Filming emotion – how to make your audience cry - Artlist Blog
How to make your audience cry: a guide to creating deep emotional impact How to make your audience cry: a guide to creating deep emotional impact How to make your audience cry: a guide to creating deep emotional impact How to make your audience cry: a guide to creating deep emotional impact How to make your audience cry: a guide to creating deep emotional impact

Highlights

Learn how to create relatable characters and moments that resonate deeply with your audience, making emotional scenes feel earned and authentic.
Explore how script writing, timing, performance, music, and sound design work together to amplify emotional moments and deepen audience engagement.
Discover how to avoid emotional clichΓ©s and build genuine moments that stay with viewers long after the scene ends, whether in films or brand storytelling.

Table of contents

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As filmmakers, the ability to evoke an emotional response from your audience is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Certain moments resonate deeply with viewers, whether it’s a scene in a movie, TV show, or even a brand story. But how exactly do filmmakers create these moments that make us cry? In this guide, we’ll explore the techniques and elements you can use to tap into the raw emotion of your audience.

The power of emotive storytelling

Storytelling is inherently emotional, and throughout history, humans have used stories to share their experiences and pass on information. The first step to making your audience cry is recognizing the power of emotion in storytelling. It’s not just about creating sad scenes – it’s about creating meaningful moments that connect with the viewers on a deeper level.

Movies that make you cry often do so by capturing moments of vulnerability, triumph, or connection. Importantly, it’s not always sadness that brings on the tears. Happy or triumphant moments – such as a character achieving their dreams after years of struggle – can also bring a rush of emotion.

How to build emotion in your audience

Building emotion isn’t about manipulating your viewers with melodramatic moments. Instead, you should aim to create a deep connection between your characters and the audience. By carefully crafting a narrative that allows viewers to form a bond with the characters, you can make a more powerful payoff when the emotional moments arrive.

Scriptwriting and narrative

A well-crafted script with strong character development is essential for any impactful scene. Script writing is a crucial stage as characters must be relatable and multi-dimensional – their actions and decisions should drive the plot in a natural and earned way. To truly bring your audience to tears, the emotions in your script should flow organically from the story and the charactersβ€˜ choices.

The three-act structure plays a key role here, with meaningful resolution typically arriving in the third act when characters confront the consequences of their actions. In script writing, building emotional tension and stakes in the first two acts sets up a powerful payoff in the third, ensuring the dramatic release feels earned and deeply impactful.

Correct timings

Timing is everything in emotional scenes. Whether you’re cutting to a reaction shot, lingering on a character’s face, or adjusting the pace of dialogue, the timing of each shot can either amplify or undermine the effect on the audience. Editing emotional scenes takes patience and close attention to detail – from the score and sound effects to the performance and script, everything needs to work together.

Powerful performances

Emotional scenes are only as powerful as the performances that bring them to life, and the right actor can elevate a scene from good to unforgettable. But creating that emotional impact isn’t just about a well-written monologue at the end – it starts from the very beginning. 

Audiences need to connect with the actors on a human level throughout so the emotion feels genuine and earned. The reactions of supporting actors are just as important, as they add depth and authenticity to the emotion in your scene.

Music and score

A score plays a vital role in creating a film’s emotional impact, and knowing how to add music to a video is key to creating an emotionally charged scene. A well-chosen music track or song can heighten feelings and draw the audience deeper into the moment.

For instance, a soft piano melody, much like sad songs, can evoke a longing or sorrow, while a rising crescendo can build a sense of triumph. Music scores should do more than simply match the scene β€” it should intensify the emotion and deepen the connection to the story, making the viewer feel what the characters are experiencing.

Sound design and ambiance

Sound effects can help you pull your audience deeper into the character’s world, making them feel like they’re experiencing the action firsthand. By adding subtle details, like the sound of a racing heartbeat or soft rain on the window, you can support the action in a scene while creating a more significant emotional response.

Filming techniques

Techniques like close-ups, shallow focus, and slow zoom-ins can help highlight the emotion in an actor’s performance. Wide shots, meanwhile, can emphasize isolation or emptiness.

The framing of your shots can reveal a lot about a character’s emotional state, helping to recreate that feeling for the audience and immerse them in the character’s experience.

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How to avoid emotional clichΓ©s

While emotional scenes can be powerful, it can be too easy to find yourself reaching for tropes or clichΓ©s that feel forced or unearned. Too much melodramatic music, overly sentimental dialogue, or predictable plot twists can make your film feel inauthentic.

Focus on creating moments that feel authentic to the characters. When the emotions are genuine and grounded in the characters’ experiences, audiences are more likely to connect deeply and feel the impact, often because they can relate to what’s unfolding on-screen personally.

Crafting moments that are remembered

To make your audience cry, you need to focus on the 3 key ingredients – a story with an emotional heart, creating relatable characters, and a narrative that naturally builds to powerful moments. With strong performances, good pacing, careful editing, and the perfect score, you can create an experience that stays with your audience long after the tears have dried.

You can craft scenes that truly move people by focusing on core storytelling elements. Whether you’re writing, directing, or a part of the editing team, these techniques can evoke a strong emotional response from your viewers. You can also use these tips in brand storytelling, where emotional connections with an audience can drive loyalty and impact. So, whether you’re crafting a film scene or a brand message, ask yourself β€” How can I make my audience feel something real? If you’re ready to jump into production, check out our top creative assets for filmmakers in 2024.

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About the author

Chris Suffield is a London-based writer, editor, and voice-over artist at Jellyfielder Studios; he also writes entertainment news for Box Office Buz and enjoys making things from stock footage.
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