Abstract

The bioscope or film ‘model’ was an early term used to designate the fiction film performer. Making its relatively brief appearance in film discourse around 1910, before the theatrical terminology of ‘actors’ and ‘acting’ had fully taken hold, the film ‘model’ hints at an alternative understanding of fiction film performance on the part of early audiences. This article traces the possible genealogy of the film ‘model’, relating it to the activities of models in adjacent cultural fields, including painting, photography and magic lantern practice. It also seeks to situate the film ‘model’ in the context of the discursive and formal changes that attended the cinema’s media ‘constitution’ as a platform for narrative.