ARE YOU ADDING ENOUGH EMOTIONAL CHARGE?

How do you ensure that your story, whether it is about you and your life, your company, your brand, product, or a film has the appropriate emotional charge to connect with your audience?

Your story is important whether you work in the film and TV like me, or in another industry completely. Scientists have shown that emotional stimulation is the foundation for empathy, which is why story counts. If you can achieve impact in a story using emotions, you have far more chance of your story being remembered, valued or having any influence, or benefit.

Paul Zak, Director of the Centre for Neuroeconomics Studies puts it this way, story is, "better remembered, than simply stating a set of facts. Our brains like stories because of the chemicals we get released." In other words we are as humans wired to like stories- so let's use them well.

Remember what it feels like to come out of a cinema after seeing a good movie? You take away an emotional charge- whether it's to have laughed, been moved, thrilled or amazed.

What do you want the audience to take away from your story? What feeling? A warm glow? A thrill? To be scared, but then relieved? Moved? You need to decide to get a reaction but it needs to be the right one.

I've come across people who tell me the story of their business, what it stands for and what they do, or the uniqueness of their products, and they were unaware either, if they had a story with any emotional charge at all, and if it was without one they were very dull, or if they did have an emotional element, whether it was an appropriate one or not.

There's not much point in telling a horror story if you are trying to make people feel warm! Such mistakes can be very damaging or misleading. In film stories it is called genre confusion, but it is as relevant in any other field where you have an audience, customer or colleague.

So how do you go about ensuring that you are telling the right genre of story that works for your tale, business or brand? You need to work out what your intention is, test its relevance and then see how you can best deliver that emotion and make your story work in that genre.

Next time I'll explain more on how you can do that too. My cinema film "Black Car Home", showing this January at the 2015 BAFTA qualifying London Short Film Festival has already delivered audiences with a warm glow after seeing it and a desire to know much more about the story. We measured their reaction in research after a test cinema screening. That emotion was what I intended and you can do it too if you have the right help.

https://www.davidpearson.international/blog/4586565916