7. Directing Gestures

A sure sign of an inexperienced actor is that they don’t know what to do with their hands. A character’s emotions and motivations are often revealed through their gestures. But new performers are often unaware of how to translate these elements into bodily-kinesthetic actions. To help non-actors create organic, physical motions that serve the story, Mira closely observes, with a documentarian’s eye, their real-life behaviors— their unique movements and ‘tics.’ She then works with them to devise gestures for their character that feel natural, not awkward, and distinctive.

Two examples of devising gestures from real behaviors come from Salaam Bombay! Shafiq Syed, the street kid who played the role of Chaipau, the tea boy, had a habit of holding a hand behind his ear when confused or lost in thought. Mira loved that gesture and what his calloused palms revealed about his rough life.

She asked him to make that same gesture in scenes where his character gets in trouble with his boss. It was a small, subtle way to underline those moments, and completely organic to Shafiq’s natural proclivities. Similarly, the young actress who played Manju had an endearing habit of winking saucily. Mira asked her to pull this expression out during a dance scene, to lend that same sauciness to her character during the dancing scene.

Gestures should ideally help the audience to distinguish one character from another. But sometimes, shared gestures can create a feeling of group cohesion. The perfect example of this is the finger snap from Queen of Katwe. This was a Ugandan gesture that all the children on set were already in the habit of making, and so

Mira embraced and channeled that motion into a meaningful motif. The finger snap served as a way to say “touché” during a chess match. Mira used it as a cutting point for editing as well, and despite the producer cautioning her that she was calling for the gesture too often, the finger snap became a memorable and catchy aspect of the final film. In fact the publicity of the film shows

Lupita teaching the finger snap as it became a rage. To retain the spontaneous, organic nature of gestures during filming, Mira will often call out for certain actions in the moment, even if it means that her voice needs to be removed during the sound mix. In Monsoon Wedding, for instance, there is a tense scene when the characters all pose for a group photograph, following a startling and public revelation of incest. Seeking always to balance dark moments with lightness,

Mira called out for one of the young actors to make his trademark, wide-eyed eyebrow raise— an expression that Mira knew he liked to make in real life, but that would serve to subtly break the tension in the scene.

Don’t hesitate to simply ask your actors to make specific gestures, as long as they come from within. Try not to impose a gesture that you have devised on to your actor who might feel the gesture is not truthful to his or her character.

As Mira explains, you are simply asking for something that a person would normally do, but with your own timing. In other situations, you may actually want to hold back from specifying a gesture, and see what the actor does spontaneously give a description of their character’s motivations. For one scene involving prostitution in Salaam Bombay! , the content was too mature to explain to the girl playing Manju. Instead,

Mira simply told the young actress that “you want to play with your mother, and she’s not there.” The young girl’s luminous eyes, and the shadows in the hallway, did the necessary mood setting.

Mira shares several examples of scenes in Monsoon Wedding where she planned and choreographed gestures far in advance of the shoot, largely because they were crucial to planting certain seeds in the plot that would pay off later. What’s more, these gestures needed to be paired with specific camera movements to reveal something subtle but important to the audience.

For instance, panning from a man’s hand touching a woman’s fingers up to the woman’s face reveals a budding flirtation. Or a woman freezes rigidly in reaction to a man’s offer to pay for her education, but nobody else notices her negative response. These are gestures that reveal character, and trigger questions and expectations for the audience as the story develops.

 

ASSIGNMENTS

Mira describes how her experience in documentary film taught her to become a keen observer of real-life behaviors. Practice your own observation skills, and begin developing your eye for spotting interesting gestures, body movements, and expressions. Set aside some time—a half-hour or so—to observe people in a public gathering spot. This could be a café, a park, a city square, or a busy intersection. Find a place to sit, unfold a newspaper, and pretend to be absent-mindedly enjoying the day. (But in today’s digital age people spend more time looking at their phones than with each other. Put the phone away and engage with life.) Study the people who walk past or who are engaged in conversation nearby. Take note of their non-verbal behaviors, including their facial expressions, their body posture when they walk or sit, what they do with their hands, how they listen and react, and other wordless signals that they use. Are they making eye contact? What is their face showing? Are their shoulders stiff or relaxed? Do they look confident, stressed, or interested? Journal about your observations, and take special note of gestures that were especially memorable, and that seemed to have significance or meaning. If you were casting extras for a scene in your film, which of the people that you observed would you hire? Which of their gestures would you like them to make again, and for what purpose? Train your mind to think in gestures—and transfer this process of observation and application to rehearsals with your actors.

LEARN MORE

For inspiration about how to use gesture in your films, page through Speaking With Hands, by Jennifer Blessing, Kirsten Hoving, and Ralph Rugoff (Guggenheim Museum, 2004). This beautiful coffee table book shares thephotographs of art collector Henry M. Buhl,

who became obsessed with hands. His private collection of more than 1,000 photos contains beautiful, poetic, and striking imagery of fingers, hands, and gestures. The best are included in this catalog, and should get your creative gears turning for how to think about gesture in your own cinematic explorations.