Using Emojis makes you a better filmmaker.

3/25/2016

The use of emojis in our everyday life has become unavoidable as mush as we see it as an 'it' thing for the younger generation.

We may not know what they all mean, but it is a good thing to understand why it has become part of our daily lives and why it is here to stay.

In a surprising move, Oxford Dictionaries made the tears of joy emoji their word of the year for 2015. Sure, we're all using emojis (it's automatically in our phones) but are they that big, though? You can search Instagram posts by emoji, and Facebook's latest update lets "react" to posts by emojis.

Linguists have taken a hold of the matter, and as it turns out filmmakers can learn a lot from using emojis. Here's how.

1. You'll improve your communication skills

Film is a collaborative medium. You'll have to make 2000 decisions per day, even before the camera starts rolling. All your collaborators will come to you asking whether you think the door should be green or blue and you'll find yourself too overwhelmed to remember that the door was actually supposed to be red.

And if there's one thing you have to be great at other than telling a story, is communication. You have a vision, you have to explain it. You're dealing with people, and you will need to act accordingly.

What's the difference between "That's not necessary." and "That's not necessary [smiley face]". It's less harsh. Of course, I'm only saying that, provided you want to manage people's feeling's.

2. You're learning a new language

The latest edition of SXWS held a panel called "The linguistic secrets found in billions of emoji", in which researchers explained their findings from analysing all the data of emoji usage throughout the world.

Apparently, the world is crying [tears of joy], the French have a (predictably) [broken heart], and Scandinavians love themselves some [Santa].
Emojis account for 4.6% of our conversations. It's a language that has both formal and informal qualities. And it's far more elaborate and creative.

3. You're learning about visual storytelling

Filmmakers tell stories visually, in a way that, hopefully, goes beyond the mere dialogue, and when images are striking and are the driving force of the storytelling. Emojis are able to convey some of that. For instance, take a look at this list of the nominees for the Best Picture Oscar in 2015.

You get that the movies they're referencing are Birdman, Boyhood, Whiplash, American Sniper, Selma etc... Of course, you don't get the intricacies of the narrative, but that's probably due to Twitter's 140-character limit rather than the shortcomings of the language.

Now that's visual storytelling.

4. You're learning about voiceover

Voiceover is one of the things that many filmmakers will fail at. One textbook example of successful voiceover is Sunset Boulevard. The same kind of process is used in Annie Hall, in the famous scene during which subtitles show us what the characters are actually thinking. There's what happens, and there's what's really happening. It's definitely not about a scene and the voiceover describing what's happening.

There's a difference between: "Want to come over?", "Want to come over? [smirking face]" and "Want to come over? [eggplant]". The first one implies tea and a friendly chat, the second one implies sex and the third one doesn't imply much because it doesn't leave anything to the imagination.

How else can you use emojis to be a better filmmaker? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Raindance