HOW TO CRY ON THE SPOT

                                          HOW TO CRY ON THE SPOT

Steps

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   Put yourself into a more emotional state of mind. What we think makes us is something we're often told; in the case of getting emotional, this is definitely valid. Try to think of something that makes you really sad. For example, think back to the loss of a beloved family member, friend or a pet, breakup with girl/boyfriend, attending a funeral, losing something you treasured or how it felt when you missed out on something you'd worked really hard to achieve. This will begin to put you in the right frame of mind for tears.
   • If you can't think of anything, think of someone you care about getting hurt. Never look back on a sad occasion that happened in your life. This could emotionally break you and you'd become a mess. Instead, think of something that could happen in the future, pretend one of your family members died or was injured, or remember a sad scene from a movie.
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   Irritate your eyes. A common method for starting tears is to cause your eyes discomfort. Of course, be careful as to how you go about doing this, and be aware that some of these methods can hurt a little (which will probably really make you cry):
   • Hold your eyelids open with your fingers, stay like this for 2 minutes.
   • Try to expose your eyes to the air as much as possible. Keep your eyes open as long as you can. Don't close them until tears form under your eyes. Keeping your eyes open will dry them out, making them sting. Don't close your eyes when they start to hurt or no tears will form.
   • Cutting an unwashed onion is very effective in provoking tears. This method is probably best for plays though––it's a little difficult to bluff crying around someone you want to convince you're crying when you produce an onion and both of you start getting all teary!
   • Place your eyes next to a fan - looking into the airflow can make you cry.
   • Let your eyes relax. Then close your eyes and rub your eyelids for about 25 seconds. Open them and stare at something until the tears start rolling. You might not get it the first time but it works. Rubbing can leave your eyes sore but if done gently, it can help redden the complexion around your eye area.
   • Lightly place your pointed finger up to your one of your pupils. This will cause that eye to become irritated, and it may lead to tears. Be careful not to poke your eye out.
   • Gently rub just a tiny spot of Tiger Balm, mentholated petroleum jelly, or hand sanitizer under your eyes. It may sting, but it's going to be very realistic. Do not overdo this one and DO NOT get any IN your eyes.
   • Never rub your eyes with something hot like chili, hot pepper powders, curry powder, etc. or you will do more than cry for real; this can not only hurt intensely but may also cause injury to your eye.
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   Bring other parts of your body into action. Doing things with other parts of your body can help to bring on tears. Some examples include:
   • Try yawning repeatedly. This may help to make your eyes water (especially if you're feeling a little tired).
   • Sometimes you can cry by breathing into the back of your throat rather than down your windpipe, this is how yawning can make you cry as well. Or it might just make you yawn!
   • Try pinching yourself hard in some sensitive parts of your body like the space between your thumb and pointer finger or under your eye and tears will automatically begin to flow down.
   • Bite the inside of your lip. Think about something that really upsets you, and stare.
   • Try holding your nose very tightly so you can't breathe through it. Then try to breathe through your nose. Tears might come.
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   Make a crying face. This usually involves closing your eyes and scrunching your face up a little––simply imagine yourself through the motions through remembering what your face feels like when you do actually cry.
   • Turn the corners of your lips down a little.
   • Try to force the inner corners of your eyebrows upwards.
   • Wrinkle up your chin like people do right before they start bawling. This may look fake, so be careful.
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   Focus on your breathing. The breathing is part of what convinces people that you're upset. Start sobbing by making crying noises and take deep breaths as your do so. Breathe in constantly as if you are hyperventilating; you can add little hiccuping noises too.
   • If nobody can see you, run on the spot for several minutes to cause yourself to be out of breath. If you can do this, it'll help to create the blotchy complexion often associated with crying.
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   Use typical body movements associated with crying. Once you have the eyes tearing, the crying face and the hyper breathing going, add in a typical crying body stance. Some suggestions include:
   • Cover your face with your hands and lower your head.
   • Look away, trying to pretend you're not crying––the double bluff!
   • Bite your lip, as if you're trying hard to stop the tears. Wobbling your bottom lip really adds to the effect. Just make sure you don't look like you're faking it.
   • Rest your head on a table or other item in front of you in a gesture of hopelessness or attempt to self-compose.
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   Be convincing. Think very hard about being sad. Make bubbling noises, and ramble on about the thing that has supposedly caused you to feel upset. In general, get emotionally carried away. The trick is to convince yourself that you're actually crying, as well as everyone else. This is basically "mind over matter" and the more you act it out, the more your body will acquiesce to produce the effect you're after.
   • When speaking, constrict your vocal cords. Aim to stutter your words and add in long intakes of breath to add to the effect.
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   Laugh! Just burying your face in your hands and laughing can work. It can sometimes be hard to tell if someone is laughing or crying if they do it correctly. While your face is in your hands, try to make your eyes a little red by rubbing them hard with your hands in a fist form, otherwise it'll be too obvious. And don't smile when you take your hands away! This works best on a stage, when people are not close enough to see tears or your face in close detail.
   • Sometimes you can tear up from laughing, so perhaps try thinking of something funny or get a fellow funny actor to crack jokes around you just prior to filming or acting that scene. Make sure you look sad when the tears start flowing, though!
   • Some people laugh as a nervous or upset response. You may have noticed this in other people. You can mimic this display of emotion if faking crying is very difficult for you.
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   Fight the tears instead. If you're having trouble getting yourself to cry, sometimes it's better to not cry, but to act like you're fighting back the tears––sometimes people are touched more by this, especially if you're usually a "tougher" soul. This can also be more believable, because it comes across as being more vulnerable.
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    Don't sweat the stage. If you're going to be in a serious production, don't worry about having to produce your own tears. TV and film actors have the benefit of working with an entire crew of technicians and artists. Although some movie stars utilize some of the professional techniques many actors options for an easier solution. A menthol tear stick and menthol tear producers are the tool of the tv drama, film, theater trade etc. The stick version requires a sparse application under the eyes. The "tear producer" works as a spray. Both produce immediate results.
11. 
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    Don't prolong the crying session. Since you're faking this, it won't have authentic emotions to keep fueling your crying. If you do end up making real tears, don't expect to keep making even more tears because your eyes will get tired after a while and won't be able to produce as many tears, especially lacking the emotion that can cause us to cry for a long time when something truly upsetting does happen. Wind it up quickly to give your eyes a break.