Pantomime is one of the oldest theater arts, where the mime artist tells something using only his body, without speaking. Although often used as a joke, pantomime is actually a fun and cheerful activity for both serious actors and people who want to have fun with their friends. All you need is a will and a little direction.
Step
Step 1. Dress up like a mime artist (optional)
If you want to dress up like a mime artist, try:
- Put on mime makeup. A mime artist is instantly recognizable by her makeup -- white paint all over her face (but not her neck), thick black eye shadow with a "tear" shape running down the middle of her cheekbones, dark eyebrows, and lipstick. black or dark red. You might also want to add some blush to create a playful feminine mime.
- Put on a mime costume. Serious mime artists may no longer wear classic "costumes," but these costumes are very recognizable for Halloween and costume parties. Look for a black and white horizontal striped shirt, ideally with a boat neck collar and three-quarter sleeves. Wear dark pants, a black sash, and white wrist-length gloves to complete your look. No need to wear a bolster hat. You can wear a black or red beret.
Step 2. Use your body to talk
Talking or saying words is not necessary during pantomime. Just use facial expressions, language and posture to get your point across.
- Use a mirror (or audience) to determine which moves best convey certain emotions, attitudes, and reactions. Long mirrors are indispensable for beginners, but remember that mirrors are a tool you should leave when show time comes.
- A video camera, if you have one, is a very useful tool as well.
Step 3. Start with the basic mime technique
There are some basic exercises that most mime artists need to learn.
- Develop your imagination. Your imagination is the most important thing in creating illusions. For a mime artist, believing that illusions are real is very important. Naturally, the more real an illusion is perceived by an artist, the more realistic it will appear to the audience. This can be achieved through practice. For example, imagine that a wall is a real object. Feel the walls in different textures, for example rough, smooth, wet, dry, cold or hot. Use the same technique as you practice "all" types of illusions. You will eventually be able to react naturally to an illusion if you believe that it is real.
- Use a fixed point. A fixed point may be more commonly referred to as a 'pointe fixe', however, the word is of French origin meaning 'fixed point'. The premise is very simple: the mime artist determines a point with his body, and stays still in that area. This technique is the basis of all illusions that a mime artist can create.
- Add a line at a fixed point. A line at a fixed point is initially created by simply adding another fixed point, thus creating a distance between the two points. The relative distance between the two points can also be the basis of the 'building wall'. Thus, this line can change as long as the two points remain connected to each other. Examples of the use of this concept include the 'pantomime wall'.
- Create dynamic lines. Lines alone can't style the points, that's why dynamic lines are used. This idea can be applied to 'pull tug', but it can actually be used in any style of use in an illusion. The secret of this concept is to harmonize the impact of the illusion of style on the body. Thus, dynamic lines are basically an understanding of physics applied to the human body. This may sound complicated, but you can easily imagine it. Find a wall and place your hands on its surface at shoulder level. Gently press the wall with your hand. When you try to press against a wall, try to feel the pressure in your body. You should be able to feel the pressure in your hands, and of course, in your shoulders and hips. Also try different positions, and feel how they affect the pressure in your body. Dynamic lines require you to remember the effect of the style described in the exercise above to create the illusion.
- "Manipulation" of space and objects. This phrase is another way of saying "to make something out of nothing into something". This technique is the most complicated technique to explain because it uses many elements of the previous three techniques. This technique is best served with the illusion of an example: dribbling a basketball. Using only one hand, the mime will imitate many of the concepts behind Dynamic Lines, but using only one hand, he uses only one point. Using two points, the mime artist will turn the point into a shape: a rounded palm with the fingers curled over it. This shape describes the "space" in which the illusion takes place, and allows the basketball as an "object" to appear in the illusion. This "space/thing" manipulation can be used to create any object, character, or event using this principle.
Step 4. Take the rope
Try to pretend to see a hanging rope before you try to climb it.
Climb up and down to show the best view. When you reach the peak, wipe your sweat on the eyebrows. Climbing a rope is a very difficult illusion to do. Imagine and feel your overall body weight. If you actually climb the rope, your muscles will stretch and tighten. Your face will show a tired expression. Thus, wiping sweat from your brows is a natural reaction. If you've never climbed a real rope before, do so under supervision at a gym. Remember the actions and reactions that occur, even if your illusions are not executed in exactly the same motion as reality, your subconscious (or imaginary) memories should be just as real. (See first note on "Warnings" to always warm up before attempting this illusion)
Step 5. Pretend to be in a box
If you're in an invisible box, you can squeeze the air in front of you with your hands, first with your palms, then with your fingers. Use one hand to touch the edge of your imaginary box, while looking for the opener to exit. If you want, you can eventually pretend to find a box opener and open it dramatically with both hands, to show that you succeeded.
