ACT TWO - RISING ACTION
5. DEUX EX MACHINA
OUT OF THE BLUE - JAN BRONK MIME THERAPY - FACIAL NERVE PARALYSIS
CAPTURING 21 EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION - THE FACE IS A POEM - PUTTING IT TO THE TEST
MIRROR OF MASKED FACIAL EXPRESSION: BODY LANGUAGE - SKIN - THE GREAT STONE FACE
WHAT IS AN EMOTION, we needed more information and Ekman, Darwin guided us.
PAUL EKMAN - THE SMILE - MICRO EXPRESSION - SNEER
COMPOUND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION - FACS and AUs -6 BASIC EMOTIONS
OUT OF THE BLUE
In the fall of 2014 Kjell Weewer and I visit the VU (Free University) in Amsterdam. While we study muscle contractions in the face and design the first mask, images from the 1970’s popped into my head and I see former teacher Jan Bronk, his face painted white, with anatomical drawings of his facial muscles painted on top.
He has had a big impact on me. Jan Bronk could isolate and articulate facial muscles like no other.
From 1952 (Stichting Nederlandse Pantomime, Foundation for Dutch Pantomime) until his death in 1985 mime player Jan Bronk was instrumental to developing mime art in the Netherlands into an autonomous theater discipline, not only because of the performances by his pantomime group Theatergroep Carrousel, but also because of his influence on the Mime School. From 1972 until 1985 Jan Bronk is director of the Dutch Mime Center in Amsterdam. In 1974 he introduces a treatment based on corporal mime techniques. These exercises prove very effective in the revalidation of symptoms after a facial paresis like a crooked face, limited mobility or involuntary muscular movements. Jan Bronk’s Mime Therapy is based on the principle that control of the facial expression improves when a conscious connection is made between physical expression and emotions, and between body movements and facial expression. It rehabilitates facial expression.
JAN BRONK
A flash. A sudden recollection of images in recordings of mime actor Jan Bronk gives me a 'divine' out of the blue input.
It is not only underlining the need for further anatomical analysis of the emotion expressions in the face, but also gives an enormous history of mask theater. The context and insights of mime and mask theater begins to play a major role in the research of the emotions and the emotion masks. In the first instance by the idea behind the nearby Neutral Mask by Jacques Lecoq and the piece of fabric covering device by Etienne Decroux, but also by the Commedia dell'arte masks and maskdesigners Sartori. In fact, my entire education and experience in the mime theater world comes to my aid! Our view on the design and application of the emotion masks is broadened and we learn to look at it from the delivered insights. The historical line of the mask, mask play and the history of physical theater is further studied and uncovers on its merits. We look at the Commedia dell'arte masks, we look at the idea and philosophy behind the key masks of Jacques Lecoq, we look at the corpereal mime technique of Etienne Decroux and his articulation of expression and we look at physical action - gesture - gestus as main focus point in physical theater: Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Grotowski, Dario Fo, Brecht. Our research takes us in a broad valley of the history of physical mask play all the way to Greek Tragedy and Comedy, Carnival, the Roman Atellan Comedy. It has played a major role in the development of the emotion masks. The most important backgrounds are completed in a timeline in the Epilogues.
MIME THERAPY - FACIAL NERVE PARALYSIS
|
|
CAPTURING 21 EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION
We begin to capture the 21 expressions of emotion, as mentioned in PNAS publication, on film. We successfully manage this a few times in one take. Sometimes the result is astounding. As expressions slowly move from one to another, occasionally a short pause occurs. This test shows it would be impossible to work mechanically: because although this would create muscle contractions, it will not lead to any heartfelt expression.
When we perform the expressions of emotion on command, we find it did not work well. The expression lacks heart. The connection you make from the inside through the felt impulse or the imagination is crucial to the conviction. When muscles move on command or through rational decision, an expression will show, but it will lack credibility because there is no intrinsic connection. External focus and the inner self seem to be disconnected. Control and (over)thinking have a negative effect on the dynamics. This fits with Paul Ekman’s remarks about inherent duration and the dynamics of expressions of emotion. Some expressions have a lengthy development, others last much shorter. Being surprised, appalled or shocked definitely have their own short term dynamics, especially when compared to the expression of sadness or fear.
