Customer Reviews

Acting for Film

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This is one of the most comprehensive and thorough guides to Acting out there. It covers all the bases from inner voice, to auditions, to the making of a film and the performers role. By following the essentials in this guidebook, any aspiring craftsman in the performing arts will excel in their field. They will thoroughly understand how their body is the instrument of the performance and develop the skills to step into each characters skin. Highly recommended.

Acting is hard work, one of the most emotionally and mentally demanding professions in the world. This book clearly and honestly delves into all the nitty-gritty details of the actors process when acting in front of a camera (and the crew behind it).

From the private moments of preparation, through collaborative efforts of production, and even the difficulties and pleasures of viewing the results, Cathy Hasse misses nothing in this informative and helpful guide. She clearly explains all of the hard "work" that goes into making acting look so easy and natural.

As a filmmaker, I was really amazed at her presentation of the entire filmmaking process from the Actor's perspective. It was unique, accurate and illuminating.

"Acting for Film" is a very good book for actors who want to know how to act in front of the camera. It covers alot of practical knowledge such as the audition process, reading a script and creating your character. Also covered is what is expected during the film shoot both for big-budget and low-budget films. This book will teach you what acting in front of a camera is all about. A "must have" book for all aspiring film actors.

I loved this book. There are certainly a lot of books out there that claim they can teach you what you want to know about everything under the sun, but try and find the good ones. Well, you've found one with Acting for Film. Not only does it supply you with the solution to pretty much any situation you'll come across, you get to travel along with the author on her journey of how she gathered this information, and the two of you will come out the other side of the journey longtime friends.

Having myself been trained only in stage technique, I found this book incredibly helpful, as Ms. Haase's own experience embraces her own stage training into how it can work with film (or not). Developing new instincts for a new venue is rough. Many times, an author will tell you their own story, without allowing for the fact that each person's journey is subjective. Ms. Haase gracefully shares her knowledge with the reader without any condescension. Instead, you are gently held by the hand and walked around the minefields of the film profession to a safe conclusion of the trip.

A great book. Everyone should have one!

Though I am not an actor, I always admired the craft and wanted to know more about what an actor goes through. I also wanted to learn some of the skills actors use to create and project a persona so that I could use them in my business and personal life. Following some of the advice and techniques in this book awakened the thespian in me. I found application of the advice extrodinarily helpful when giving presentations, for example, and even in regular conversation. I especially enjoyed the practice of studying my environment, notepad in hand, and jotting notes on what I see, hear, smell, touch and taste. I am much more aware of my surroundings as a result.

Auditioning is not only for actors. We all face a audition of some sort now and then. This book helped me have a greater chance of "getting the part".

Cathy Haase's ACTING FOR FILM provides a survey of technique, craft, and artistic requirements for actors. Chapters cover the specifics of converting drama lessons to film; from maintaining proper eye focus on front of the camera to preparing for auditions and sets. There's a big difference between acting on stage and acting for the camera: Haase covers all the finer points of the latter.

I'm not an actor: I merely bought this 200-page book because I was quite curious about how this part of the movie-making industry works. Sixty pages in, I closed the book forever because I still had no idea. I honestly worry for aspiring actors who assume the author is a guru.

Cathy Haase seems to suffer from an inveterate inability to elaborate. Her manner of explaining the performance process consists of tossing out sweepingly abstract, largely un-implementable lumps of over-compressed advice. It's apparent that *she* knows what she means, but she doesn't seem to want *you* to know. Here are some examples:

"Observe the people around you, and write your observations in your journal" [p. 23]
But observe what? Gestures, mannerisms, demeanour, perceived emotional state? And what if the emotional state has been mis-perceived? As often happens, Ms. Haase offers no way of verifying whether or not you're doing it right, because she has not told you *what* to do.

A few sentences later, we are told to "try to see the genius in each person". [p. 23] Genius is something near-unique: it cannot exist in "each person", unless Ms. Haase is using the word in her own unique sense. If so, she never clarifies that sense.

What are we to make of such clangers as "breathe into the moment"? [p. 37] Or "Pick up your Journal [sic] and write. Write whatever you like"? [p. 39] Or "the breath must move through each moment to investigate it fully"? [p. 43] Or "Concentrate on the ears and the inner canal of the ear"? [p. 50] Ms. Haase cautions us against "getting stuck in your head" but never adequately explains the phenomenon. Later, when trying an exercise, we are meant to ask ourselves "Was I able to be aware of getting stuck in my head?" [p. 42] Leaving aside the clanking syntax of this question, wouldn't you have to "stuck in your head" in the first place to become "aware" of something?

Some passages are so silly they can be quoted without commentary. On the sense of taste:
"Ahhh! The mouth, tongue, and lips. What a trio! If you take some time out and consider all the functions of this triumvirate while moving your tongue over your lips and within the inside of your mouth, many interesting things may start to happen. Spend some time with this and explore."
[p. 27]

On the author's exploitation of her reaction to 9/11:
"I separated what had meaning from what was essentially meaningless; the world was filled with a sense of immediacy. Every moment became precious, and within the catastrophe around me, I realized how precious life is. Life is a series of moments, perceptions, and choices, but above all, it is painfully short. Life should be lived to the fullest. The present moment is everything."
[p. 47]

My favourite piece of advice in the book is the repeated injunction to "keep checking your breathing". For what? It's not as though it's going to stop, after all. (At least, not with this prose style.)

In fairness, there were warning signs. None of the three press quotes on the back of the book come from people in the acting profession. The quote from Norman Mailer has the air of called-in favour; the other two are from a screenwriting instructor and the Chair of a Film/Animation School. No performers or acting teachers. A bad omen.

Looking back, I also notice that in the empty spaces of this book I kept scribbling remarks like "What's the objective of this?" and "... To what end?" The slackness of clarity which permeates the book is epitomised by the moment when Ms. Haase confuses the name of the French national anthem with the name of a port in the south of France. [p. 56] It's a whole succession of little things like this that led to this unfinished book finding a new home in my local second-hand bookshop. (At least the next guy who flicks through it will be forewarned by the baffled comments in the margins.)

If you want some concrete tips on how to act for the camera, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. It is 100% schlock, pure form -- and bad form, at that -- over content. The pompous Ms. Haase is so (obviously) mesmerized by her own turns of phrase that she forgets to give ANY meaningful instruction re: acting before the camera. Frankly, I doubt that she has any, if the Cathy Haase filmography is any indicator. If you want/need some actual/meaningful tips on what it's like to act with a camera pointed at you, and how to communicate through that camera to an audience, GET MICHAEL CAINE'S BOOK. It's a great read and full of information. Sorry, Ms. Haase.