Watch any decent film from the post war period and you’ll see actors act. Something that is lost in modern CGI filming.

In those days film cost money and therefore with a limited number of takes actors would up stage on and other. They’d move to the centre of the shot, produce a prop or gesture in a special way.

As film got cheaper, this art got lost on film, although it remains in theatre when actors are often moving upstage.

What made me think of this was watching Gruber vs. Pogue.

Daring Fireball Linked List: Yours Truly on Charlie Rose Tonight.

Gruber is new to this, he’s made is name in print (if the web counts as print). Pogue isn’t. Watch Pogue use the props that he has, a phone and a cable. He’s all action, Gruber just gets the words right!