is an invaluable asset in the line; a mobile and expressive face and, above all, a good voice. This can easily be taken up by the microphone. The voice must have flexibility and modulation and the intonation clear with complete absence of tendency to slur over the syllables which is proving to him the bane of our actors. Putting in a nutshell. The speech should have all the elements of effective speaking. Such as purity of lection. Resonance, inflexion and rhythm. It wills him advisories for the aspirants to practice recitation.

Next in value in the case of the talkies comes the facial expression. Mobility of the face does not mean capability of making: a number of varied grimaces; it is the various emotions of the human) press mind, like anger, surprise, and pleasure. Sorrow, despondency, despair, elation, that have to be registered at once in the eye. The face and herded tone of voice. If the eye laughs mischievously while the tone and the words spoken convey a sense of extreme sorrow, the result is bound to be disgusting. A good and expressive eye that can flash, flame, art, laugh, weep and blink as the occasion demands is a great asset a successful actor. Control of facial muscles can also great asset successful actor. Control of facial muscles can also be taken up an art as in the case of the late Lon Chaney, ‘the man with a thousand faces, but talent in Pakistan is yet in a much undeveloped state. We see here mostly stolid and wooden faces which can only be ide to change their expression with palpable effort and most of the sites go into hysterics to conceal their failure at registering the requisite emotion.