- Climbing up the stairs. To show the illusion of climbing a ladder, take an imaginary ladder from the air. Place one foot of the ladder onto the floor, just as if you were actually laying the ladder. Climb up the steps (moving your hands together too!) when you raise one leg and come back down when the other foot reaches the same step. Change hands and feet each time you "go up". Keep your eyes on the front, even if you see your footing as well. (If the ladder is high, occasionally look down, and then forward for a humorous effect - gently bend your head, and then look forward quickly, with a frightened expression!) Perform the same movement with your legs as if climbing real stairs.
- Lean. Pretend to lean against a lamppost, wall, or table. This may sound easy, but it takes strength and coordination to be able to lean in the air. The basic backrest movement consists of two parts. Start by spreading your feet shoulder width apart.
- For the top: hold your arms slightly away from your body, with your elbows bent so your forearms are parallel to the floor and your palms (wrist relaxed slightly) close to your body. Now raise your shoulders while moving your chest forward towards your elbows (keep your elbows in the same place!).
- Lower part: at the same time, slightly bend your knees, put the weight of your body on the bent leg. The overall result of this movement should be that your elbow stays in place, but looks like your weight has dropped to an imaginary point where it's resting. Be sure to only bend the leg under the arm you are lifting. Keep the other leg straight as this will make the illusion even more convincing.
- Watch your movements in the mirror, or use a video camera to see how effective this technique will be for you. Sometimes, the most effective way is to do this technique in a relaxed manner, without going overboard at all.
- For a more active leaning show, you can also incorporate tripping, slipping, and slipping motions.
Step 6. Use the wind
Pretend it's very windy and you're having trouble standing up straight. Let the wind swing you back and forth. To make it even more witty, add a difficult move using an umbrella that keeps blowing backwards.
Step 7. Pantomime eating
Watching eating pantomimes can be a lot of fun. Pretend to eat a hamburger or hot dog so recklessly that all the contents fall on your clothes. Accidentally splashed ketchup in your eyes. Or try peeling a banana and slipping on the skin.
Step 8. Walk in one place
One of the famous moves of pantomime is steady walking. It is also one of the most difficult moves. This walking movement is very different from a real walking movement. The "back" leg in pantomime does not bear any weight, but "depicts" the weight-bearing leg in a normal gait. This is the reason why the "back" leg must remain straight throughout the illusion - because it "looks" as if it is bearing weight. Here's how to do it:
- Starting with good posture is very important. You have to hold your abdomen tight enough because it moves easily when you're not paying attention. Lift your shoulders and back - don't slouch, your chest and neck should also lift - but don't puff them out.
- To start, place your entire weight on the heel of one foot. This foot is your "front" foot. Bend the knee of the front leg slightly as you do this. With your other foot, or "back" foot, place your toe in line with your front toe. However, as long as you move your back foot parallel to your back foot, don't touch the floor with your back foot. Keep your back leg perfectly straight.
- With your front foot, slowly lower your heel to the floor and straighten your leg. As you do this, move your back leg back while keeping it parallel to the floor and straight - you should feel some tension in the back of your leg. Push the back leg as far as you can while maintaining the up position, as well as your balance.
- Once your back leg is pushed as far as it can go, bring it back in line with your front leg. Try to lift the heel of your back foot first, as if walking normally. Bend your leg as you pull your back leg forward.
- Do not touch the floor with the front of your back foot. If you pay attention to your feet, their position is now opposite to the starting position. Your front foot is now behind you and vice versa.
- The transfer of weight between these two legs is the most important aspect of the illusion! You should be able to transfer your weight from your front leg to your back leg smoothly. At the same time, you need to lift the front leg and put it on the back. This move takes a little practice to master.
- With all the movement in your legs, don't forget to move your upper body too! Swing your arms so that your front leg is always opposite your front hand. Inhale as you pull your back leg forward; Exhale as you return the front leg back to the back.
- If you don't move your back leg in line with your front leg, you can shift your weight and start moonwalking!
Step 9. Make the mime more interesting
You can laugh, or you can make pantomime a more complete art form. If you create a story from pantomime, you can make the audience more interested and give a true artistic touch in mime art. Think of a "story" you want to tell. Remember that pantomime can be beautiful and immersive art if done well. Use one of the examples above:
- It's windy (wind/umbrella pantomime) and you want to go to the hamburger stand to meet a friend whose cat is trapped in a tree. Your friend asks you to climb a ladder to save the cat (ladder pantomime). When you return the cat (the mime holds the cat who screams and refuses to be helped), your friend buys you a hamburger (the mime eats/tomato sauce carelessly), and while leaving, you slip on a banana peel that falls on the ground.
