Filmmaking / Directing : Film-making and screen-writing so the audience experiences the scenes vicariously by Dr. Skip Worden

I think involving an audience, as you describe it, requires success in two big areas, technique (In the widest sense of the word) and what I'll call world view. If I'm really involved in a movie and its particular scenes, it works for me not only because it's well crafted (script - dialogue, character creation, structure, and casting/performances, direction, etc. Everyone involved did good work.) but also because the story resonates positively with my world view, my closely held values. A negative example - The movie SeVen. Very well crafted but I disliked intensely. The story, particularly the ending, clashed virulently with my world view. Positive examples - Hunt for red October, Die Hard, Aliens, Working Girl, Mannequin, etc. So to achieve the degree of audience involvement which you're seeking, I'll say carefully craft the best story, and scenes, you can, but don't expect to please everybody because there's another component to that kind of involvement over which you have no control, the individual's values.

I think there are visual people and audio people. Both sides assume everyone is like them LOL. When you make a film that touches both types you are on to something big.

So, combining what both of you have written above, we might say that an audience is more likely to experience a film if it is not antithetical to the viewer's values and has enough visual stimuli for visually-oriented viewers and enough audio for those viewers for whom sound most easily triggers emotions. Both of you are pointing to the viewer, which reminds me of the reader-response approach to hermeneutics, or interpretation (of books). Namely, a text is interpreted from the responses of readers. Your answers seem to me to be oriented to the question of why an audience feels emotions that are triggered by a film. These emotions are orchestrated, meaning not by accident. I'm still asking myself whether an audience can experience a scene as if being in it. The person arguing for this point likened the experience to when a person wakes up from a vivid dream and is not sure if it was a dream or really happened. I don't think even a suspension of disbelief can get a viewer into that kind of an experiential "in" a movie.

"Your answers seem to me to be oriented to the question of why an audience feels emotions that are triggered by a film." Yes, at least for my answer. I think I may have misinterpreted your original post. I'll try again, having rethought what you wrote. I have read that there is a total immersion system (headset, etc.) for films and games entering the marketplace and it's supposed to be quite good, as opposed to previous systems which apparently had problems. I think creating a film or game which plays well on this system will present big challenges, but if someone meets that challenge and the viewer likes the film or game, I think watching the film or playing the game on such a system may create what you're looking for.

I reread as well. I have experienced film in the way your friend described. My husband jokingly calls me an "empath". When people get shot or stabbed I grab myself where the injury occurs LOL It is embarrassing to say the least. So my answer was not from one who hasn't experienced what you are describing. I do know it usually occurs when the visual and audio are both excellent. The character that I identified with did not need to be a person who was my gender for me to be drawn in. It did need to be someone who was trying to do the right thing in the midst of turmoil - perhaps I need counseling LOL regardless; when this has occurred for me the visual and audio both had to be great.

I really like all of these answers! To Douglas's points on immersion, my thoughts go to a question I have had for the last several years: will film adopt (from the movie/games hybrid) virtual-reality technology, such that the viewer is (sorry Alle) vicariously IN the scenes? If so, I would imagine that the scenes would have to be shot longer, for otherwise the immersed viewer could become disoriented. Regarding Wenda's feeling like she got shot in the leg as the (inserting Alle here) character Wenda related most to got shot, I take it that Alle's point is that such direct experiencing of a scene (i.e., as if the viewer is in it) does not happen, yet we have Wenda's counter-example. Lastly, I'm distinguishing immersion from the sort of experience that Wenda recounts. I, like Douglas, think of immersion in the sense of what technology can do to increase the amount of a viewer's externally-oriented senses of sight and hearing are "met" with the "film."

The whole issue of immersion has been addressed in different ways at different times. Movies started out small and got big. 'You are there.' Added sound. 'You are there.' Then the huge screens, Cinemascope, Panavision. 'You are there.' I've seen Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen. It's a whole different world.

Douglas, I think the trend you describe of more "You are there" will collapse from getting much bigger to going really small, in virtual reality technology. Ironic because the viewer's perception of "being there" will be that there is more "there." Now, I would think this would make it more likely that a viewer would experience "being in the scene," but it could also be more like being a fly on the wall, or in the middle of the room, watching and listening as invisible to the characters. I suppose this is why I don't think viewers typically have the experience of being in a scene like being in a dream that is so vivid it seems real. But I could be wrong.

I am hoping that the most common thread between people /mankind is goodness. Outside of that it is my belief that we are as individual as snowflakes and our individuality is what pushes us to find others like ourselves. If my premise is true, it would be difficult to trigger the same wanted/controlled response from everyone. I don't think this makes anyone wrong - but I do think my comment has come full circle; It's common to think our personal experience is familiar or typical for the majority. Anyone want to open up the can of worms discussion about aroma triggered responses? LOL