Write your script and invest in the emotional content of your story. As a form of audio-visual storytelling, a movie must start with the establishing of the plot, conflict and characters in the story. It may not involve a mathematical formula, but you should be able to creatively incorporate all the essential visual and sound elements to convey the right mood, setting and character motivations and goals in the story. In doing so, your viewers can better relate to what’s happening to the characters and empathize or sympathize with what they are going through. If viewers are not able to accept what they see on screen, there won’t be any emotional investment in the film and they will feel that the story is shallow, artificial or unconvincing.
Choose credible and talented actors through casting sessions or auditions. Allow the potential actors to read and act out an important scene in the movie and shoot them on video. Review the casting tapes and narrow down your list until you finally get the best actors for the roles you need for your cast.
Conduct meetings and ensure that your entire cast and crew are able to understand the concept, story and major details of the film. This is very important because if they have an interpretation of the script different from the director’s vision, this will reflect on their performances and the film will look vague, unclear or lacking focus. If the vision for the film is solid and well understood by everyone, everyone's work will be in line with a single thought and idea. The film will not look fake and viewers can better identify with the emotions in the film. For crucial scenes, most productions also conduct workshops and rehearsals with actors prior to the actual shoot.
Shoot the emotional scenes together and avoid shooting interconnected scenes at separate times. Filming is often not done in chronological order, as set-ups in the same locations are usually more practical and time-saving. When making a final shooting schedule, consider shooting emotional scenes in the nearest possible order as how they happen in the story so that the actors are able to keep the continuity of the emotions they show on camera. Also, when blocking the actors, utilize the props, sets, lighting and other elements affecting the film’s visuals to create the right mood, atmosphere and emotions the story needs.
Edit the film according to the cutting and pacing that will make your shots more emotional. The editing style you can use differs for each theme and story. As a basic guide, making a film more suspense-filled and exciting often utilizes fast-cut editing. Showing dramatic growth usually requires slower movements and cutting to give time to establish and develop facial reactions or body movements that pertain to more specific emotions.
Incorporate the different sound elements and musical score that can fit the emotional contents of the story. For instance, for a horror film, the use of eerie sounds and music that exudes a creepy mood can help support the scary feel of the movie. For a comedy flick, exciting, upbeat and comic sound effects and music help elevate the film's happy mood.