- If you want a more serious pantomime, create an atmosphere with clothing, makeup, and lighting. Think serious stories beforehand. For example, you might want to tell about a homeless person who sleeps outdoors all winter. Draw sad faces, wear tattered clothes, and use dim lighting. Think of a story that allows you to pantomime your sadness at the homeless as you seek shelter at night. Pantomime prepares a bed under the bridge with only cardboard as a bed. Pantomime of cold and difficulty sleeping. Show sadness to reflect on this character.
Step 10. Make yourself an object
For example, you can use the arm as a swinging door to create the atmosphere you want.
Method 1 of 1: More Information
- There are several well-known circus and theater artists who have mastered and combined several mime and clown techniques very well. Joseph Grimaldi, the father of English Pantomime theater in the late 1700s who built the art of witty pantomime and speed song as his lasting legacy.
- 200 years earlier, the line between clowns and mime was unclear as the triumph of the commedia dell'arte and other performances spread across Europe was banned by the Catholic church. The famous mime artist Pierrot has a strong relationship with the Italian comedic characters Gian Farina, Peppe Nappa and Pedrolino. An art form that influenced Shakespeare, Moliere, and Lope de Vega among others. The popularity of this art has endured for three hundred years in many countries.
- In the 20th century there were also many artists who were famous for their mime skills. From the circus field, you may know the Swiss clown Grock, the legendary Lou Jacobs & Otto Griebling of the Ringling Bros., as well as Leonid Yengibarov and Anotoly Nikulyn of the Soviet-era Moscow Circus. As clowns, they can entertain the audience only by miming.
- From theatre, music, film and television, it's easy to love Bert Williams, Chaplin, Keaton, Stan Laurel, Harpo Marx, Red Skelton, Marcel Marceau, Georges Carl and Dick Van Dyke. Their influence can be seen very clearly today on the artists of the New Vaudeville Movement.
- Penn & Teller, Bill Irwin, David Shiner, Geoff Hoyle, Robin Williams, and John Gilkey are examples of well-known mime and clown artists. The more you practice your discipline, the sooner you will begin to understand mime and clown techniques to create laughter.
Tips
- "A mime artist must have a body like a gymnast, a mind like an actor, and a heart like a poet." - Etienne Deroux, "father of modern mime"
- Moonwalking and breakdancing are performed based on mime techniques.
- If you're really interested in a career in mime, consider taking a mime class at a school or performing arts group.
- The white makeup in pantomime comes from the traditional clown tradition. This makeup is used in both shows to emphasize the character traits and expressions so that they can be seen clearly from a distance. White makeup was originally meant to show a simple and innocent character. Today's traditional mime makeup tradition is evolving by using more stylized symbols while simplifying the color and line themes.
- Many people who have experienced mime rehearsals are now known as "physical theater" to avoid the social stigma often associated with pantomime. Most of these artists no longer use traditional mime costumes or makeup.
- In ancient times, mime artists did not use white makeup but only simple stage makeup.
- Great mime artists are highly sought after in theatre, film, and circus. Think of Cirque du Soleil and the science fiction films where the mime artist expresses his emotions without words and creates a link between human hope and the imaginary world and its manifestation in words.
- While pantomimes may seem like cartoons, don't be afraid of more serious themes. Most well-known mime artists, such as Marcel Marceau and Charlie Chaplin, primarily play brave but unfortunate characters (Bip and The Tramp, respectively).
- This article discusses only certain styles of pantomime - namely the mime style or the illusion pantomime. There are hundreds of other forms of pantomime that have little or no resemblance to Marcel Marceau or Charlie Chaplin.
- Mime artists are known for their white makeup and dark eye shadow, as well as other facial expressions to exaggerate their emotions. A black-and-white striped top, white gloves and a black hat also complement the traditional mime artist costume. This dress and make-up has become a tradition of many famous mime artists, including the mime legend Marcel Marceau. However, you don't have to dress like that; in fact, such a look is considered a cliché by modern mime artists who largely avoid it.
Warning
- As above, never perform in a public place without shelter (such as a car, locker room, or other room - don't use a public restroom.)
- The fear of street mime artists can sometimes become uncontrollable. Never perform in a public place without a close friend or manager.
- Pantomime requires strenuous practice. Don't try to practice mime if you're having trouble practicing normally.
- Distinguish between pantomime and clown. Pantomime and comics represent different groups of humorous roles, and while they may seem related, they are fundamentally different.
- To avoid training injuries, always warm up before practicing mime; pantomime requires the same level of agility as dancing or other acting.