It also means that the dynamics and development of an expression in processing have an effect on its meaning. In the case of compound expression it is also of importance at what moment the expression is defined:
Happily surprised will have a different dynamics and development in processing than surprised happy because of their starting points. It is about priority and order. Where does an compound expression of emotion start and what does it evolve into?
 To avoid feeling out of place, we allow
ourselves to find security in understanding from the title or name, so we know
how to respond and what is expected.
During my research this element stood out prominently: showing emotions and repressing them is paramount to feeling safe. On stage this is called tension. Being afraid or constantly having your body and your impulses blocked because you are tense and stressed can get in the way of producing and performing on stage. The stage is never a safe place and actors go to any lengths to look for the limits of what is possible. We look for the uncomfortable, the dilemma: I call this ‘the struggle’, and ‘it should chafe’, or ‘getting lost’. It may just be acting and fiction, just like any book (and therefore safe), but the theatrical reality or performance can hit close to home and is only separated from the reality by a thin veil. |
MIRROR OF THE MASKED FACIAL EXPRESSION: BODY LANGUAGE
It is not only the face that expresses emotion. Our entire physical being, our body language, our gesticulation can express a myriad of emotions through our posture, tension and dynamics. Body language is just as important as facial expressions, which are easily misinterpreted without context. It is vital to realize that our research on masks have a relation to body language. When we use a mask on stage we only show a frozen expression on our face. Because the face is stilled we need to compensate with body language. This phenomenon is vital to training actors with masks: it starts up the physical communication, which in turn stimulates and refines it. When you put on a mask, you first want to look at the expression to know what it is. In the tests, almost every participating student walks –almost automatically – to the mirror to look at themselves in the mask. After the first series, I decide to leave the mirror out of the room. I also chose to withhold the names of the expression masks.
It’s a strong mechanism, a tendency to control and check our surroundings. If we preclude this, shut it out, the actor can listen and observe better and connect more with his imagination. The control, the reasoning, the explanation (psychology) is eliminated and the physical impulse is rewarded. The so-called mirror neurons are reflected in the mask’s expression: behind the mask, the actor’s face matches the mask’s expression. This is remarkable. When an actor takes off the mask, the same expression and intention in the face remains for a time.
SKIN
A mask is like a coat, a skin you can put on. It is a stilled expression. The face is frozen, the expression and emotion suspended and caught. Masks made only for figurative or esthetic purposes (for example, to hang on a wall) are not included here. Festive carnival or Venetian masks and other masks worn for decoration are also not taken into account, nor are tattoos or other skin decorations.
A mask speaks, lives, wants to be performed with. Facial expressions mostly show emotion: the different textures change shape. The skin, fat, muscle and connective tissue in the face are moved around. Especially around the nose, mouth, eyes and ears a lot of pushing and pulling is going on. In a more subtle way, the skin on the top of the head, the ears, the chin and the shape and direction of the head also play a role in the expression. Do the ears move? The color of our face and neck also convey meaning. Hairs that stand on end? Craning of the neck? Growing pale? Baring teeth? Is the nose turned up? Are the cheeks flushed? Are the eyes averted? Or dilated? Do they sparkle? Our language has many ways to hint at the connection between emotion and our facial expression.
THE GREAT STONE FACE
An expression of emotion requires parts of the face to move or tense up. A neutral face is a face in which no emotion is conveyed. The ‘stone face’ can be seen as a reference to all other expressions. At the same time it signifies a certain aloofness, a dissociation. The Ohio State University research by Shichuan Du, Yong Tao, and Aleix M. Martinez, also shows a neutral face as a framework of reference for other emotions. An expression of emotion is in motion. This means: the movement has a peak and several steps leading towards and away from that expression. The duration of an expression depends on the person and the emotion. Some expressions are brief, others progress slowly or can be held for a long time. The motion and its dynamics contribute to the expression. In a mask the expression is frozen and the dynamic force is lost. The suspended ‘flexes’ of the facial muscles are all you have to go on. Body language has to compensate for the immobile mask and its movements through space become more prominently relevant.
WHAT IS AN EMOTION?
As we started with our researchgroup, Datus
Voorhorst was eager to built a first series of masks based on the Ohio specific
data. In the mean time the other research groupmembers study Darwin and Ekman
to get a better grasp on what an emotion really is.
