Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

Artist Julien “Seth” Malland aka Seth Globepainter has become known around the world for his vibrant murals of people, most frequently children, who appear to be sucked into colorful rainbow-like voids. The figures are usually facing away from the viewer, their attention completely swallowed by pools of dripping color revealed behind drab, urban facades.

Disney is reissuing The Little Mermaid on Blu-ray and there are some amazing extras that might be new to even cult Disney fans. Some of the best stuff, however, is a behind-the-scenes look at exactly how The Little Mermaid was created — here are the actual people whose movements and expressions came to create Prince Eric and Ariel in animated form.

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz emblems stand ready for attachment to vehicles at the factory on January 30, 2012 in Sindelfingen, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images)

These Arab recruits line up in a barracks square in the British Mandate of Palestine, on December 28, 1940, for their first drill under a British solider. Some 6,000 Palestinian Arabs signed up with the British Army during the course of World War II. (AP Photo)

A murmuration of starlings above the the small village of Rigg, near Gretna, in the Scottish Borders, on November 25, 2013. The weight of the resting birds on power lines caused some power localised power outages in the village. Still one of the commonest of garden birds, its decline elsewhere puts it on the Red List of endangered species. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Bangladeshi railway police try to clear line, as thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims gather to board trains to return home after attending three-day Islamic Congregation on the banks of the River Turag in Tongi, 20 kilometers (13 miles) north of the capital Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, January 26, 2014. (Photo by A. M. Ahad/AP Photo)