FREE ESSAY ON MOVIES VS. PLAYS

MOVIES VS. PLAYS

Movies vs. Plays
Plays are live shows with actors and actresses acting out a story in front of a live
audience. A movie is a pre-taped showing of actors and actresses acting out a story.
There are benefits and hindrances both to seeing a play and a movie. Making a movie
allows for postproduction to add effects, plays cannot accomplish this because it is a
live production. Watching a movie is very much more entertaining to an audience than any
play that is being shown live.
Since movies are not live shows put on right in front of you, it gives the producers the
room for special effects. In a movie you can see anything from explosions, aliens, shape
shifting, full-scale wars, to bloody deaths. In Terminator 2 the evil man could
shape-shift his body. Every time he did this, the viewer would see his body melt into
this liquid nitrogen that proved to be some very impressive eye candy. A play cannot
reproduce these effects live; we do not yet have the technology. A movie can be computer
animated, which allows for most of these effects to become possible. Computer animation
is something that happens in post-production after the movie has been video taped. On the
other hand, live show does not have post-production because it is live. These effects
would not be very effective if there were no impressive sounds to go along with them.
The sounds you will hear in a movie theatre are very loud and add to the whole impact of
the movie you are watching. For example, an explosion sets off in the movie, but all you
hear is the faintest bang. Now, Imagine this, an explosion sets off in the movie and you
hear a monstrous BANG! The loud bang is more effective in terms of getting your attention
and making an impact. Unlike movies, many plays have viewers straining just to hear what
the actors are saying on stage. I remember one time I was watching a play called Jesus
Christ Superstar and this one actor did not have a very loud voice. Every time he said a
line, my mom and I looked at each other and asked, "What did he say?" By the end of the
play, we just giggled whenever he spoke a line. I know that if we were close enough to
see his facial expressions and read his lips, we would have been able to figure out the
main point of what the actor was trying to say. 
In a movie, even the people in the back rows can see the actor's faces and expressions.
Because a movie is video taped it gives the producer time to make adjustments. Why would
anyone make a movie that showed people standing fifty feet away the entire time? That is
one of the biggest reasons to watch a movie--in music a live concert is extremely better
than any recording you could listen to--because it is so much more personal. This is not
how it works in movies and plays. A movie is more personal than a play because the actors
and actresses faces are right in front of the audience's faces the entire time. Even
though a play is put on live, it is impersonal because of the lack to show emotion within
the actor's facial expressions. Because of the distance between the audience and stage,
the only emotion the audience goes through is caused by the actor's tone in their voice
and their body movements. 
Special effects are so impressive this day and age. People of this generation love seeing
bloody bodies, and huge explosions of buildings. A play cannot reproduce this
entertainment; only a movie can. The sounds that go along with these special effects are
the icing on the cake for movies. The impact sound has on movies is incredible. On top of
this a movie is much more personal than a play because of the facial expressions that
cannot be seen from far away at a play. If you have to make a decision about where to go
tonight, a movie or a play, take these reasons into consideration. You will not regret
it.