EMOTIONAL EVENT
I want to quickly speak about a directing and acting principle that applies to this film in particular and will be at the core of creating the moments we show on screen.. “Emotional Event” isn’t necessarily a new idea in the acting world. A teacher by the name of Judith Weston, who’s method I have studied meticulously, introduced it into the world of directing.
It’s something that thickens stories or concepts with emotional context— it’s what gets viewers engaged with the people they see on screen.
To put it simply, emotional event is when characters change in front of us. It’s a direct alteration to the circumstance of their relationship with another person, themselves, or the world. In the case of our film, we are witnessing a change in our subjects' viewpoint of themselves, and their relationship to their inner monologue. Ideally, we will also be seeing an emotional event within the loved ones we invite to share the screen with them. In order for us to invest in them having the courage to share these words, or for our viewer to relate to our subjects, we need to show a defining moment of change that we can invest in.
For our spot, I really believe that moment to be that realization of why. Why would I ever speak about myself in this way? Why does it feel so wrong to speak to a loved one in this context? Why do I feel I don’t deserve compassion? These are the types of moments that are going to stick with people— when we see that change in front of us, it allows us to connect with them.
That is what we need to capture in order to move our viewers.