The Audience Wants To Feel An Emotional Connection With Your Movie by Michael Hauge & Mark W. Travis Video Lecture | Screenwriting: From Beginner to a Pro - Career Development

how can we identify with someone that in
real life we would never be you know if
you want to say Julia Roberts in Pretty
Woman well that would never be something
that I would do but we still root for
her we still like her well if you're a
writer I think you have to realize
identification has nothing to do with
who we are in real life no it only has
to do with emotion it only has to do
with empathy because we are there's
nothing in real life that would make me
like Sully or whatever his name is an
avatar I'm nothing like Indiana Jones
I'm nothing like the hero of Shrek but
that isn't what that's not why we go to
movies we don't really go to movies to
become characters that are so much like
we are we can see those people like
going home
I'm good that's those are the people we
want to get away from what you want to
do is create that empathy using those
tools so we become them on an emotional
psychological level that's the fun of it
so we become a space traveler 200 years
in the future we become a soldier of
fortune we become an ogre
whatever we become a woman on the
Titanic so those two things are really
better thought of as disconnected
completely I think yeah also also along
that line I agree totally with what
Michaels saying but then we can we
connect with characters on an emotional
level and if you take any of the
characters that you've mentioned
Michael's mentioned and you say okay
that person's life is nothing like mine
I am NOT Shrek I am NOT
Indiana Jones I'm nothing but my life is
so much like him because I suffer and
experience all the emotions that he goes
through I have feelings of abandonment I
have feelings of pride I have a feelings
of discouragement in other words I can
identify with him emotionally not that I
want to be him or be like him but I like
to know that he is actually not that
different from me in other words there
is a similarity but the similarity is on
the emotional experience level not on
the action level or the career level if
you take like you mentioned Titanic
have the two lovers on Titanic do we all
understand falling in love yes hopefully
we all do do we all understand being in
danger yes do we do do we all understand
fears of death and dying yes we do
dessert have we ever been on the Titanic
no or sinking boat me in other words we
haven't been there but what we can the
experience is that these a good film
will allow us to have with the
characters with it with this not
identifying with the character except on
the emotional level and that's where we
get hooked and that that's how we we amp
it not only empathize that we project
ourselves in into them and we play them
when you read a script you play all the
characters even when you watch a film
you actually project yourself inside the
character to go on not the adventure of
Indiana Jones but the experience the
emotional experience that ride that's
the ride you want to go on and that and
that's what makes us connect potentially
with this film on a very very deep level
it used to be when I when I used to work
for production companies and it seemed
like every year or two I get this people
would come in and pitch ideas and there
was always someone who come in and have
a pitch like this movie the script I
read it's going to be huge because it's
about a boulder and then they'd say do
you know that 30 million people in this
country Bowl and I hope my answer was
always well first of all if they're
bowling they're not going to the movies
so we're not going to get any money out
of them but that's not why people go to
the movies to see people who are doing
what they already do it has to do with
just what Mark said it's it's not
situational it's emotional it's are they
feeling what I have felt at least to
some extent maybe not as big as they do
but if I experienced this before on the
inside that's what creates the
connection
you