So let's start with basics here. How to pronounce mime? If you read special letters, then it's "mēm". If not try saying "dime" and then just replace "d" with "m" and you now know how to say mime in english. But how to pronounce pantomime you ask? Well that's easy. just add "panto" to the "mime". There is no trick to saying "panto", it's pronounced exactly as you'd want to pronounce it with your basic english understanding.
But let's get on with it and answer the important questions, you are curious about knowing:
1. How mime works?
This is a tricky question but let's see what we can do about answering it.
In order for mime to work perfectly for the audience there are several steps which should be followed:
A mime needs to imagine the world, the objects and the people in the world he is about to show the audience. He/She should be completely immersed in the imagined world he/she is miming.
By being and acting the story inside the imagined world, mime interacts and feels emotions that are true in that moment and takes the audience with him/her into the mimed world and into the story he/she is portraying.
The audience is pulled into the mimed world and imagines similar world based on their experiences and follows the mimed story easily.
The audiences ability to follow mime is based on their imagination skill and also on mime's technique skill because the more skilled he/she is, the clearer is what audience see.
2. How to mime for beginners?
A very good question hardly explained by a text form but I'll do my best to explain it.
It's all about imagination and mimicking real life, people and situations and after that possibly inventing your own.
So to start, fire up that imagination and start touching things that are not there. Imagine a wall, the colour of the wall, the texture of the wall and after that try to touch it where you've imagined it and feel it under your hand.
You can apply this to whatever you're trying to mime and even add trying it physically yourself or watching how does it look when other people are doing it.
And if you wish to bring it to another level don't hesitate to find yourself a proper mime who also teaches to guide you in becoming as good as you wish to become and enjoying the creativity and all the fun that doing mime brings. You can for example find online mime classes even here.
3. How to mime on TikTok?
Well this is even better question. It is a bit easier because of the 2D world of camera but also pantomime is a very 3D theatre art so you will find out not everything works well on camera.
There is not much to say here, you just have to find out. You can find out by following and watching mime creators on TikTok who actually make mime there so the one and only who made it viral online with mime @silentrocco . Or the crazy australians who keep saying they don't do mime and are not mimes but they do and are @the_umbilical_brothers . Or you can follow me and see how @contemporarymime interests the netizens of TikTok, where I not only do mime but also try to educate and bring the mime to everyone out there.
4. How to mime dance? and How to mime a song?
You can mime any dance without being a dancer. This is actually what is happening on TikTok all these years and what mimes are doing for centuries.
The people of TikTok are not in most cases dancers but they still dance their shoes off in countless dance challenges over the years and for years to come. They don't know this but they are actually mimes because they are mimicking dancers or in other words, they watch real dancers and then try to do it as they are doing it. And that is the core of pantomime and everyone is using it because it's so natural for us humans.
To the other question, miming a song was popular at one point and I believe it will return soon again. It is very simple, like miming a dance. You don't really have to be a mime, you just need to have a sharp mind and be fast.
If you want to mime a song, you need to know the song really well or study it word by word and phrase by phrase if not. Next you want to figure out how to show the words or phrases by gestures or acting it out without words and when you're ready and rehearsed a lot, you can mime the whole song by miming out the lyrics and emotions generated by music.
5. How did mime start? or How did mime originate?
The art of mime is as old as humanity. I could arguably say that mime is the oldest form of communication and the oldest art form on Earth.
Because before humans could communicate by speaking and language developed, they were "speaking" by showing and thus miming. And yes, the oldest art form because it was the oldest form of entertainment for the tribe of human beings chilling by the fire. The oldest mimes were tribesmen or tribeswomen miming their awesome hunting adventure to their tribe, recreating the deed in the light of the fire for everyone's entertainment.
And then there was the shaman of the tribe who was using mime to communicate with the spirit world, the spirits and guides would "possess" the shaman with or without the use of various drugs and psycho-active herbs and the shaman would become the spirit and mime his message for the tribe.
Those are the prehistoric origins of mime but first codified versions of mime and pantomime began in ancient Rome and Greece where mimes where actually invented as a word with a meaning and designation. But more about that in some other blog about the history of mime and pantomime.
BONUS: 6. How to - mime makeup? and How to - mime costume?
The last two questions are really not well explained by text but I will do my best. Also I want to make a quick note that you don't need the typical mime white face makeup or stereotypical costume to be a mime unless you want to become the oldschool white faced mime and perform some marceau style pantomime. But back to the questions.
First, you need a proper white face paint. There are basically two types. One is mixed with a bit of water and painted on face almost like you would paint with watercolours and the other one is a greasy face paint you can start applying right away.
So how to make your mime makeup? Just follow these steps or look for a video on youtube:
It's recommended to first use any face cream as a base and also for your skin to have protection from the face paint itself.
After that you can start applying the colour, there are several different approaches out there and even more mask styles, probably as many as there are mimes out there. But generally you want to either paint a round mask on your face or paint the whole front of your face with the white base colour. It can vary from semi transparent to fully white.
Now you need to fix the colour by using a pouder, it can be even pouder for kid's butts, you don't need anything special or fancy.
You will see that you basically erased your traits so you should use your eyeliner to highlight your eyes, lipstick to highlight your mouth and you can actually play around more and either highlight your own eyebrows or paint new set of eyebrows wherever you want and in any shape you want
Last thing you can do is play around some more and customize your white mime mask with actually whatever you want. It can be a black tear under the eye, it can be super custom eyeliner or lipstick use to make shapes. Or you can even use shadowing to make you look old or just different. And thet's it! You're ready!
And to make a typical mime costume you need black pants, either black or striped shirt and
possibly a berret or other hat that goes with it and helps you look fabulous.
But my advice to you is: Get creative!
It is up to you how will you make your makeup or if and what will you as a mime wear. Think about the piece that you will perform and try to costume up and do the makeup accordingly. It should all support and make your performance better. Don't dress up like a mime only because that is how mime is supposed to look. It is not true for a long time now and you can be your own mime without the mime makeup and without the striped costume of the previous century.
Be free, be creative, be a mime of 21st century!
I hope all your "HOW" questions were answered here.
But if you have still more questions don't hesitate to drop by my website www.contemporarymime.com or contact me @contemporarymime on any social media and ask me more or get an online class of mime with a glass of wine.
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