When you're making a multi-modal story? Your greatest tool is contrast. The contrast of the music and the silence. The contrast of the edited image against another image. The contrast of Close-Ups and Wide Angles. The contrast of the sound and the image.

Maybe the greatest contrast is found in the ability to find the Shareable Darkness. How can you persuade your audience to accept as their own some darkness that they would never seek out? Maybe the vulnerability of a relatable character? Maybe a twist in the plot? Maybe a little satire so laughter soothes the darkness?

A great story always has contrasts, but the greatest stories manage to convince the audience to share a dark thing that they might never otherwise choose.