How Do Actors Produce Tears On Demand?

When filming emotional scenes for a production where tears would help make the story more compelling, actors must be able to produce tears on cue. For some actors, they can achieve this through a technique of method acting called “memory driven tears” in which they are able to use real emotions they felt from past experiences to create a flood of tears.

In other cases, actors might need a little assistance to get going. Below are a few examples of methods and applications used to help actors who are filming crying scenes, many of which are courtesy of makeup artists who carry these tools with them.

• Eye Drops
  Eye drops are a quick and easy way to get single tears rolling down someone’s face.
• Vaseline
  Applying Vaseline or a Vaseline-based product under the eyes helps make it look like there has been a lot of crying.
• Tear Stick / Menthol Stick
  A tear stick is a wax stick that contains menthol and camphor extracts. When you apply the tear stick to the skin (about 15mm under the eye), the warmth from the skin will release the menthol and camphor vapors, causing some eye irritation and real tears.
• Tear Blower / Tear Puffer
  A tear blower is an acrylic glass tube filled with menthol crystals. One end contains cotton wool to act as a filter and the other end has a mouthpiece. Positioning the tube about 10cm from the actor’s eye with the cotton end pointed towards the actor, you blow into the mouthpiece and the menthol vapors would produce real tears and red eyes. Tear blowers can also be spring loaded with a button or trigger that blows menthol-laden air into the actor’s eye.
• Plucking Nose Hairs
  A good old fashioned pair of tweezers can quickly produce some tears when they are used to pluck nose hairs.
• Staring Method
  In this method, the actor starts off with their eyes closed and then they rub them (not too hard). Once they open their eyes, they begin performing, making sure to not blink. For most actors, after 30+ seconds, their eyes begin to water.

To see some of these methods in action, watch the video below:

“How Actors Fake Cry In Movies” by INSIDER

If you are looking for skilled makeup artists to help actors produce real tears during filming, check out our online Nevada Production Directory to find experienced Nevada production crew or drop by our office and pick up a free printed directory!

If you offer production and film-related services in Nevada and are not yet listed in our Production Directory, you can learn more about how to sign up for the NPD here.

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