Paul Ekman has been studying emotion for over 40 years. In his book Emotions revealed he writes extensively about ‘the mechanisms and universal expressions’ and calls this ‘a structured system in our utterances, actions and thoughts’. Mark Nelissen, professor of Behavioral Biology at the University of Antwerp, describes what an emotion is.
Human beings make many decisions we are not immediately aware of. When there is imminent danger our bodies instinctively prepare to react: blood is pumped to the muscles and away from the skin (we grow pale), the heart starts beating faster and we look frightened. That is what emotion is. Emotion literally gets us going! Only afterwards do we realize what is going on. That is when our feelings bubble up. In other words, emotion is the subconscious reaction to what happens around us. These are universal for every human being; they can hardly be influenced. Yet when we become aware of the emotion we can adjust it. This changing is culturally determined and matches the preferences of each individual. Emotions can also bring about collaboration, like in:
- motivating and coördinating behavior,
- making our emotional state known,
- recognizing and interpreting an emotional state in others.
  The expression of emotions in man and animals is reissued in 2009 in honor of his 200th
birthday, with annotations by Paul Ekman. 2009 is proclaimed year of
Darwin. Coincidentally, I direct a theater production called Evolution with Corpus-acrobatics
Amsterdam, about the origin of species and Darwin, depicted in a dance
acrobatic and visual spectacle.Paul Ekman does not only have a very funny and
accessible, clear way of writing about his research into emotions and
expressions and the different types of emotions. He also sketches a world in
his books that we do know, but apparently don’t want to dwell on or take the
time for. His book, Emotions revealed,
is a voyage of discovery through the landscape of emotions and, like an
anthropologist, he explains what we encounter on this journey step by step. I grew up in a family that did not speak
directly about emotions. From time to time there was an inarticulated tension
that would not always become clear. Talking about emotions was not done. We did
not know how to handle them very well either. Often something was simply left
to rest, we kept silent until the matter had somehow resolved itself or it had
grown less sensitive. Fuses blew and sparks would fly sometimes during
Christmas when my mother would decide to bake apple pie late at night even
after all the festivities. We children would crawl away leaving my father to
calm things down. We knew how to keep quiet, ignore things and guard ourselves. Every emotion has its own unique characteristics.
These can best be found in the face or the tone of voice. Emotions dictate our
most important decisions. They occur in every human contact we care about, at
work, in friendships, with our family. It is impossible to imagine life without
emotions; they form their own system of communication away from our rational
thinking. People mask their emotions and motives: we constantly long to repress
them and feel secure, we don’t want to divulge to just anyone who we really are
and what we really feel. Emotions can do a lot of damage, exposing emotions may
turn out wrong in a certain context and lead to much regret. However, emotions
can also be liberating. Finally surrendering to tears or venting one’s
frustration can be a relief.
Emotions are how we respond to our surroundings. We involuntarily express them. At times, we are not aware of our expressions but people around us do respond to them. Expressing and observing emotions is an important part of the way we relate to others; it is entrenched in our existence. Many emotions lead to clear facial expressions, like happiness or anger. When someone is angry with us, we deduce this from his posture, from what he says to us, but mostly from his facial expression. We react to his emotion, for example by taking away the cause of his anger, or by reciprocating his anger in order to make him back down. This exemplifies the role of expressions of emotion in our communication. Other emotions, like love, give a less unequivocal and distinguishable facial expression; too many conflicting shades of emotion are involved. It all depends on context and the connection to body language, just like in spoken language. Significance: Though people regularly recognize many distinct emotions, for the most part, research studies have been limited to six basic categories: happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, fear,and disgust. The reason for this is grounded in the assumption that only these six categories are differentially represented by our cognitive and social systems. The results reported herein pro-pound otherwise, suggesting that a larger number of categories is used by humans. |
PAUL EKMAN - SMILE - MICRO EXPRESSION
There are many perspectives and much research about emotion. For example, Paul Ekman is looking into facial recognition software for the FBI. Software producers, including Facebook, rely on this research to help them automatically tag faces. However, there are controversies and polemics going on. If you look at the argument in the press between Lisa Feldman Barrett and Paul Ekman, whether or not basic expressions of emotion are universally recognizable and given is not yet widely agreed. Despite the social-cultural differences, especially in controlling them, facial muscles work virtually the same way during the expression of emotion and are understood the same way in their context. The long drawn-out dispute has become an ‘oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t’ of the importance of research and about breaking long-standing taboos. New software has enabled facial recognition to take an enormous leap forward, despite (distorting) emotion in the face.
