SCSMI2017 Helsinki

This presentation uses my recent ethnographic interviews with Canadian screen actors to analyze how creative training and the industrial logistics of film production enable the performing actor to solicit empathetic bonds with the camera, as a surrogate for an anticipated audience. I give special attention to on-set practices that some actors use to "befriend" the camera, to enworld themselves and their scene partners for screen-specific verisimilar performances, and to actively collaborate - metaphorically "dance" - with the camera.