Compare and Contrast Paper

Recorded for the Silver Screen or Live in the Moment Pressing lights start to glow bright, illuminating the stage; the camera is carefully craned into position; a director yells to notify the actors; nobody breathes as the set becomes quiet. On the flipside, across town, a different kind of actor is running furiously back and forth on the stage, scrambling to get into position. The actors begin to feel their insides tremble with excitement as they hear the large gold and red theater doors release; the rush of a prestigious crowd files in. As the audience settles, nobody breathes as the set becomes quiet. Whether on camera, or live entertainment for dilating pupils to take in immediately, the world of film and the world of theater are both mystical places to escape into a world of fantasy, thrill and/or excitement, and though they are both a source of entertainment, they differ in their audiences, their notoriety and prestige, and also the differences in the personal life of a stage actor and/or screen actor. To begin the process of contrast, the audience is a great place to start. In film, movies are universal. A movies audience can be almost anyone. You can find a family in their basement watching the same movie that was shown in the movie theaters three weeks prior. Movies market to everyone; you can rent them, buy them, or go out to see them, but wherever you are you can access movies from almost anywhere. Where the audience for film is quite large, the selection slims when it comes to that of a traditional theater. Plays are not as widely publicized and your ticket to a show on Broadway typically costs more than all three of the ways to see a movie combined. The demographic of people that go to see shows is also vastly different. A theater audience caters to a specific venue. Whether it is the latest play on Broadway or Cirque De Soleil in Las Vegas, or The Phantom of the Opera playing for a limited time in Los Angeles, a theatrical performance has a specific audience in mind, and as already mentioned it typically costs more; a lot more and requires more planning, attention and fanfare in general. The simple act of attending a theatrical performance can be an event in itself. One might make a whole night of it and attending a theatrical performance is a perfect chance to dress up and put your best on display, whereas watching a movie at a theater is considerably more casual, especially if you are watching that movie at a discount or at a drive in theatre, for just a few examples. In addition, the synergy at a live performance can actually affect that performance whereas when watching a movie in a theater the reaction of the audience doesn’t affect the actors on the screen, in the slightest. However, the audience is only one aspect of the differences between live theater and film. Behind the scenes there are many similarities and vast differences as well. In both the movies and theater, settings behind the scenes are composed of teams and technical crews that are critical to production. When filming a movie there is a director and his camera crew. The director is mainly there to keep things on task on budget and managing and organizing the process and actions of everyone around. The camera crew consists of many different elements such as: the camera operator, the assistant cameraman, the film loader, the costumer, and many more. Nevertheless, they are all important parts of bringing the magic to the screen (4Filmmaking). The theater also has a director who does almost identically what a film director does, however, because it is a live show they have no need of camera crew. Instead theater requires a stage crew. The stage crew designs the sets, operates the lighting and sound, run the stage and front-of-house management and so on. (Eaton College) What the audience doesn’t see are the many, many elements that are working very hard to bring that entertainment to them such as live performance versus screen.

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Compare Contrast Paper