Emotion is an important part of storytelling for video. Video can display emotional states and evoke them in viewers. Our emotional systems such as fear, urge, rage, care and play are easily triggered by the visual elements we watch on screen.

Emotional details or triggers are not always easy to recognise. Many are embedded within our unconscious and are not clearly evident. Emotions help us remember, so if you want an audience to take a message away with them, do not avoid emotion in your video. Try to understand what emotions are happening in a sequence and analyse the effect. It may be necessary to go over footage several times to understand the emotional elements at work.