3 Expressive Faces

When I first was given this assignment to discuss 3 expressive faces 2 names jumped to the front of my mind, and they were Dick Van Dyke and Jim Carrey. Both of them are similar to one another in showmanship, and in occupation. Comedians have very expressive faces, because the audience has to be let in on the joke. They must exaggerate any character they do to make it funny. This is true of broadway or stage actors as well, because they are so far from the audience that everything must be exaggerated in body language and facial expression in order to communicate it well.

Most of the Dick Van Dyke's work revolved around some sort of short comical skit or jovial wonderment, like Mary Poppins. In his comical skits his acting was wonderful at communicating what the problems were, because otherwise the audience has no idea what is going on.

Jim Carrey is the epitome of exaggeration, in fact he is a bit of an over-exaggerater in some of his early films where his face becomes incredibly contorted. Much of his early career was based off of how strangely he could contort his face. Although he has dabbled in some more serious work, like the Truman show and the Majestic, which showed us the more subtle emotions that are a bit harder to convey. As he ages now he is becoming much more adept at how to control his face, but we all remember when he couldn't keep it under control in his youth.

My last expressive face is Charlton Heston. I can't think of a more expressive face. He is able to capture subtleties, misunderstanding, and the extremely dramatic in emotions with his face alone. He's had quite a few close-ups, and each one needed to be brimming with what he chose to show us. He wonderfully conveyed his characters, and brought us into the worlds his characters occupied.

All of the above have defined features that lend themselves to easy interpretation, which truly make an expressive face.