"Entertaining Manipulation! What Makes Movies So Fun to Watch" by Enzo A.

You are as happy as you can be, popcorn and soda in hands, a cozy couch and soft blankets, just getting ready to watch your favorite movie; getting ready to be manipulated in all ways possible. A film producer's main goal is to ensure that you are entertained, in order to do that, using aspects that manipulate what you feel is key. This topic of 24 frames per second deceiving is mentioned quite frequently, although most do not know how it actually works and how it is put into practice, having such things will expand how much you know of what was in someone's mind as they made your dearest films. Who would have guessed Mickey Mouse was more manipulative than Regina George from Mean Girls?

We, as human beings, use several strategies to make something more likable or more exciting, maybe altering a visual aspect of something or a different point of view. That is much more common than you believe: Have you ever wondered why the cartons of milk are always located at the bottom of the store? It definitely is not because of a structural problem, think: According to Gitnuxblog, milk and all dairy products are consumed by more than 6 billion of our entire population, it is estimated 908 billion liters consumed around the globe in We, as human beings, use several strategies to make something more likable or more exciting, maybe altering a visual aspect of something or a different point of view. That is much more common than you believe: Have you ever wondered why the cartons of milk are always located at the bottom of the store? It definitely is not because of a structural problem, think: According to Gitnuxblog, milk and all dairy products are consumed by more than 6 billion of our entire population, it is estimated 908 billion liters consumed around the globe in total, it is very much probable shoppers at a supermarket have milk on their grocery lists, so why not make it as far as possible to have buyers have to pass through many aisles and more products to buy! Yet, not only stores have this sort of hidden move, films are stories in which you have a limited amount of time to engage the viewer, how is that done? Simple, using all resources possible to manipulate who is watching. As stated by FILM OVERLOAD, in the film The Shawshank Redemption, ¨The voiceover acts as a storyteller for the film that describes and explains what is happening. Darabont uses this voiceover to his advantage as it allows characters to speak directly to us, therefore the viewer is put into Red and Andy’s viewpoint. This allows us to experience every emotion they feel from joy and hope to injustice and despair.¨

As much as these types of manipulation are commonly used to highlight a certain characteristic, it may also be used to hide some aspects not meant to be seen. Wired talks about Tim Smith, a scientist from the University of London, who directed an experiment in order to eye track where people were looking during a scene in Iron Man 2, the results showed that people mostly focused on the faces of the heroes, the weapons they held and cars that were tossed around during the scenes. This was all done on purpose, the continuous action made people process the key points, which were all real, instead of what movie producers did not want them to notice, which was CGI (computed generated imagery). Not only taking into account how we are easily influenced by using visual aspects, when creating a film, directors always look forward to how we as humans usually behave.

Humans are, unlike several other species, a socially dependent kind, which is why we always look upon approval and identification with the rest, this behavior is not overseen in the making of a movie. A character inflicts a certain feeling in the public ever since the first appearance, which normally generates questions like: Is this character good or evil? Would I get along with them? Why are they so menacing looking? And that is exactly what the filmmakers want the viewers to think, film would not be interesting if the characters themselves were boring. Wired states that in order to generate such identification and interest in a character, a plethora of resources can be used in a manner in which that would be accomplished, from the colors incorporated in a scene to certain camera angles utilized. All those resources combined are able to manipulate the watching public, aspects of allegiance. Allegiance is the process of manipulation that aligns you with the characters, makes you root for them.

Movies may only be interesting with a character to guide us through it, which is why allegiance exists, the possibility to make a character more likable and sympathized with. JSTOR mentions the Scared of the Dark show, in which two interviewees mention the Hellraiser series, explaining how the cenobites, demonic creatures in that universe, after a while of watching the episodes become less scary and more lovable, almost as if building a relationship with them. Aligning with a character does not necessarily mean liking them as a person, yet sympathizing with the situation that takes place and the role they take in it. FILM OVERLOAD alerts that allegiance does not only occur because we like a character as a person or not, that can vary according to situation. Even though a character might be childish and irresponsible, which can be quite annoying to watch, we might end up cheering for them because they take up the position of good against bad. To sum it up, alignment may occur because of what a certain character is passing through, their role and responsibilities in a community and not only because we like them as a person. 

Since emotions are often difficult to express relying solely on speech to make something more prone to being liked, having a visual trigger in order to make someone fall under the influence of a scene is the easiest way to achieve the manipulation of a viewer. Manipulation does not solely include the appearance of a certain element, such as  the character's design, the set or props, rather the manner in which they are presented. Colors are a great example of non explicitly manipulating the viewer's thoughts about what is happening in movies.