Crying!
 

Hi Everybody.

I am in the middle of a shoot and I need to get one of my actors to cry.
I have directed crying-scenes before and with a long back-ground story, patience and trust, they have turned out great.
But this girl is only 11 years old. She does not feel that strong about the character, no matter how much I explain about her terrible back-ground.
I have also tried the " think about...", but it did not bring out the performance I wanted.
I do not want to frighten her or anything like that, what I am looking for is something" that makes her tears run;)".
I mean something she could put under or in her eyes, so that she will cry.
With tears running, she can deliver the performance i need.
I just need something to make it "start".
And believe me...I have tried.
It was almost acceptable, but not as "wild" and uncontrolled as I wanted it to be!

I hate doing it this way, but you know how it is:(

Hope you can help me guys!

Same thing that makes you cry.

Onions.

Cut one, and put a TINY ammount on her upper lip. MAKE SURE THIS IS OKAY WITH HER MOM/GUARDIAN.

I'm always amazed at actors that seem to do this at will.

Perhaps you can invoke a memory of a lost pet? (I'm not really sure what the rules are here regarding certain "mental" images).

I was under the impression there are little tear makers that you can wear.

May be it was a dream.

In terms of working with children... NEVER put anything in their eyes.

There are 'glycerin' tears, that you can put on the actors cheeks just before the shot, which move slowly down the face. Some people use baby oil to the same effect. The problem being they don't ORIGINATE from the tear ducts. Whereas using a bit of onion juice on the lip MIGHT do the trick.

It is usually a difficult process, and an emotionally 'tricky' one to stimulate a child to the point of tears. It can be done, but you must not cross the line between ASKING the child to cry, and MAKING the child cry.

Emotionally bullying an actor is never justified.

I believe the part of the onion that makes you tear up is the center part.

Have her watch an emotional film.

Have her eat some really spicy food.

I tear up when I poke my eye. How about physically bullying? ;)

Tear gas...mace...

-Adam "cruel to children" Keen

I would nevet bully a child or put anything that could cause infection in her eyes...

I think I will go for the onion...

thanks guys:)

I would also think dredging up a childhood trauma for the sake of tears is probably a bad thing. Tricky situation. I'm thinking if the young actress has had actualy professional coaching she might be able to pull it off without looking fake but I would go with the glycerin or the baby oil.

If it were my kid, I wouldn't wnat them reliving the death of a loved one for example, at a younger age like this, for the sake of something that might be effectivly faked.

Sean

When filming a small scene in the movie king arthur (where I was dying on the battlefield) makeup used "clear eyes" eye drops to get the tears coming. Whether it worked on screen or not is anybodys guess as they scrapped that scene from the final edit

This is cruel but it works. Find out what toy the child is most attached to. Get identical toy and smash it by stepping on it. The child will burst in tears and emotions. Have the cameras rolling. Then give her her own toy back, her mom, and some gift she would love. Everyone will be happy.

LOL... Evil... but I like it.

Haha, that should work...i guess if worse comes to worse, lol, evil things....

Someone told me a good slap will do the job .... LOL

Yeah, but then you're slapping a minor. I say, slap the mom. It should work equally well and if she's from Hollywood, she probably loves it. :-))

By age 11, I doubt that the loss of a toy would bring tears... better get her pet instead ;)

"Is this your puppy? Ooopps!!!"

"Bawhaaahahh Bwahhhaaaaa!!"

I'm so glad somebody could see the humor that was intended. Now, if only I can get PETA to stop bugging me...

While being stressed in looking for answers, Iam glad to see a humerous post though here.

You could also have her mom tell her like some kind of consequence for not crying, and usually if it is bad enough the kid will complain or even cry about it. lol
pets...
I can hear the director now "okay go get the real Fifi from the trailer" and the AP saying "um, the REAL fifi? We only had one!"....

Reminds me of a great cover, I think it was for National Lampoon many, many long years ago - picture of a revolver to the head of a dog with the banner

"Buy this magazine or we'll shoot this dog"

Might have been the issue with "Dog fishing in New York."

Sean

Punch her.



Kidding!!!!



I've never worked with kids, but whenever I need an actress to cry, I've always used a little bit of Saline solution..the stuff you use to rinse off contact lenses before you put them in your eyes. Don't get the soapy stuff...lol...you need the saline rinse.

Good luck!

Not sure if you still need this, but this worked for me when I took at directing actors class.

Have them do a warmup saying the lines with their lower lip covering their upper lip, like mumbling. Keep them doing it and make it just the most commical scene you can think of. When the actor is laughing so hard they're crying, have them say the lines normally and shoot that.

Interesting. I'll have to try that myself.

Tell them about all the childhood actors that have fallen by the wayside.

It's a good thing I can type while covering my upper lip with my lower mumbling, "Freedom!"

Where's my Oscar? I want my hotdog! Is this Kosher?

Not being in the film or acting profession, I would think asking the parents about the worst situation the kid has gone through and asking what that saddest moment for the kid would be the best route to take.

Talk to the kid about that moment and explain to the kid to think on that. You can't just tell a kid to think about the saddest moment, but the parents should know about it enough that you can talk to the kid about it.

If that fails, get a dentist. I havn't met a dentist, yet, that couldn't get a kid to start bawling on site.

Concentration!
 

Some of the problem may be just being able to concentrate on your part. During DV#4, I actually practiced it and was easily successful, but when it came time to shoot I had to set the shots up, operate the camera and all and could not get it done. Most all of us have moments in time we can recall and use, I have plenty, but you need to be able to concentrate on them. Remember loosing that first love of your life? Lost friends!

Mike

Not sure if you still need help with this but I was thinking you could use a pair of tweezers to pluck one of her nose hairs... that always makes my eyes water :) It's worth a try. (If 11 year old girls have nose hair, that is)

Jim