making a child cry in the name of Drama!!

[Fruitcake]

DS had to cry when filming a TV prog and they used the 'tear stick' under his eyes. That produced a few tears, but he still had to act as if he was crying. It was very convincing, but I don't think I'd let him use that too often as it did feel a bit uncomfortable as it makes the eyes sting slightly (hence the tears!).

In another prog when he had to cry he just acted as if he was crying with no tear sticks or anything and it looked completely convincing in the final footage. I suppose it depends how close up it is and what sort of scene it is. I'm pretty sure there were no significant real tears.

With regards to crying at auditions, he had to do this once without any pre-warning, and was told he was really good at it! I asked him on the way home what he thought about and he just said he made himself feel sad and it just happened. He was 10 at the time.

I personally think that, at the age of 7, so long as he can act sad and make out, perhaps, that he is actually crying, they will not be expecting real tears. I would just tell him to enjoy the audition and do his best and not worry too much about it. I'm pretty sure there won't be many 7 year olds who will be able to produce real tears on cue!

Good luck for the audition.

[RiaRocks]

Hi Snookienoo
I recently did something for a photographer where I had to cry infront of a camera. I practised crying and almost everytime I tried, I could do it. But when I got to her studio however, I just couldn't cry! Luckily she had some eyedrops ready- as it turned out, hardly anyone who she'd recruited to cry actually couldn't So even if your ds was able to cry he might not be able to do it on the day!
But anyway...here are a few ideas if you still need them:

It often helps if you stare at something and don't blink for a while so that your eyes begin water- then start acting and imagining you're actually upset and you might get tears.
Instead of thinking of something sad that has happened to him, he could think about his favorite movie or program where one of the characters was sad or crying. Then he could pretend he was that character and try to feel what that charater was feeling. (so it's more using his acting skills)

[snookienoo]

Thank you all for your comments, it is very helpful. I have talked to him about it and he is just going to be sad, if they like the look of him then i'm sure they will take him regardless of his ability to cry on demand. To be honest ds is very laid back and never stresses about situations so I'm sure he will do his best!
Thanks again

[sophiesocks]

Good luck, when is the casting?

[frisbee]

Funny story on this subject son had audition yesterday on a job which will be involving deep, emotional material. I told them about the fact that he can fake cry, don't know how he does it but he can. They said to him blimey how do you do that? His reply oh it's easy I've been doing it at my mum to get my own way for years!

Guess where Santa's not stopping this year!!!!

[tamsin is my star]

when my dd was in annie in west end in her audition she had to cry and thump this loverly mans chest and sob into his shirt. it was awkward she said after wards because he was allways so kind to her and she found it hard to look furiose at him