Well, I've never full out sobbed on screen. I have had teary scenes.

This past summer I was in a graveside scene with a male actor who happens to be a good friend in real life. Our characters each said a few words for the dead character. My friend couldn't manage tears, so the crew guys actually had me squirt Visine in his eyes to look teary. He did his monologue then while sounding quite choked up. I don't know if it was real or not because I've never seen him cry in real life.

Then it was my turn. Before the director called action I did "the stare trick" for a few seconds to get a little teary, mainly because the crew guys were jerks on that set and I was too uncomfortable to get real tears going. I said my lines, doing my best to really feel them, and I'd say my choked-up voice was a mix of effected and real. However, I had one line that really resonated with me, and I felt my eyes get a little bit truly teary and my voice actually choke slightly.

The script then called for my friend to get down to his knees and sob quietly while I knelt beside him and held him. He shed no actual tears during this but faked the sound well. It was a little awkward because we kept having to "hold it" between takes, staying in that exact position for minutes on end. At the end of the scene, my character hides her face in his shoulder and cries, too. I did this and no real tears fell.

A cute moment afterward, though, was us hanging out in his car between scenes and fixing our Visine-tear-streaked screen makeup. It was a mess (we were also hot and sweaty). So I took a tissue out of my purse and we took turns "fixing" each other. It's nice to have a friend on set.

A funny ob was this past fall, when an inexperienced actress couldn't tear and needed drops and I, again, was the one who had to apply them (welcome to my life). She kept squirming and freaking out and I missed and shot the stuff down her cheek instead. Everyone laughed.

Wish you luck, tell us how it went.

As a lover of the lip curl I'm always curious to know if an actor who lip curls while crying on cue does it deliberately or not. My theory is that most people are unaware of the lip curl so when an actor does it he/she is also unaware, and therefore probably does it in real life too. But that might just be wishful thinking. Some actresses I've seen really seem to exaggerate the lip curl, which might mean they're doing it on purpose.  I have also seen really exaggerated lip curls from adults in real crying situations, but those are a minority . I'm actually quite disappointed to hear about the amount of "squirting" (hyak hyak) going on behind the scenes, but I guess minor actors often don't have a lot of preparation time.  

Haha, sorry TorNorth, I hope I didn't ruin things for you! There IS real crying on TV/movie sets, trust me. I'll hopefully be doing some this weekend.

psychic_girl wrote:

I don't understand ''the squirting'' thing.. It's the opposite actor putting Visine drops into the partner's eye? That amounts to a certain proximity, and lot of backstage ''cutting'' of the scene so we don't see the technical aspects . What about  those scenes where the guy cries all by himself or when we see tears forming in the eyes without external stimuli?
Are those ''squirts'' supposed to irittate the eye to produce tears or those are the actual tears that have to be seen on one's cheeks streaming down?

I suppose if you're required to start from a dry eye and produce tears on camera, then you better be an expert at that LOL. I've actually seen some dramatic monologues on youtube where some impressive actresses can do just that.

Hey, look i found a list for crying tips about and for actors. I hope it helps a bit..

 
http://plays.about.com/od/basics/ht/How-To-Cry-An-Actors-Guide-To-Crying-And-Tears.htm