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In movies, the audience plays the most important role and for it to be successful, it is fundamental that the audience identifies with the characters in the story. All successful stories have a subtle way of involving the audience in the story on a mental level. Think of all those times when you were so immersed in a movie that you found yourself making decisions for the characters and looking for their victories.

The filmmakers have three ways of drawing audiences into the story, the first being physical. In this, the filmmaker uses sound and camera techniques to “physically” place the audience in the film. The second is emotional, the filmmakers play on the emotions of the audience by creating characters and situations to bring out emotions like sympathy and relatability. Characters find a place in the hearts of the audience when they are funny, beautiful, skillful and charming. The third is moral, the audience understands what the conflict of values ​​is in the film and then understands what the story is about.

For more on audience understanding and its role in a filmmaker’s life, we revisit a conversation between filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, in which Bhansali said “everything filmmaker who says he knows that the public lives in a situation of imbecile”. paradise.” He explained that as a filmmaker, you don’t know the audience yet, “they are everything to you.”

Filmmakers need to understand that the audience “changes with us”. More importantly, it is the filmmaker who changes the audience. He explained how to deflect concern from what the audience, distributor, studio or industry wants. Instead, we should just make films “that come to your heart, people like it or even feel it”.

One thing the filmmaker needs to be clear about is himself. “The filmmaker has to understand himself. They are the ones who need to know what the public does not expect, what the public has never seen before” and present it in their films. Bhansali pointed out that after the Covid-19 pandemic, things have changed. Public demand has increased. “The demand for quality that they (the public) expect from the film is high, so the filmmaker is now on high alert. As he must be able to give the film a new treatment, a new subject and nuances. He demands more of its actors, everyone must unite to make a great film”

Bhansali shared how before the release of Gangubai (2022) titled by actor Alia Bhatt, he was advised not to. The film continued to do wonders with audiences, but before he embarked on the project, he was told not to make female-centric films. “I was told that in India they would not go to a female subject”. “All the cards were against the film, but how did it work? That’s what a filmmaker has to believe.” He concluded by saying there is no study you need, just follow what you care about. Sarandos echoed, “and I have to say because of that focus on the audience, I love working with Sanjay. Because it’s always been clear that this (his work) is for the audience”