Screenwriting Techniques: Emotional Projection
NECESSARY INFORMATION
Recently I saw someone on the internet say that Revenge Of The Sith was so powerful because of an effect called "Emotional Projection." This means that when you see the movie, your brain is not seeing Obi Wan and Anakin fight, it's "replacing" them with you and your best friend. That makes it really emotional and powerful, even if the actual relationship between the Jedis is (sadly) not fully compelling.
I really want to know more about this topic from a screenwriting/production point of view. Specifically, how to actually write/direct something that triggers the audiences to project their lives in the film so they can have a way more powerful experience.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I ask this because I am planning on doing a YouTube video explaining some of these concepts so aspiring filmmakers and screenwriters can use these techniques in their favor; so any additional information you might think is useful is much appreciated, along with some examples of writers/directors that have purposefully used emotional projection, if such cases exist.
How is "emotional projection" created in screenwriting? Where can I find information and resources about it? What are some other good examples?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/41322. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
In order to create emotional projection, you need to portray common experiences that every in the audience has had or can relate to. They must be able to put themselves into one of the roles on the screen, at least metaphorically or emotionally.
Most of us can relate to "two best friends fighting". Depending on the age of the audience, most of us can relate to somebody we love dying, a sibling, a child, a parent. Also age dependent, but most of us can relate to finding romance, struggling with school or a job or an abusive boss. Work through the list of life experiences you have had, good or bad, and decide if they are unique or others have probably had similar experiences.
Now for most of us, these common experiences don't involve fighting to the death, but that is what you do next: ramp up the experience (be it romance or a terrible job) to 11 or 12 on a scale of 10. In the comedy "9 to 5" they take a common bad-boss scenario everybody can relate to, ramp up the bad-boss to 11, and ramp up the response to 12 (they kidnap the sexist tyrant of a boss and run the business themselves).
Or in your example, a rift between best friends gets ramped up to lethality.
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