Year 9 Drama: Movement Skills
We all use non-verbal communication every day. It is how our bodies
communicate extra meaning to the words that we say.
Facial Expression: we communicate lots of meaning with our eyes, eyebrows,
mouth and facial muscles. Consider what happens to each of these when we are
angry with someone. Our eyebrows cross in the middle and scrunch up, our lips
become thin and tight, we might clench our jaw and our eyes might bulge wide.
What happens when we are happy? Sad?
Gesture: these can be hand or head signals. We might give a thumbs-up when
we approve of something, or shake our heads from side to side when we don’t.
We can curl our finger towards us, to show we want someone to come closer or
hold our hand up, fingers to the ceiling with our palm facing the person to show
them to stop. How many gestures can you think of?
Posture: have you ever noticed someone who looked sad or depressed? How did
you know? Often their shoulders and posture are slumped over. When someone
is very confident they stand up straight, with their shoulders back and head up.
Someone with a bit of ‘attitude’ might stand leaning more on one hip.
Energy: we can move fast or slow. We can sneak or stride with confidence. We
might stand on the spot and fidget nervously. How we move tells the audience
something about how our character feels or what their purpose might be.
Time: the speed or temp with which we move indicates an emotional state of the
character we are playing. In mime slow motion can increase dramatic tension.
Space: the area around the performer; awareness of space in mime is vital to
remember where you have ‘placed’ objects such as a door, glass etc.
Weight: the adjustment of movement to create a sense of force or, as in mime,
the heaviness of an object either seen or unseen by the audience.
“What is Mime”?
Mime is creating illusion through the use of the body. Mime is a form of
performance that uses facial expression, gesture, posture, levels and energy. But
we also create the illusion of imaginary objects, people and locations in an empty
space. It is usually performed without the use of voice or props. A mime artist
may train solely in the art form of Mime for several years, developing skills that
help their ability to create illusion. Although performers have been using mime
on stage since the first plays were staged in Ancient Greece, the most famous
mime artist of the twentieth century was the French artist Marcel Marceau. A
more modern and popular character (who is mostly mimed) is Rowan Atkinson as
Mr. Bean.
It is important to remember that whenever you establish an object or item of
furniture in mime that the audience will not forget the position of the object and
how it is used. Make mental notes (or script them) of marks on the walls and
floor, for example, to help you remember the correct position of mimed doors,
windows and items of furniture.
What are the skills of Mime?
1) The Snap
To emphasise the beginning and end of a movement, mime uses the ‘snap’.
(This is the exercise we did where we pretended to feel a pin pricking the inside
of your palm as you lifted off a flat surface.) You can make the snap with any
part of your body, hands or feet, or even just your eyes moving suddenly.
Sometimes the snap will be a large movement, with your whole body jerking
swiftly into action. At other times it will involve a single, tiny movement like a
flick of the eyes, a quick clenching of the fist, or a sharp turn of the head.
2) Flow
This is where we use flowing movements to create the illusion of something
flowing continuously such as; the sliding of a snake, the steady beat of a bird’s
wings or a human floating weightlessly in space. Flow is the exact opposite of
the snap.
We create flow by beginning a movement in one part of the body and then
making the movement progress through the body without interruption in a
smooth sequence of actions. Think of a smooth Michael Jackson ‘moonwalk’, a
Mexican wave, or break-dancing movements.
3) Isolation
To make mime more clear and expressive we need to learn to separate or
isolate one movement from the next. We need to focus all our concentration on
each individual movement. A simple action such as drinking a glass of water,
actually involves up to ten different movements.
4) Facial Expression
Experts believe that verbal communication
accounts for only 25% of communication between
people. The expressions on our faces tell other
people more about our feelings than anything else
we might say or do. Therefore using facial
expressions is an important part of
communicating in mime.
5) Eye Contact
One of the keys to creating the illusion of smaller
objects in mime is the use of hand-eye
coordination. We tend to look at an object before
we pick it up. Make sure you ‘look’ at the object
first and ‘see’ it clearly in your mind. Pick up and
use the object, imagining its weight, shape and
texture. Make sure your hands accurately
represent the shape of the object.
6) Precision
If our mime is to communicate effectively, each movement must be precise, so
that anyone watching can tell exactly what is happening. One way to achieve
this is to emphasise or slightly exaggerate an action. We can also make our
actions more precise by slowing it down. Normally, when we sit down we just
flop into a chair. However, when we mime sitting down, we first need to isolate
each movement and then slow it down. Slowly and with slight exaggeration, we
mime pulling the chair out, turning our backs to it, lowering our bodies into it, and
relaxing against the back of it.
7) Slow Motion
This is effective for creating visual illusions, such as someone falling from a great
height. (Think The Matrix and Neo dodging the bullet). It is important to build up
a steady rhythm of movement at about half your normal speed of movement.
8) Weight
For any ‘object’ to look real, we must attribute a certain realistic weight to it. We
might show strong force when lifting a heavy object, or vice versa if it is light. If
you believe the weight of the object, the audience will too!