When I put on my “Raindance goggles,” the world looks a little different. Every advert I see becomes a filmmaking lesson. And lately, the lesson isn’t a pretty one: advertising has fallen headfirst into what I call the pornification trap.
We’ve all seen it. Everything gets labelled “porn” these days—food porn, travel porn, gear porn. What does it really mean? Hyper-stylised shots designed to make you drool for five seconds before moving on. The dripping burger. The drone shot of a tropical island. The shiny gadget emerging in slow motion.
It works—for a moment. But the dopamine fades, and the brand is forgotten. The trap is this: surface gloss without substance never lasts. And filmmakers fall for it just as easily as advertisers.
Lesson One: Attention Isn’t the Same as Impact
It’s tempting, especially when you’re working on your first short, to reach for shock value. A splash of gore. A sex scene. A jump scare. Bang—you’ve got attention.
But here’s the catch: attention fades just like the memory of that dripping burger. The filmmakers who endure—the ones we study at Raindance—understand that impact outlives spectacle.
👉 In our Screenwriters’ Foundation Certificate, we explore why a strong story structure grips audiences far longer than shock tactics.
Lesson Two: Suggestion Beats Blunt Force
The masters of cinema are masters of restraint. Hitchcock’s Psycho shows less than you remember—but the shower scene is etched into history. Ridley Scott’s Alien terrifies not by showing the monster, but by hiding it. Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight creates more intimacy with a glance than most films do with ten explicit minutes.
The great lesson? What you don’t show is just as powerful as what you do.
👉 In our Directors’ Foundation Certificate, we drill into the function of the camera—when to reveal, when to hold back, and how to use suggestion as your most potent weapon.
Lesson Three: Respect the Audience
Here’s where many advertisers (and filmmakers) go wrong. They treat the audience as if they’re nothing more than bundles of reflexes—press the button, trigger the drool. But audiences are smarter than that. They want to be seduced, not shouted at.
At Raindance, we see hundreds of films every year. The ones that stay with us aren’t the loudest or the glossiest—they’re the ones that trusted us to lean in, imagine, and connect the dots ourselves.
👉 In the Filmmakers’ Foundation Certificate, we explore basic techniques—introduction to writing, directing, producing and breaking into the film industry
The Raindance Takeaway
So here’s my challenge to you: as you develop your next film, ask yourself—am I pornifying my story for cheap thrills? Or am I creating something that will live in my audience’s imagination?
Because pornified advertising fades faster than yesterday’s TikTok trend. But a story that seduces, that invites the audience to participate—that lasts a lifetime.
Beware the pornification trap.
Shock is cheap. Seduction is priceless. At Raindance, we’ll always choose the latter.
👉 Next step: Put down the pornified gloss. Pick up the craft. Explore a Raindance course and start building cinema that resonates, not just titillates.
👉 the Full Monty: Read the full article on my new Substack. While you are there, Join. It’s free.
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
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