The Invisible Art of Storytelling and Media Production

David Kei-man Yip

Abstract: As the early filmmakers were magicians, cinema has developed from the early days of visible ‘tricks’ to invisible ‘effects’ [1]. As narrative cinema is to engage the audience with the story, many of the cinematic effects have been made to look invisible to the untrained eyes and ears. Film is both magical and make-believe. Like a magician who manages to hide his or her trick in a magic act, a filmmaker often hides his or her magic tricks from the audience. The invisible art of hiding cinematic effects is one of the important skills in media production. In storytelling, the hidden subtext can be as important as the visual text. This comprehensive article discusses the invisible art of storytelling and filmmaking.