Why Movies Just Don't Feel 'Real' Anymore via Like Stories of Old

This is a great explanation of why some movies feel flat and forgettable - even though they are expensive - while others feel visceral and engaging.

Basically, this paints a path to “Haptic Visuality” (The Skin of the Film, from Laura Marks).

Deep focus, Long shot compositions allow the viewer to visually map out the three-dimensionality of the image and also feel its textures. They have an undeniable haptic quality to them by being so richly detailed and focused.

It’s because I can sense the material presence of the image, because I can so clearly imagine myself touching the grass, and have such a visceral response to that playful fluidity of water, that the entire space also feels much more three-dimensional and immersive.

This is why you should have literal depictions of touch, exterme close-ups of objects and people, kinetic forces against characters, actual textures in the image or film; these are quite effective at evoking a sensory response.

And sensory responses are memorable.

Commiting to filming the scene as it lives helps in this regard. Filming flat moves you away from this viscerally, moves you away from audience engagement.