THE SMILE IS THE MOST UNIVERSAL EXPRESSION
More than forty muscles are involved in a facial expression. In proportion to the total of the body, this is a consequence percentage. The amount of expressions that we are capable of varies in estimates of 4000 - 10.000.
MICRO EXPRESSION
In his book, Paul Ekman has a chapter reserved for what he calls micro expressions (of emotion). They are facial expressions that last only very briefly, for about a second. They exist, but they are repressed, consciously or subconsciously. Even if someone does not want to acknowledge their emotions to themselves or others, they still occur instinctively. Only someone with a keen eye can detect them. Paul Ekman describes examples from video fragments. In only one or two of 25 images per second did the original reaction show in the form of an expression of emotion.
Ekman in the Netherlands: Although his emotion theory has been disputed for over a decade, much of it is still used. During the Great National Enquiry (Groot Nationaal Onderzoek), broadcasted in the television program Labyrint* (NPO – 8 December 2008), Ekman’s theory was used to test how good the Dutch are at recognizing each other’s emotions.
COMPOUND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS- FACS AND AU'S - 6 BASIC EMOTIONS
To disdain or sneer is sometimes said to be the 7th basic emotion. Research by Shichuan Du, Yong Tao, and Aleix M. Martinez does not support this view. We have found out that baring a canine tooth on one side of the mouth is a rather extraordinary expression. Pursing the lips in anger or pouting is another separate expression. Paul Ekman also describes this in his book and gives several examples. Does shame have an expression? And of course: Does love have an expression? It’s a much heard question. Aside from emotions that have specific expressions, some emotions do not manifest in specific facial expressions and are more socially determined. Infatuation, pride, and shame are just some of these social emotions. Here we will focus on the 21 given expressions, universally recognizable and demonstrable through muscle contractions. If the Action Units (features) differ too much in quality and quantity and cannot be distinctively combined , the expression is too complex and cannot be put into one emotion. Most of the 21 compound expressions of emotion are based on 2 expressions of emotion that can be integrated. The identified ‘hating’, ‘appalled’ and awed are based on 3 basic emotions. These last three are complex, but can be combined into one expression by separate muscle contractions.
COMPOUND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION
Facial features have been interpreted for centuries. If you had a unibrow, you were unreliable. A weak chin meant a lack of willpower. A large nose? Stubborn! The study of appearances, physiognomy, was mixed with astrology, fortune-telling and the black arts. When we see someone, we immediately judge: he may not be kind, trustworthy etc. Emphatic people are skilled in interpreting emotions. When developing his theory of evolution, Darwin studies emotions in man and animals. He discoveres that the way we express emotions is hereditary and universal.
FACS and AUs and 6 BASIC EMOTIONS
In 1978, Paul Ekman makes facial expressions scientifically manageable by the coding system FACS (Facial Action Coding System): each contraction of a facial muscle (AU: Action Unit) is assigned a number. For example, AU 12 means a contraction of the zygomaticus major muscle (popularly called the laughing muscle), which pulls the corner of the mouth towards the cheekbone. The coding system FACS and its Action Units (AUs) of the separate muscle groups is the result of research with electrodes on isolated facial muscles. It is Darwin who makes the first remarkable discoveries using this method
Scientific research is focused on the expression of six ‘basic emotions’. These six have typical features that occur less in other emotions:
- Happy. The corners of the mouth are pulled toward the cheekbone and the cheeks are pulled up, narrowing the eyes from the lower side up.
- Sad. The inner part of the eyebrows is pulled up, the outer part and eyelids are pulled down. Corners of the mouth are down.
- Fearful. The mouth is widened, eyes are open (transition from surprised) with
tense eyebrows.
- Angry. The eyebrows are frowned down and inwards. Lips are pursed/teeth are bared.
- Surprised. The eyes are wide, the eyebrows high, the mouth falls open.
- Disgusted. Upper lip and nostrils are pulled up.
neutral happy sad fearful surprised angry disgusted
Darwin and Ekman guide us and Emmy Chau provides with her anatomical knowledge an overview of all the AU's and FACS - thus we have a complete list of all facial muscles involved in the 21 emotion expressions. We double check every one of their characterestics.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten