Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3614: Daniel Radcliffe, Imperium and a Subtle Body Language Tell (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

In the upcoming film, Imperium, Daniel Radcliffe plays the part of undercover FBI agent trying to prevent a Neo-Nazi terrorist group from deploying a bomb.

Many actors get subtle expressions wrong. They very often put on a more extreme expression where more moderate or subtle examples would be more contextual and proportionate to many scenes. What follows however are several specific examples where Radcliffe triumphs at these more mild expressions.

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Radcliffe's character (Nate Foster) is pictured here sitting in a vehicle.  His mouth is slightly opened in a variation of a "slack jawed" configuration (indicating emotional shock).

Note that his head/neck is tilted down. Radcliffe is staring forward and down - and more specifically focused on the middle distance. This is focusing past or looking through near objects also indicates emotional shock and emotional processing. The actor is showing us that his character's mind knows has just gleaned some shocking information, but his emotional brain has yet to fully grasp the ramifications.

This nonverbal cluster/facial expression is under-utilized by many actors and directors.

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In the image above we see exemplified a subtle Elevated Central Forehead Contraction (elevated CFC). Very few actors are able to display this crucial nonverbal signal - although in the real world this slight facial dynamic (often short lived as well) speaks volumes about the presence of physical or emotional pain (either felt directly or experienced secondarily via empathy).

Slicing this expression even thinner, what specific emotional pain emotion is Radcliffe acting in this moment?

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Three seconds later, Radcliffe's elevated CFC is more pronounced - perhaps a 6 or 7 (on a zero to 10 scale). Although more developed than the image at 1:00, this example is still somewhat less developed than many actors express (It's as if they only have a "full on" or "full off" forehead contraction).

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In this last photo, Daniel Radcliffe's elevated CFC is even more subtle that the first example. Also look at the actor's eyes. His head is looking forward/slight to his left and yet his eyes are moving to his right. When we don't look directly at person, but only tract with our eyes - it's a signal that we don't like, don't respect or don't believe/don't trust the person at whom were looking.


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3612: Sam Querrey defeats Novak Djokovic at Wimbeldon

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3248: Daniel Radcliffe Temps as a Receptionist at Nylon

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3387: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, The Graham Norton Show and Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2996: Daniel Radcliffe Raps Blackalicious' "Alphabet Aerobics" on Tonight Show/Jimmy Fallon

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2993: Fight in Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport - Passengers Break Up Homophobic Attack

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2980: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Thinks Women Should Not Ask for Raises and should Trust in Karma

Nonverbal Communication No. 3201: Nazi War Criminal Oskar Gröning - Dissecting Body Language in Court

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2750: Oscar Pistorius, Reeva Steenkamp and Lies


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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3523: Jaws - "You're Going to Need a Bigger Boat" - Body Language (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

"You're going to need a bigger boat". It's an iconic scene from a groundbreaking film. And this particular line has become a classic metaphor. Jaws was one of the most memorable movies of the 1970s. It also held the highest grossing spot until it was supplanted by Star Wars.

Roy Scheider was an excellent actor (nominated for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award) and Steven Spielberg is incredibly gifted (winning two Academy Awards for best director  - and he's also the highest grossing director of all time) - but they got a crucial part of this scene wrong.

In this moment, Chief Martin Brody displays a mild amount of nasal flaring and a moderate amount of pulling together and lowering ("knitting") of his lower forehead and eyebrows. While these changes are indeed seen with fear - they never occur without the additional corresponding necessary changes of the eyes/eyelids and mouth (if the underlying emotion is fear). This is not the face of fear.

What emotion(s) does Scheider's face convey?





To slice this expression even  thinner, Scheider's eyelids are mildly closed here - which is completely incongruent with fear or surprise.







Captain Brody would have never kept that cigarette in his mouth either. The dynamics of the mouth and lips during fear or surprise would not have allowed it.

If, with respect to human nature and context, this moment would have been accurately directed and acted, we would have first seen surprise - rapidly replaced by a fear expression. Here Scheider shows neither.

When the body language doesn't match the scene in a film we call it bad acting. But when the nonverbal behavior is disparate from the words or vocal qualities in the real word - other alarm bells should be sounded.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3522: Felicity Jones in New Star Wars Trailer: "Rogue One"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3198: Sepp Blatter, FIFA, Subtle Fear & Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 357: Fear in his Eyes

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret No. 1106:  Subtle Fear Display of al-Assad

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2955: Adrian Peterson - a Telling Body Language Cluster

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3190: Taylor Swift's Body Language of Feigned Surprise

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3509: Bernie Sanders meets Birdie Sanders

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3331: Mila finds out Adam Levine got married - Rapid Transitioning of Emotions

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2997: Halloween Haunted Houses - Transitioning from Expressions of Surprise to Fear

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3524: Paddleboarder's Encounter with Spinner Shark


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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3204: "Inside Out" Movie Clip - Mostly Correct, but some Wrong Expressions for Emotion-Characters (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Disney - Pixar, along with other animation studios, have for the past 15 years or so, been very accurate with respect to their nonverbal illustrations on their characters. Said another way - the emotions, vocal qualities and nonverbal signals of their characters have been highly congruent - a simple principle human actors would be well-advised to heed. Yet sometimes even they are off their game.

Take for example the soon-to-be-released animated film, "Inside Out". In this movie, emotions are embodied within separate characters inside a little girl (Riley) - collectively making up her emotional psyche. The plot revolves around the turmoil created when Riley and her parents relocate from the Mid-West U.S. to San Francisco.

Here, at 0:20, the character-emotion of disgust (whose voice is played by Mindy Kaling) accurately projects her namesake while repelling from broccoli.

More accurate disgust as Kaling's character tries not to vomit (0:21)

Yet if we flashback to 0:16 we see the very classic and distinctive asymmetrical expression of contempt.

Contempt is fundamentally different from disgust, for contempt must be directed at a person or group of people - never a non-person. Disgust however can and is very often directed towards disliked food, non-living things - as well as people.

In this moment, at 0:21.5, we see Riley displaying emotional pain - with an elevated central forehead contraction (CFC) with some contempt display as well (note however, that this contempt is on the opposite side of her mouth and expressed to a significantly lesser degree than her falsely-directed psyche character).

This is indeed an accurate expression and very consistent with what one expect if this were a real-world scenario. It's NOT however disgust as Mindy Kaling's psyche disgust character is supposed to be transmitting.

Riley's torso-neck-head leaning away from her broccoli and also her non-direct gaze (with rotated head) are also very congruent body language.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3203: Caitlyn Jenner on Vanity Fair - Did Annie Leibovitz Project what she intended? - Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3183: Tom Brady, Bridget Moynahan, Body Language & Classic Subtle Contempt

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3178: Garland, Texas Gunmen - Elton Simpson, Nadir Soofi, Contempt and Body Language Warning Signals

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3131: Kim Jong-un, his Uncle Jang Song-thaek and a Warning sign of Potential Violence

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3172: Jameis Winston, the NFL Draft, Body Language and Predicting Violent Behavior

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2897: Fifty Shades of Grey - Part II - Warning Signs & Threat Assessment (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

This is the second post regarding the recent movie trailer release of "Fifty Shades of Grey". Dakota Johnson is casted as Anastasia "Ana" Steele - and she does a very good job in this trailer portraying a naive college woman. In stark contrast, Jamie Dornan, who plays Christian Grey, as pointed out in Analysis No. 2894 - has the body language of a sociopath in this trailer.

To reiterate somewhat, the central forehead contraction (aka "CFC" - even when seen in trace amounts) when seen simultaneously with any degree of "mouth smile" is consistent with contempt, incredulity or arrogance. This is not the only nonverbal consistent with these three emotional states. Moreover every human being feels these from time to time. However when the CFC is together with any degree of a "mouth smile" is seen chronically - this is consistent with sociopathic behavior. It also signals very low (or nonexistent) empathy and insincerity. Be warned.

Another nonverbal signal that is present in this very brief segment of this film - are eyelids that are opened wider than normal on a chronic basis. Like everything in the world of body language, specific body language signals must never be interpreted in isolation. Eyes that are opened wider than what for that person is considered baseline (and of course the heights of the upper eyelids varies from person to person and with age) may be seen with higher levels of anger (rage), surprise, shock, and fear. They also can be seen during moment of emphasis during conversation and in such context are a type of nonverbal "illustrator".

Some eyelids are opened wider than normal on a chronic basis however, either very frequently throughout the day or even nearly constantly. This is even indoctrinated in Hollywood from the mad genius (think "Doc Brown" on the "Back to the Future" movies) as well as in almost innumerable animations. Curiously though, this sign is largely ignored in the medical community - even though most would call the appearance "creepy", "weird", or "scary". There are of course some medical conditions which cause the eyelids to be retracted and have this "white and wide" appearance (such as hyperthyroid conditions). These are relatively easy for a physician to exclude however. When a physiologic or other traditional medical condition cannot be found - physiological diagnoses should be diligently sought.

Christian Grey - the character portrayed by Jamie Dornan - is of course a young, wealthy entrepreneur. He is not entitled to be crazy or chronically angry however - nor is anyone of course regardless of their financial status. Note Grey's/Dornan's upper eyelids are opened wider than what is normal. Of course this is only an actor playing a fictional character - but if you see this nonverbal signal displayed chronically or outside the setting of anger (rage), surprise, shock, fear or illustration of emphasis - consider it a red flag. You've been warned. Stay away.

Ted Bundy

James Holmes

Marshall Applewhite

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See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2747: Adam Lanza's Warning Sign - Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2503:  Fort Hood Shooter and his Tell-Tale Body Language  Common to many Mass-Killers -  Nidal Malik Hasan gets the Death Penalty

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2828: Elliot Roger, Isla Vista/U.C. Santa Barbara Mass Shooting & Threat Assessment - Body Language and Threat Assessment

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2567: Keanu Reeves, "Man of Tai Chi" and a Beta Posture (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Recently Keanu Reeves appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to promote his new movie "Man of Tai Chi". The film which was shot in Beijing and Hong Kong is loosely based on Reeves' friend, stuntman Tiger Chen. Keanu Reeves plays the antagonist and it is also his directorial debut.

In this video, Keanu assumes a significantly beta nonverbal posture and maintains this for about 20 seconds (3:06 - 3:26). In this configuration his left elbow is resting on the back of a flat, stiff and palm-down right hand. This is a nonverbal metaphor signifying that the subject of which he's speaking "needs some support" and thus is exaggerated or deceptive. Coexistent along with this hand-support is the abbreviated arm cross with one arm (his right). Taken in whole, this body language cluster is significant for a low confidence, defensive emotional tone and is significantly suspect for a lie.

See also:

Nonverbal Secret No. 33: Keanu Reeves' - Covering the Mouth While Smiling

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1241:  Ron Paul - A Low Confidence Pledge of Allegiance

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 913:  Low Confidence, Low Trust and Demure

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2440:  Vladimir Putin Dials Up His Alpha ... Foot Position, Projecting Leadership,  Confidence & Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2519:  Vladimir Putin Speaks Syria,  Chemical Weapons and Disarmament -  Body Language just after his New York Times Op-Ed

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 337:  Michele Bachmann's Low Confidence Stance

Nonverbal Communication Secret # 14:  Minnie Driver's High and Low Confidence Drivers: Arms Akimbo and Assertive Attitudes
 

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