This week I am going to cover something that's been requested a bunch, but that's yet to really be covered, which is making fake tears when you don't have actors that can't cry on cue (which are harder to find than you'd imagine.) This is going to focus more on the HOW TO, rather than showing in pictures, (Since I can promise you a dozen pictures of me crying would not only make a terrible blog entry, but wouldn't add much to the instructions on how to replicate the effect). So here you go, a step-by-step on how to make an actor look like they are crying realistically. 

 

Step 1: Getting your actor distraught looking. Coaching an actor to cry or show a great deal of sadness (especially a non-professional one who might be uncomfortable with trying to cry on cue), can be a daunting task for even the most well prepared of indie directors. It's a good idea to talk to the actor beforehand to explain exactly what you're going to need. Ask them to prepare beforehand, give them some time to get in the right "mood" for the scene. Ways to help them get in the right mindset for the moment is to have them thinking about something sad that has occured in their life, or of something that affected them deeply. This is tricky terrain because you could end up with an actor so depressed that it'll be hard to get them back up for a scene that doesn't require them to be crying, so it's a good idea to either try to not have them dwell on it for to long, or simply plan for all of the scenes with them crying or having to be sad on the same day so they can keep flowing with the mood. Acting is a really tricky thing, and can be really taxing for people that take it seriously, so just try to give your actors time since these are some of the hardest scenes for many people to do. 

 

Step 2: Learning to conceal with cuts. Now that you've got your actor looking saddened, just before you need them to actually start shedding tears, make room for you to cut away to something else, such as another character in the same room, or for example if they are looking at a photo or some object that is making them sad, cut to it. That way it leaves room for you to turn off the cameras and apply fake tears to their eyes, so then you can turn the camera back on, and film it rolling down their cheek. 

 

Step 3: Applying the fake tears. Something i've always used is basic Saline, it's cheap, you can get it in big squeezy bottles, and it's really easy to find. Just make sure you aren't getting some with other ingrediants other than salt and water, also be careful some saline can have a pretty high salt concentration and it can dry out your eyes, i've never had any issues BUT that doesn't mean you won't so the SAFEST option is something that is made specifically to be put into your eyes. Any kind of brands of eye drops for clearing up dry or irritated eyes will work, BUT find ones WITHOUT any real medical ingredients in them and check the warning label. You don't want to overuse these because they can irritate your eyes, so use sparringly, but it's the safest option since eye drops are made to actually be put into your eyes. Anyway for the scene, you have your character looks distraught, cut away, put the eye drops in (just enough for them to look like their eyes are welling up), THEN film your character and have them blink their eyes, making the eye drop fall out of their eye and down their cheek. 

 

Step 4: More tears. The next step is to have them go with it, you don't really need to keep seeing the tears role down (although your scene may call for it), but you can easily have them cover up their face, or rub their eyes in an attempt to stop the tears, but before they do this you can have them dampen their hands, so they can wet the area under the eyes further to make it look like they are really crying hard. Then just use the above trick of covering up the application of more tears into their eyes with cuts and you can have a long continual cry without needing an actor that can cry by themselves. To get good looking streaks down the cheeks, mix up a little clear soap and water, then drip it on their cheeks, it will dry and form very clear tear trails down their cheeks and help add to the illusion that they are crying a lot.

 

The FINAL step is of course finishing the mood with editing, sound, music, and lighting. If you remember Steve's Basics of Noir tutorial, you remember how important these elements are in expressing a mood, and for very sad or dark scenes you can take a lot from the basics of noir. Stark lighting can really help set a mood, making things look bleak or cold, it's harder for something to look depressing or sad if it's got very bright saturated colors, and plenty of high-key even lighting. Going with a darker more "contrasty" lighting scheme can help a lot. 

 

Editing of course assists with the mood, slower editing can make the scene feel slower and maybe a bit sadder. Spastic action movie editing would feel a bit odd if you're trying to make something look depressing. Also, the music (if you have any) can really help set the mood, check by the Mogulville Free Music Project and request some sad music that would be just right for your scene.

 

Good luck with your scene! If you have any questions ask them below!