When I was a kid, I always thought that when people kissed in plays or movies, it had to be fake. At least until middle school I thought that there was no way directors could ask their actors to actually kiss people. It was the same with smoking; when people smoked in movies, it had to be a fake cigarette. So what is real? Are there special acting techniques?
Turns out a lot of it is real. When I think back to when I watched “Grease” at age six, it makes me shudder a tiny bit inside. Alexandra Borrie, from NYU Tisch School for the Arts, says in an article for “Seacoast Online” that if you can fake the chemistry, you don’t have to fake the kiss.
Raymond Robinson, an actor in Borrie’s company, says stage kissing is very little like the real thing; stage kissing is extremely technical. With real kissing, says Robinson, it’s all about the kiss; with stage kissing, it’s all about the arms and hands. The actors need to show the audience the chemistry, not each other. By using broad and sweeping hand movements, the audience can see the passion between the actors, even though it is clearly exaggerated.
Most directors have preset head alignments and hand movements. Because the audience of a play is far away from the actors, the motions have to be big and exaggerated, but “French” kissing is almost never practiced on stage. Almost every source says that directors treat kissing scenes just like fighting or dancing scenes.
Anyone who has ever watched a movie rated PG-13 or above knows that screen kissing differs greatly from stage kissing. The camera can go anywhere it wants. This is where the real thing goes down because the audience is much closer to the actors on screen.
There is no passion or sensitivity involved in screen kissing, but a lot of mints and mouthwash instead. Some actors even get tipsy before shooting kissing scenes.
The art of screen kissing is so Hollywood-ized now that MTV even has a Best Kiss Award during their annual movie awards. Recent winners include Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams for “The Notebook,” Heath Ledger and Jake Gylenhaal for “Brokeback Mountain” and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson for “Twilight.” It is now tradition for the actors receiving the award to re-enact the kiss on the award stage.
So ironically, what happens live on stage is less real than what happens recorded on camera. The same goes for smoking. I was flabbergasted when I found out that actors are willing to smoke a real cigarette on screen. If the actor really is against smoking a real cigarette, a herbal cigarette is used instead.
On stage, fake cigarettes are used often. Although it may look real from far away, if you really pay attention, it is not at all realistic. In order to get the fake smoke out of the fake cigarette, the actor simply puffs through the fake cigarette, which also creates an orangish light and releases the smoke out the end.
This, of course, is nothing like the real thing, as no smoke comes out of the actor’s mouth or nose, hence the use of real ones on screen.
Through my research, I discovered something very interesting. There is such a thing as a nudity clause. Actors in films have contracts that say how naked they can get in films. Often stunt bodies are used.
A lot more concrete thinking is involved in things you wouldn’t think involved anything technical. As Borrie says, the more you pay attention to minute details, the less awkward it is for the actors. From smooching to smoking to sultry scenes, nothing is left to chance. Who would have guessed?
1 comments