Emily Hearn

In this project I wanted to explore how facial and bodily expression adds to oral communication. It explores the idea that your facial expressions and body language can change how people feel about what you are saying. This can be used for good, but it can also be used by people who want to manipulate a situation to go their own way.

My interest in this was sparked in particular by a Louis Theroux documentary about Christian missionaries. It started me thinking about how persuasive people can be if they want someone to believe their message, be it religious leaders, politicians, or youtube ‘influencers’.

I knew that I wanted my final outcome to be a film. I looked at a lot of informational videos early on, to gather historical background, and interviewed people for primary research. Documentaries were particularly useful and led me towards using an informational style in my final outcome. Through my research I came up with the idea of using found footage to look at facial expressions and body language, and show how they add to oral communication.

As well as looking at footage, I wanted to explore the mechanics of facial expression, particularly focusing on the eyes and the mouth. I tested a range of ideas, like drawing my own expressions in conversations, and then focusing on the footage I had gathered, so the book could work alongside the film. I made a couple of iterations to the book, before finalising it with pictures rather than drawings. This tied in better with the film.

Overall, I want to teach my audience not to trust everyone at a first glance, as what people portray to others aren’t always genuine feelings. However, the intention is not to make it feel too serious, the lesson can be learnt subtly without me pointing it out too obviously.