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tom.hosiawa / storytelling
Apr 17, 2022

Don't tell me — Show me! A lesson from storytellers

Tom Hosiawa • 1 min read

Don’t tell me — Show me! A lesson from storytellers

Cinema’s about: Don’t talk about it, show it!
You don’t talk about a character’s experience.
You show them having that experience.”

The audience must be able to see it, touch it, hear it.
When you tell someone. You are explaining.
Because you don’t quite understand it. Can’t picture it.
So you say, I’m not sure. It’s kinda like this. It might work like this.
Or no, what about…

The thing is, no one wants to hear explanations.
They won’t put in the effort to fill in the picture for you.

So what do you do?
Be patient. Don’t talk about it. Instead, build clarity and understand it.
Show them when you can say, look, it looks like, sounds like, it does this when…You can describe every little detail.

Whether it’s in the cinema. In business. Or your personal life.
The audience must be able to see it. Touch it. Hear it as if it exists in their world.

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