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Newsletter # 5
Emotional Focus Determines Audience Satisfaction
How Sideways Trumped Much Bigger Budget Films
By
Laurie H. Hutzler 
Why is Sideways, a small film featuring lesser known actors, blowing the bigger budget more high profile competition out of the water during this 2004 awards season? This modest little film features an excellent performance by its lead, Paul Giamatti, (but a number of critical and box office disappointments offered outstanding acting turns, Tom Hanks in The Terminal comes immediately to mind). The quality of a film's performances doesn't guarantee success.
Here's the $100 million question:
What Makes a Film a Hit?
Sideways was directed by the exceptionally talented Alexander Payne. But directorial expertise doesn't guarantee critical or popular success (films by Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone and Wolfgang Petersen all had disappointing critical reviews and lack-luster domestic box office receipts this season). If outstanding (and high-priced) talent were the key, 99% of all big-budget studio films would be box office triumphs. That's hardly the case.
The fact is: Big Name Actors don't make hits. A-List Directors don't make hits. High Profile Writers don't make hits. Marvelous Production Values don't make hits. Amazing Special Effects don't make hits. The one and only thing that makes a film a hit is a satisfied audience.
What makes Sideways work so well? Why does it feel so deeply satisfying to its audience? I believe the answer lies in the film's clarity of emotional focus. Without this clarity the audience doesn't believe the characters or take the story to heart. Lack of emotional focus makes the characters and plot feel false, contrived or manipulative. The audience becomes dissatisfied, bored and frustrated with the film. And-- They tell their friends.
Lack of Focus Leads to Failure
There are two kinds of focus on the movie screen at any one time. The first kind of focus is the physical picture on the screen. This is the quality of the print or the projection. No producer or exhibitor would expect an audience to sit through a screening where the sound didn’t sync with the picture, where the picture jumped, wobbled or faded in and out or where the print was so badly scratched that the characters weren’t fully visible.
Yet, audiences are expected to sit through films where the emotional journey of the characters doesn’t sync with the story, where the emotional focus of the characters is indistinct and inconsistent, or where the heart of the story is so flawed that the characters can’t be seen clearly for who they really are.
Watching a film that is emotionally out of focus is as frustrating to the audience as sitting through a screening where the physical picture wavers, is blurred, flawed or unclear.
The Power of Truth
In my view of film, there are Nine Story Types and Nine Character Types. Each of the nine is driven by a single emotional power. Each of these connects with the audience in a very specific way. Each asks a distinct set of questions. Sideways keeps its emotional focus sharp and clear through-out. It’s a delightful example of a comic film driven by the Power of Truth.
The character of Miles Raymond, wonderfully played by Paul Giamatti, wrestles with questions that engage a character driven by this emotional power. Both the story and the protagonist are totally in sync. Both engage the audience deeply with one set of specific concerns.
Power of Truth films are about issues of loyalty and betrayal. Every major sequence in this film comes back to the same questions-- What is loyalty? What is betrayal? How do we betray ourselves? How do we betray others? What does it mean to be a loyal friend? Can you be loyal to someone and betray them at the same time? When should you let go of old loyalties and move on in your life?
The character of Miles Raymond, as played by Giamatti, has the specific psychological profile common to these types of characters. His very particular emotional journey is essential to a satisfying Power of Truth story. Miles is negative and insecure. He is always self-doubting and second-guessing. He vacillates between personal cowardice and reckless courage. In the end, he must say goodbye to the past, make a leap of faith into a new relationship, even though the outcome is uncertain.
Hannah and Her Sisters, Woody Allen's Academy Award winning comedy (for Best Screenplay) explores the very same concerns. Allen’s alter-ego, Mickey Sachs, is another wonderfully realized Power of Truth character. Mickey makes the same leap of faith as Miles when he says: “Maybe is a very slim reed to hang your whole life on but it’s all we have.”
Consulting Services
If you need help finding your story’s emotional focus let
Laurie Hutzler’s unique interactive problem-solving sessions
center the power of your story and clarify your character’s
inner truth. Whether working on a television program or feature film
production, Laurie helps writers, producers, story editors, and creative
teams get to the heart of a story. She offers a set of practical
methods to create the emotionally satisfying programs audiences love.
Contact: Laurie@EmotionalToolbox.com
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