How to Mime



Sometimes called the "silent art," mime is the art of acting without words, sometimes (not always) without sound and usually with very few if any props. Miming appears very simple but it takes a lot of skill and practice to make it appear realistic. Mime study can be very useful, not only for actors and other performers, but for anyone who needs to communicate clearly.

Steps   

  1. Use your body to speak. When miming, talking is not an option. You do not want to cross the line between acting and mime. Instead, use facial expressions and make use of your whole body to do the talking. Use a mirror to assess what movements are the most successful in conveying emotions, feelings, attitudes and reactions.
  2. Start with basic mime actions. There are some fairly standard techniques that mime artists begin with. These include manipulating imaginary objects (such as walls, balls, ropes, etc.), walking in place, climbing imaginary ladders, leaning, and so on.

    • Imaginary objects:

      • Grab a rope. Pretend to have a rope dangling before you and attempt to climb it. Slide down and clamber back up for best effect. When you reach the top, wipe the perspiration off your brow.
      • A ladder. To show climbing a ladder, grab at imaginary ladder rungs going up in the air. Place the ball of one foot on the ground, as you would put it on a ladder rung. Pull down on the rungs (keep the hands moving together!) as you go up on your toes, and then drop back down with the opposite foot now "on a rung." Alternate feet each time you "climb." Keep your focus upwards, as though you were looking at the place to which you are climbing. (If it's a tall ladder, look downwards occasionally for comic effect - tilt your head slowly and carefully, just enough to look downwards, and then look forward quickly, with an expression of alarm!) Make your legs do the same movements as if your feet were clambering up steps.
    • Pretend to be in a box. If you are in an invisible box, you can press the air out in front of you with your hands, first your palm and then your fingers. Act as if you are trying to find a way out of this invisible box by touching its corners and sides. Make sweeping hand movements across the "edges" of your imaginary box, as you try to find the lid and your way out. If you want, you can eventually find the lid and flip it open dramatically with both arms, in a triumphant gesture.

    • The lean. Pretend to be leaning against a lamp post, wall or a counter. It might sound easy but takes quite a lot of strength and coordination to "lean" on nothing. The basic lean has two parts. Start with the feet about shoulder-width apart.

      • For the top part: Hold your arm slightly away from your body, with the elbow bent so that your forearm is parallel to the ground and your hand (wrist relaxed slightly) is near your torso. Now raise your shoulder as you move your chest towards your elbow (keeping the elbow at the same point in space!).
      • The bottom part: at the same time, bend your knee slightly, taking your weight onto the bent leg. The net effect should be that your elbow stays where it is, but it looks as though your weight has settled onto the imaginary place where your elbow rests.
      • Watch in a mirror, or use a video camera to see how effective the technique is. It's sometimes most effective to do this technique casually, with very little exaggeration at all.
      • For a more active show of leaning, the act can also incorporate stumbling, sliding off and missing the leaned-on object altogether.
  3. Take on the wind. Pretend that it is very windy and that you are having a hard time standing up in it. Let the wind buffet you to and fro. For added amusement, include a struggle with an umbrella that keeps turning inside out.
  4. Mime eating. It can very amusing to watch a mime of eating. Pretend to be consuming a very sloppy hamburger or hot dog, with all the contents slopping down the front of your clothing. Accidentally squirt some ketchup towards your eye. Or try peeling a banana and then slipping over on the peel.
  5. Make the mime interesting. You can go for a one-off laugh or you can try to raise mime to a higher art form. If you create a story from your mime, you will be engaging your audience and providing true artistic resonance to the art of miming. Think in advance of a "tale" you would like to tell. To take some of the examples above:

    • It is a windy day (wind/umbrella mime) and you wish to walk to the hamburger stand where you meet a friend who has a cat stuck up a tree. Your friend asks you to climb the ladder to rescue the cat (ladder mime). When you return the cat (mime holding a squirming and ungrateful cat), your friend treats you to a hamburger (sloppy, ketchup mime) and just as you leave, you fail to notice a banana peel lying on the ground...
    • Charlie Chaplin
      Charlie Chaplin
      If you wish to mime something more serious, adopt a mood with your clothing, make-up and lighting. Think out a serious tale in advance. For instance, you may wish to highlight the plight of the homeless sleeping out in the cold during winter. Paint on a sad face, wear tattered clothing and use dim lighting. Think through a story that allows you to mime trudging despair as the homeless person seeks shelter for the night. Mime setting up a sleeping space under a bridge with only a cardboard box for a bed. Mime shivering and inability to sleep well. Project sadness to reflect the plight of this person.


Tips   

  • If you are really interested in pursuing a career in mime, consider taking a mime course with a theater school or dramatic arts group.
  • Typical black and white mime artist make-up
    Typical black and white mime artist make-up
    Mime artists are renowned for using blank white face make-up with black outlining the eyes and other facial features to exaggerate the emotions. A black and white striped top, black gloves and a black top hat are also features of a traditional mime artist's costume. This outfit and make-up has been a tradition of many famous mime artists, including the legendary Marcel Marceau. However, you do not need to dress this way; in fact, it is considered so cliché by modern mime artists that the majority of them avoid it.
  • A very good mime artist is highly sought after in such fields as theater, movies and the circus. Think of Cirque du Soleil and science fiction films, where mime artists can express emotions without words and create a bridge between our human expectations and those of the dreamworld and other-wordly manifestations.
  • Did you know that moonwalking and breakdancing have borrowed from mime?


Warnings   

  • To avoid stretch injuries, always warm up prior to attempting mime exercises; miming requires as much agility as dance or acting.