CRYING ON CUE
Idea
I set out to capture actors, who claimed to be able to cry on cue, to cry for me on camera. I’m really fascinated by crying, and I wanted to see how they would go about it, from the moment I called action to the moment I called cut. The video of the woman from Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, who was crying from not blinking, inspired me.
Setup
I used a Sony A7 III camera and a wireless lapel microphone to capture each actor. I tried to get them in front of a blank wall in the Purnell lobby, but there weren’t many blank walls, so I sat them in front of a “Push to Open Door” button hoping their bodies would cover it, which worked most of the time, but not all the time (which you’ll see). That one tiny detail really bugs me, actually. If I had more time, I would edit the videos in After Effects to remove the button, but I did at least edit the photos.
Experience
This experiment really sparked a sense of competition and challenge within the actors. I would go up to a group of them and ask, “Can you cry on cue?” and the conversations almost always went one of three ways: “It depends on the day, and today I had a good and happy day, so I don’t think I can” or “I can’t, but you should ask ____! They can” or (when I went up to the person they told me to go to) “Wait, who said I can? That’s so weird they said that. I can’t, but you should ask ___! They can.” It was an endless loop.
To the few people who did say yes, I would say, “Great! Can I record you doing it then?” They’d always respond, “Wait, right now?” And I’d say, “You said you could cry on cue. This is your cue.”
At one point, I had actors lining up to try then chickening out then coming back then chickening out again. One person who ended up trying but couldn’t do it even asked me to not use their video because they were embarrassed. They got really competitive (with themselves, not each other) about it.
End Product
I attempted to format the videos like so: 1) I would call action, 2) they would begin, 3) I would let them do it for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, then 4) I would call cut but keep rolling to see how they got themselves out of that place. I got a variety of videos, from people who got themselves to a sad place but without tears, to people who got tears, to people who gave up because they knew they weren’t going to get tears.
Along with the videos of each person, I have a 3-photo series from when I called action, their saddest moment, and their reaction after the cut.
Person 1 – P made it to the end but did not get tears
Person 2 – A made it to the end and got tears
Person 3 – S cut themselves off because they couldn’t keep going
Person 4 – O cut themselves off after getting tears
Person 5 – W cut themselves off because they couldn’t keep going
Closing Thoughts
I’m not very good with a camera (as I’m sure is evident), and I don’t enjoy working with them either, so this project ended up feeling kind of like a chore for me. The videos didn’t excite me that much after the fact, so after playing around with some ideas and landing on the 3-photo series, I ended up being a lot happier with the project.
