Film Discovery Session
Gain a Deeper Understanding of Who You Are Through the Films and Actors That Inspire You
In life, perhaps we are all working from a script. Sometimes we have had the privilege to choose elements of that script, other times it has been decided for us.
Films and stories on television give us a multi-dimensional way of discovering how different people live their lives. For the duration of the narrative we are transported to a world full of new possibilities. We can live vicariously through the characters and plots we experience on screen.
How is This Possible?
From a neuroscience point of view, we each possess mirror neurons in our brains that allow us to experience what others experience almost as if we were actually engaged in the activity ourselves. When we watch sports, we live the game with the players. When we see others displaying skill or competency, we feel what it might be like to have that skill or competency within us. This is why when learning a skill or discipline, it is so important to surround ourselves with people who are further down the path than us. They are quite literally showing us the way by giving us a mirror to experience their competency ourselves.
How is This Related to Motion Pictures?
The brain doesn’t differentiate from experiencing something first hand (doing it ourselves), second hand (watching someone else) or third hand (watching someone else through a screen). Generally, the closer we are to the activity, the stronger the experience (think live music over recorded music), but we can clearly still feel the experience through a screen.
Why Do We Enjoy Watching Others on Screen?
For the same reasons that we enjoy watching others live, we draw great inspiration and courage from the acts of others we witness on screen.
Films are a way of telling a story and every film has characters to do so. Since these characters are humans just like us, we naturally resonate with some characters, and are less enchanted with others.
We can start to explore the un-lived parts of ourselves that come alive through the narratives and stories we enjoy watching. When a certain actor makes us light up and feel strong, or helps us experience emotions that we can’t always locate on our own, we are drawn to them. We find a way to express ourselves through them.
Similarly, when we notice patterns in the themes that run through our favourite stories, we can start to discover what really motivates us. What we value and hold dear in life, how we relate to the world, why we identify with certain characters in different ways, who certain characters remind us of in our own lives, why we associate a particular set of traits with a particular person.
How Can This Be Useful?
Aside from deepening the sense of connection you have to certain characters and stories, this exercise can start to map out the parts of you that only come to life in the presence of certain other people. It is a way of better understanding your experience of the world. Upon discovering these traits in others, you can plot a course of action to internalise and strengthen these desirable traits in yourself.
Just as it is impossible to exercise a muscle that you can’t locate, until you make these deeper driving forces of your character conscious, it is impossible to refine and cultivate them into your whole being.
We aim to find out who you naturally resonate with, why you admire those certain characteristics and traits and how you can actively strengthen and integrate them into your character.
Choose Your Role, Write Your Script
You are choosing the role you would like to play in life. You are actively writing your own script. From this position, anything is possible.
And hey, most likely you’re pretty ace already but you’d just like to be more ace. Living as your best self takes practice but often you will discover that you’re already pretty close and half the battle is acknowledging and accepting yourself for who you really are.
This isn’t always easy to decipher from examining our relationships with real people from our lives. Films tend to exaggerate characters and traits, and through motion pictures we are given an omnipresent glimpse into a person’s life from the third person. We can study the same scenes over and over and decipher exactly why we enjoy or admire them so much.
We rarely get to experience our own life in the third person. But we can experience ourselves in the third person through our mirror neuron reflections of others we see in real life or on screen.
How the Session Works
Prior to the session, I encourage you to think of 5 films or acting performances which activate something powerful within you. They are likely actors or motion pictures that either visit you in memory, or that you find yourself coming back to again and again on screen.
It is not necessary to know why you like them or to question yourself for your choices. They are reflecting something about you that may ordinarily be unexpressed and may offer opportunities for insight and exploration.
Disclaimer
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Setup and Terms
- Session is 90 mins
- Free or Donation
- No Strings Attached
- Takes place on Zoom
- Though not essential, works best with preparation beforehand, i.e. choose your 5 favourite films/acting performances and think about how they make you feel and what they mean to you.
How to Book Your Session
1. Choose Your Time
Click the link below to pop open the scheduler and choose a time that works for you.
2. Choose Your 5 Films/Acting Performances
Have a think about the films or performances that move you and choose 5 using the form below.