Lessons from hypnosis

Just thought I'd post up a filmmaking/screenwriting lesson I picked up from my time training in hypnosis. Yep, I'm qualified as a hypnotist.

One of the key ideas behind hypnosis is that you have a conscious mind and a non-conscious (otherwise known as a subconscious) mind.

The conscious part is the part that you use when you are analysing, planning, talking to people, etc. The non-conscious part is the home of your memories, urges and reactions, e.g. if someone throws a tennis ball to you and you automatically catch it. That's the non-conscious mind at work. Also, if you are feeling a bit down and get the urge to eat doughnuts, thats the non-conscious mind at work again.

Basically, the non-conscious mind is a very clever pattern matcher. The popular book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell explains this very well, so give that a look if you want to learn more about the way the non-conscious mind works.


Throughout your life you have had seen things, heard things, touched things and felt emotions. The non-conscious mind links together experiences with emotions. That is why you can notice yourself re-feeling a past moment when you see a photograph of it or you hear someone speak in a certain tone of voice. The experience has been associated with the feeeling.
Basically, the non-conscious mind is very tuned in to associations.

What has this got to do with screenwriting or filmmaking? Well, whenever we write a script, the person reading it is reading it as two people. They are reading it with their conscious mind and also with their non-conscious mind. Each person is effectively two people. Unless a story appeals to both these "people" it will fail.
Have you ever seen a film that was kinda good but was missing something? Chances are, it only appealed to one of your "viewers", either the conscious (plot, character actions, drama) or the non-conscious (emotional, thematic).

In order to work, a script or film has to appeal to both. One way to appeal more to the non-conscious is through the use of metaphor, motif and symbolism. The non-conscious is highly tuned into these forms of association. The best kind of metaphor or symbol is one that is missed by the conscious mind, e.g. use of subtle visual symbolism within a scene. If it is too overt it will be noticed and then is in conscious awareness and will not have as great a non-conscious effect.
, symbols and metaphors.