From The Director's Chair

Most scenes don’t die in the middle — they die at the end.

In this week’s From the Director’s Chair, I’m breaking down why lingering too long on exit actions can drain the energy out of your edit.

The fix is simple: cut on intention, not on the exit. Enter late, leave early — and your scene keeps its heartbeat alive.

#FromTheDirectorsChair #filmediting #indiehorror #filmmakingtips #postproduction

Most people think horror is about the scare. The blood. The scream. The thing in the dark.

But the truth is… horror only works when we care first. You can’t scare someone who doesn’t feel something for your character.

That’s what this week’s From the Director’s Chair is about — The Emotional Intelligence Behind Horror.

In this episode, I talk about how understanding a character’s emotions — their wants, fears, and vulnerabilities — is what makes the fear matter. Because fear without empathy is just noise. But fear with empathy… that’s tension. That’s what lingers long after the credits roll.

I also pull examples from Where the Monster Lives and my upcoming short The Streetlight Man to show how emotional intelligence builds dread through empathy — not just through shock.

If you’ve ever written or directed a horror scene, ask yourself these three questions: 

1️⃣ What does my character want? 

2️⃣ What are they afraid to lose? 

3️⃣ And what do we feel before the scare?

That’s the foundation of true horror. That’s how you make people feel before you make them scream.

#indiehorror #filmmaking #storytelling #filmmakerlife #FromTheDirectorsChair