The fastest way to earn the attention of your audience is to speak truth. It generally needs to be important truth to keep interest, but truth that is relevant to the hearer can be just as powerful. I don't mean relevant in the culturally pervasive understanding of relativism. When I say relevant I mean related, pertinent, applicable, significant, or important.
Nostalgia is often a form of relevant truth. A scene of a hot Fourth of July at a family reunion with hotdogs and hamburgers and baseball and fireworks after dark will strike up a sense of nostalgia with viewers that experienced that sort of celebration. Since it’s truth that demands the audiences respect, this personal-seeming truth that is nostalgia can be a very powerful tool in the hand of the filmmaker.
This won’t help a filmmaker, but I’ve been told the sense of smell is the strongest nostalgia trigger. I think music is a close second.
Jim
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