Trauma is not an objective property of an event but a subjective experience created by the relationship between a present situation and past memories. Because experience is a combination of sensory input and remembered past, changing the meaning or narrative of past events can change the experience of trauma itself.

To increase video pace and maintain viewer attention, Roberto Nickson cuts out even tiny pauses between lines. He achieves this by slightly overlapping the audio and video of consecutive clips, creating a punchier, seamless flow that respects the audience's time.

The most powerful audio ads don't just describe a product; they use sound to evoke a sensory experience. As with Coca-Cola's classic ad featuring a can opening and pouring over ice, specific sounds can create a vivid mental picture, making visuals unnecessary.

The Kyiv Independent produces 60-minute documentaries on difficult subjects like war crimes. They found the effort to convince a viewer to watch a 15-minute video on a traumatic topic is just as high as for a 60-minute one. The longer format, however, allows for far greater narrative depth and emotional impact.

While CGI can render epic conventional battles, the true challenge for future filmmakers is to compellingly visualize the invisible but decisive elements of modern warfare. This includes esoteric aspects like electronic warfare, satellite jamming, and cyber-attacks that shape today's conflicts.

A war film often functions as a cultural artifact of its own time. The sensibilities, anxieties, and political climate of the generation producing the film heavily influence its narrative and tone, telling us as much about the present as it does about the historical conflict being portrayed.

People watched the movie 'Contagion' during the pandemic rather than reading scientific papers because the human brain is wired to learn through first-person stories, not lists of facts. Narratives provide a simulated, experiential perspective that taps into ancient brain mechanisms, making the information more memorable, understandable, and emotionally resonant.

A story's core mechanic for engagement is not just emotion, but the constant betrayal of the audience's expectations. People are drawn to narratives, jokes, and songs precisely because they want their predictions about what happens next to be wrong. This element of surprise is what makes a story satisfying and compels an audience to continue.

The modern concentration of media power isn't a recent phenomenon. It was formalized during WWII when the Pentagon centralized control over radio, print, and Hollywood for propaganda purposes. This government-media relationship persisted and expanded through Cold War intelligence operations like Project Mockingbird.