I always wonder how an actor can laugh on cue, and make it look convincing? I also wonder if it feels to them like it feels to me when I try to fake laugh?
Most other parts of acting, or ‘pretending’ are fairly easy for a person who is not shy, but I think laughing seems genuinelly difficult to pull off.
If you find out, tell me. In real life, I’m the type of person that never laughs. I find things generally funny, and typically have an internal chuckle going on, but I just don’t laugh out loud. Unfortunately, this makes people think I’m anti-social/finding them humorless, so I’d love to be able to throw out the fake laugh that sounds convincing.
I find laughing as a character is easier than if you have to actually make it look like you yourself are genuinely laughing…
I suppose it’s to do with getting into the situation… I exect this would be more difficult on film than on stage, as you have a more continuous flow on stage so it’s easier to get “into” it…
I personally find crying the hardest… actually squeezing out the tear… which is why I never agree with people who slag off Hayden Christiansen(sp?)'s acting in the new Star Wars film… it may take a seasoned pro to pull off some of the dialect - but he’s definitely being the character… just look at those tears…
This is how I am with jokes. People tell me jokes and sometimes they are funny, but I just can’t laugh at them. I can be ROFL watching a comedy on TV or if someone does something funny by accident or says something witty. But when they tell a joke… when I hear “Want to hear a joke?” I know that I am highly unlikely to laugh at it.
Your letting your reluctance to have a fake sounding laugh get in your way. Force the laugh. It will sound fake for the first second but you will be able to make it sound real after that. It may even turn into a real laugh.
Acting isn’t exactly the same thing as pretending. A good actor uses emotion as a tool of the craft. It’s neccessary to actually feel the character’s feelings (and, hopefully, the actor can then drop the character’s feelings upon leaving the set for the day).
A good actor’s laugh sounds real because it is real. Whatever it is that the character finds funny at that point in the script, the actor actually finds funny at that point in the performance and so the laugh comes naturally, on a good day.
Some laughs may come from the script, some may come from the director, and some come simply because they felt “right” to the actor at the time (and consequently may not happen in alternate takes).
I just did an experiment while reading this thread. I am no actor but I was able to make myself laugh until my eyes were watering by concentrating on the physical aspects of laughing. It starts with your diaphragm bouncing around and once you get going you are laughing at nothing. I will ber back with more information later. This is interesting.
As the old acting saying goes, death is easy, comedy is hard. I took a speech class in college and the teacher had done a lot of acting, directing etc. and he said, “Tears? No problem. I can turn on the waterworks like a switch. But laughing, sometimes it’s impossible”.
The reason is that laughing is less like crying and more like sneezing. It truely is a basal, immediate, almost reflexive human reaction. Try and do a convincing fake sneeze. Its impossible. Faking a laugh is almost as hard.
He’s not that good an actor: the tears were CGI.