# How do they get babies to cry in movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382 "2006-02-27T22:11:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/1 "2006-02-27T22:11:19Z")
Yes, I know that babies tend to cry a lot anyway, but a lot of scenes specifically require the baby to be crying as part of the story at that moment. How do they ensure the babies are crying when they need to be, especially in scenes where the baby begins happily, but then bursts into tears. I imagine editing plays a role, but as for the actual crying-on-cue part, do they simply wait until the baby is crying to film (seems impractical)? Pinch the baby (forgive me but that just seems so… mean!)? Take away his pacifier at a key moment? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/2 "2006-02-27T22:14:55Z")
Just waiting for the baby would work most of the time. This is B-unit work, surely. If all else fails, fix it in post. (Cut away, FX of crying baby) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/3 "2006-02-27T22:19:39Z")
With the limits on how long babies are allowed on set (I confess that I don’t know the specifics) it seems that waiting for the baby to change states of mind would be difficult. I’m referring mainly to scenes where we can actually see the baby crying, not where we just hear it off-screen. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/4 "2006-02-27T22:24:05Z")
I always figured the baby’s mother was standing a few feet away. It made sense for the baby to be crying for his mother. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/5 "2006-02-27T22:29:40Z")
I considered that but it seems to add the extra risk of having the baby also reaching for the mother off camera, as babies are wont to do, which doesn’t seem desirable… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/6 "2006-02-27T22:34:23Z")
Don’t they use a point-ed stick? ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/7 "2006-02-27T22:35:09Z")
Here’s another thread on this subject.[how do they make babies cry](https://boards.straightdope.com/http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=297281&highlight=babies+cry%2A) ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/8 "2006-02-27T22:36:41Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=297281&highlight=babies+cry\*](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=297281&highlight=babies+cry%2A) My link doesn’t seem to work, so here it is again. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/9 "2006-02-27T22:39:29Z")
In this day and age, I’m sure they have pre-recordings of babies crying, so it’s hardly an issue. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/10 "2006-02-27T22:41:07Z")
Thanks for that; the one definitive sounding answer there seemed to be along the lines of my “steal the pacifier” thought - take a toy away from the baby. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/11 "2006-02-27T22:42:33Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > In this day and age, I’m sure they have pre-recordings of babies crying, so it’s hardly an issue. Well, as I mentioned, I’m not referring to scenes where we only hear a baby crying, but scenes where we actually see the baby crying. What prompted the question tonight was watching “Sylvia”; there were quite a few shots of the baby bawling her poor little head off, on camera, in the scene. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/12 "2006-02-27T23:01:17Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Well, as I mentioned, I’m not referring to scenes where we only hear a baby crying, but scenes where we actually see the baby crying. What prompted the question tonight was watching “Sylvia”; there were quite a few shots of the baby bawling her poor little head off, on camera, in the scene. Special effects? I don’t know much about making movies but I know that mostly they are filmed out of sequence and assembled in the editing process. All you would need would be to have the baby, who could even be at home, and a hand camera. Whenever the baby cries take a close up. The baby doesn’t have to cry on cue. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/13 "2006-02-28T04:51:00Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Yes, I know that babies tend to cry a lot anyway, but a lot of scenes specifically require the baby to be crying as part of the story at that moment. How do they ensure the babies are crying when they need to be, especially in scenes where the baby begins happily, but then bursts into tears. WAG Pinch the p out of him/her! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/14 "2006-02-28T06:58:56Z")
Without reading the linked to thread, my understanding was that almost always they use twins–just the same as they do with dogs and such. You still need to wait and try to do things off-camera like making a face, but it gives you the choice to pick the baby with the better/worse temperment dependent on what is needed for the scene. And yes, sometimes it can take a whole lot of tries to get things to work right. I was on a set once and I can say that while trained dogs are amazingly impressive, getting a cat or a rat to do what they have been trained to do can take an hour and even then it’s not clear whether the animal just happened to do the right thing or actually did it on purpose. But yep, you just had to wait. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/15 "2006-02-28T07:30:02Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > …getting a cat or a rat to do what they have been trained to do can take an hour and even then it’s not clear whether the animal just happened to do the right thing or actually did it on purpose. But yep, you just had to wait. Heh. Cats only do stuff if they feel like it. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-get-babies-to-cry-in-movies/346382/16 "2006-02-28T07:44:42Z")
To address the title question: Their mothers choose a seat next to me in the audience.