What is Suturing in Film?

Throughout the filmmaking process various techniques are used to suture the audience into the movie, but what is suturing in film?  How is it that filmmakers are able to suture the audience into the film in such a way that their imagination is positioned for them to enter the narrative world?  It’s important to understand how suturing is used to help the audience connect with the story in a way that makes them feel as if they are actually a part of the imaginary world being depicted on screen.

What is Suturing in Film?

Suturing is the practice in which the filmmaker gets the audience to connect with the story. And forget that the camera is the one looking at the story unfold, through this process of suturing the audience into the film.

The filmmaker is able to imply that the audience has connections with the story through one of a variety of different techniques. Through suturing the filmmaker seeks to imply that the look of the camera itself. The look of the audience watching the film.

And the look of the characters on the screen are all instances that the audience has direct involvement with. Rather than those that are the result of the camera doing the looking. This is how filmmakers connect with audiences.

Physical Suturing in Film

The use of various camera and sound techniques can help the filmmaker to physically place the audience within the realm of the film. Physical suturing, in which cinematic techniques are used to physically put the audience into the film.

It may involve any of the following:

• The use of POV shots which allow the audience to see what the protagonist sees.
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• Over the shoulder shots in which the audience sees what the protagonist sees.
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• The use of long wide takes which help to create the sense that the audience is in the same room or general area. And is watching the scene unfold from off in the distances.
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• Use of long, extreme close-ups of a specific character. So that the audience can feel as if they are physically thinking about the situation alongside the character.
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• The use of sound allows the audience to hear whatever sounds the character is hearing. So that it’s as if the audience member is there with the character.

Emotional Suturing in Film

The use of emotional suturing in film creates the audience connection to the story through the creation of situations and characters that the audience can resonate with closely and for which audience members have sympathy. 

Audiences are emotionally sutured into the story through characters that they are drawn to due to their relatable skills, charming mentalities, hospitable nature and general attractiveness. 

Filmmakers create audiences that have attributes which the audience can closely identify and connect with through emotional suturing in film. What is suturing in film?

It’s the way the filmmaker helps the audience to forget that they are watching a movie and not actually interacting in the situations and made up world of the movie. 

Moral Suturing in Film

The way that filmmakers get physical and emotional suturing right in film is through moral suturing. Moral suturing in film represents the use of values which the audience is most likely to understand and connect with.

Such that they are able to fully understand what the film is truly about. The audience feels directly connected with the moral underlying’s of the film. And they identify with the characters and the choices they’re facing with in the made-up world.

Handling Conflict

What is moral suturing in film? It’s the use of specifically active decision making. Which takes place among characters within the story. In such a way that the audience is directly connected to the decisions and thought processes that the characters are engaging in.

Through moral suturing, the filmmaker establishes core values that form the basis for the characteristics and moral values of the character. As well as how the character will handle conflict within the story.

Moreover, moral suturing takes place in the establishment of what is called the Moral Premise Statement (MPS). Which represents an individual sentence or statement that the filmmaker uses to define the natural consequences that a character would suffer from.

Should they choose a motivational vice vs. a virtue? A moral premise typically states two phrases that are exact opposites of each other such that there is an assertion as to vice vs. virtue, good vs. bad, greed vs. generosity.

For example:

• A Charlie Brown Christmas: Looking forward to “getting” leads to ambiguity. But looking forward to “giving” leads to significance.
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• Brave Heart: Compromise of liberty leads to tyranny; but being willing to die for liberty leads to freedom.
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• Bruce Almighty: Expecting a miracle leads to frustration; but being a miracle leads to peace.
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• Finding Nemo: Overprotective anxiety leads to losing those we love, but Releasing those we love leads to finding them again.
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• Karate Kid: Disrespect for what we don’t know leads to getting knocked down; but Respect for what we need to learn leads to getting back up.
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• Star Wars: Paranoia or recklessness, leads to imprisonment; but purposeful courage leads to freedom and vitality.

Moral Premise Statements

The use of Moral Premise Statements in film, part of the process of how filmmakers employ moral suturing to engage the audience. And make them feel connected with the underlying tone and values of the film so that they exist.

As if they are part of the made-up world that they are watching on the screen. Essentially can be seen in every scene and within every character. There’s a subliminal moral premise statement to which if the filmmaker gets it right with each scene and with each character.

Then the audience will be bound emotionally, visually, and morally to the world that they’ve produced within the movie. 

In Summary

So, what is suturing in film? It’s the point in which a filmmaker is able to use various techniques and tactics to connect the audience to the fictional world. Thus forgetting that they are actually watching a movie.

When a filmmaker has been successful in their suturing, the audience will forget that they’re seeing through the eyes of the camera as they are drawn into the make-believe world depicted by the film.