SHOW IT, DON’T TELL IT

Who wants to be lectured?

When you’re TELLING your audience what they need to know, you’re lecturing them. When you’re SHOWING them what they need to know, you’re allowing them to put two and two together, and actively engaging them in the storytelling process.

Filmmaking is a visual medium. This is why production design can be such a great storytelling tool because of the visual elements it employs. 

 

I invite you to put in practice this exercise on your next project: 

Remove all dialogue from a particular scene and describe what is the
mood, the character and the theme only using colors and props, thats right, no words!

For example:
Mood: How do you want your audience to feel when watching a certain scene?

Character: Can your audience tell what kind of person your character is or how they’re feeling based on the set design?

Theme: The film or particular scene theme could be communicated through your set design as well.

Tasteful production design and proper lighting can elevate any low budget project. You would be surprised at how many people judge films on aesthetics alone.