Difference between stage and film acting?

Question:I am a pretty seasoned stage actor. As a theater major in college with credits in around 35 plays since the end of high school, as well as numerous productions I have directed or written, I am very comfortable on stage.

I am also an amateur filmmaker, and I love to write and direct movies of all kinds. However, when I look at my performances on film as opposed to those on stage, it seems like it ought to require a totally different style of acting.

So my questions are:

What are some of the fundamental differences to keep in mind when acting to a camera instead of an audience?

Do you have any tips or techniques for acting to a camera as opposed to a theater audience?

Thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am a pretty seasoned stage actor. As a theater major in college with credits in around 35 plays since the end of high school, as well as numerous productions I have directed or written, I am very comfortable on stage.

I am also an amateur filmmaker, and I love to write and direct movies of all kinds. However, when I look at my performances on film as opposed to those on stage, it seems like it ought to require a totally different style of acting.

So my questions are:

What are some of the fundamental differences to keep in mind when acting to a camera instead of an audience?

Do you have any tips or techniques for acting to a camera as opposed to a theater audience?

Thanks!

Do less. The camera reads your mind. You focus less on showing your emotions, and more on having them.

I ask my students to watch Helen Hunt in "As Good As It Gets" when Jack Nicholson tells her what is, we discover, the nicest thing that anybody has ever said to her: "You make me want to be a better man."

She *does* nothing in her closeup, and yet the screen is full of her emotion.

Plus, the challenge of switching to film is the disjointed nature of filming; you don't get a chance to build the arc of the character in time as on stage, but rather have to find the truth of the moment in short scenes...and take after take.

when film acting you have a chance to mess up and redo it but on stage once your out there you got to make sure every thing is perfect.

a stage is almost the same as Broadway but different you stand on a stage and your looking at a camera

When acting on camera,
You can really focus on the dialouge and action on that take.
This allows you to use, the method and stanslavkis system and other techniques to its full potential, and you are not required to be in character when off camera obviously.

I prefer stage acting, its more real you know.

But I honestly suggest since in film acting the action and given circumstances are already given you can really focus on the emotion and expressions for that take, and not to worry about other scenes, but also to remember your before time.!

At the risk of coming off platitudinous:

On stage, act with your body; on film, act with your eyes.

Tonalc is absolutely correct: tone it down.

The tip I always give for camera acting is the same tip I give for acting in general: look me in the eye and tell me the truth.

the simplest answer is that stage performance is more externalized whereas screen acting is more internalized.

always helps to get some tips from the experts.