Blik ~ Animating Emotion Without Expression or Words
Guess what? I'm guest posting over on Myndi Shafer's blog today! If you aren't familiar with Mydni's hilarious blog posts, you really need to check her out. Today I'm following in her Happy Hausfrau tradition and giving Baking Soda Some Love! Did you know baking soda and vinegar can tackle most of your cleaning needs? Yep. Hop on over there to check it out!
While you're here though, I hope you'll enjoy this charming little film that tells the story of a young boy and his first love ~ without words or facial expression. The filmmakers wanted to capture every emotion through subtle body language. It's long, over eight minutes, but it will capture your heart.
As writers we try to show emotion through facial expression, body language, or the words our characters say. This little film has got me thinking of other ways to convey meaning. The tiniest gesture, the exaggerated shrug, what's your favorite way of showing rather than telling?
Enjoy.
i’m going to come back and watch this when i have a bit more time. sounds like what we all need as writers
Oh, I hope you do, Louise! My husband was watching it on his laptop and I kept leaning over to see what was going to happen next. It really is captivating how they showed so much emotion with very subtle movements.
great for us writers. can’t wait to watch
This is a great post! I would not have thought of the little nuances and they are so important!
Hey Susie! I found you hanging out in my Spam folder. You were trying to organize a blog party, I think. I’ve brought you over here to the comments, hope you don’t mind!
Those little nuances are terribly important and making me rethink so much of how my characters act/react to things. I loved this video, too.
Hi Tameri! I am out of spam! Yeah! A nice man pulled me out and said he was sorry for any inconvenience!
Loved your post over at Myndi’s – OMG hilarious and super informative.
This video is really quite amazing. I couldn’t believe how much I could pick up from body language alone with no facial expressions. Incredible.
Thanks Doll! I was channeling my inner Myndi. So glad you liked the video!
Body language if amazing, isn’t it? Fabulous video. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome, Debra! Body language is huge ~ I know I’m guilty of thinking about facial expression way more than body language, but now I’m looking at my characters in a whole new way.
Just finished snorting at Myndi’s. You are hilarious! Showing is such an important part of what we learn as writers and there is SO much to learn. This video is awesome. Thanks to you and hubby!
So glad I could make you snort! That’s usually our Miss Natalie’s forte. I’ll tell Hubs he scored a thank you for the video. He and The Kid love to find me great nuggets of fun.
Wow that video is really cool. It’s a great reminder for me as a writer!
That’s what I thought too, Coleen!
Sweet video! I like to ‘show’ through action and dialogue, illustrating what I feel throughental movies. And I can take all the cleaning tips you’ve got, so… Baking soda, here I come!
Yay, yay, and yay! I tend to show too much through dialogue and need to get it into the exposition a little more. This video is just so sweet.
Have fun with the baking soda!
Ah, a happy ending! I’m a sucker for those.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
I know, me too. I was wondering where it was going ~ my husband and I thought the kid and the boyfriend would become friends, but I like how they ended it much better. Glad you liked it!
Hi Tameri. I’ve passed on the Sunshine Blog Award to you.
Really? That’s so cool! Thanks for bringing some sunshine to my day. 😉
Wonderful. You know, it would be a great challenge to write scenes of just body language to convey our story. What a challenging exercise that would be. I’m going to try it!
I love that picture of you! Dang, you are so pretty, Ginger.
I’ve been playing around with writing scenes without any facial expressions and limited dialogue just for the challenge. It’s very illuminating. Have fun playing around with it!
Thank you, Tameri, for the compliment. So sweet! 🙂
Love the video. It is SO important to show even the smallest details, isn’t it?
Yep, yep! Love the video, too. I’ve watched it about seven times now and each time I see something new. Fascinating!
What a video! Such a great reminder to think of the little things and not just the most noticeable ones. =)
I know, right? Makes me look at writing in a whole new way.