Silence in Modern Filmmaking – First “Storytelling Sessions” Recording Now Available on MZed

by Mascha DeikovaApril 10^th, 2026

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Have you ever sat in the cinema through completely silent end credits after an emotional rollercoaster of a story? How do you feel when long pauses in dialogue appear? What about scenes with no underlying score? Silence in films can be treated like an absence of music, of words, of sound effects. Yet each of these “absent elements” is a mighty storytelling tool in its own right. Silence can be awkward, soothing, tense, threatening, or painfully intimate. It can stretch time, sharpen attention, and force us to actually look at what is happening between the characters. This is exactly the topic of the first recorded webinar in our new interactive series, “Storytelling Sessions” – “Silence in Modern Filmmaking.” It is now available to watch in the MZed library, and here is a sneak peek!

“Sessions” is our new interactive format on MZed, created to make the communication with our community more direct and two-sided. It will become a separate section on the site and bring together different kinds of live events: “Storytelling Sessions” live webinars like this one, where we dig for the filmmaker’s true gold – the tools and ideas that all serve great storytelling – as well as Q&As with MZed educators and regular Check-In Livestreams with Pro Members. The idea is simple: to engage the community more actively, hear their thoughts and suggestions, and make MZed feel not only like a library of courses, but also like a living exchange.

My “Storytelling Sessions” will take place live on Zoom, with room for questions and discussion, and later, we will add them to MZed as recorded courses. (Just like we did with the first one.) And yes, the next live session is coming up soon! You’ll find more information below.

What is “Silence in Film” all about?

The first session in the series is titled “Silence and Its Storytelling Powers in Modern Filmmaking.” We turned the webinar recording into a 1,5-hour course divided into eight concise modules. In these modules, participants and I explore silence as a narrative tool through a mix of film theory, philosophy, and scene analysis, asking practical questions along the way. What does the absence of music make us feel? Why does an unspoken pause in dialogue suddenly become so uncomfortable? Where do moments of total silence hit the hardest?

Throughout the session, we move from the basics of silence and its different qualities to dialogue, subtext, silence in plot construction, and finally, those rare moments of almost complete stillness that can change the weight of a whole scene.

A sneak peek into the recorded session

One of the course’s modules is dedicated to something as simple as the breaks and pauses in dialogue. Yes, it’s not the “epic silence” kind, but still a very fascinating topic. Let’s see what Mia says about this matter in Quentin Tarantino’s legendary “Pulp Fiction:”

So, dear Mia, why indeed do we feel it’s necessary to “yak about bullsh*t” in order to be comfortable? Long, silent pauses in conversations may be awkward, even embarrassing. Some people cannot bear them at all.

The thing is, we are so used to keeping the conversational flow alive, to answering straightaway, to jumping in the moment the other person finishes speaking, that even a short pause suddenly feels endless. You can test it with your friends. Give them a piece of dialogue from any script, and ask them to read it without much performance. Most will wait until their partner finishes speaking and then respond without hesitation. That’s within our comfort zone.

In the course, we also discuss a simple exercise from directing practice that can break this pattern. It goes like this: Ask one actor to wait and silently count to three in their head before responding to their scene partner. Not to “act awkward,” not to perform the silence, just to wait. Instantly, the whole exchange and dynamic between the actors shift. One will struggle to respond. The other will feel strange not getting an answer straightaway. New emotions begin to appear on their faces almost of their own accord. It’s a tiny intervention, but it tells us a lot about how silence works, not only in scripts but also in life.

What else will you learn in “Silence in Modern Filmmaking”?

Naturally, the contents of the recorded webinar go far beyond pauses in conversation. Other highlights include:

• Different types of silence and their emotional and narrative effects.
• The power of subtext, and how meaning emerges through what characters do not say.
• Scenes in which the absence of music sharpens reality or heightens tension.
• Examples of silence becoming a structural part of the plot.
• The different impact one can achieve with near-total silence and why it can make viewers lean in.
• A Q&A session and a short quiz to revisit the main ideas discussed in the webinar.

Price and availability

The recording of “Storytelling Sessions: Silence in Modern Filmmaking” is now available as part of the MZed Pro subscription. If you were unable to attend the live webinar last year, this is now the easiest way to catch up and explore the topic at your own pace.

Save the date for the next webinar

Since “Storytelling Sessions” will become a recurring format, here’s the next date to note down! The second live webinar on storytelling will take place on May 13 at 5:00 PM CEST (Vienna time) on Zoom, will run for roughly 1-1,5 hours, and will be free to attend live.

The topic we’re going to discuss is: “A Mighty Cut and How It Drives the Story.” Keep an eye out for the upcoming announcement article and our social media posts, where we’ll share the Zoom link to attend live!  

If you miss the live session, no worries, the recording will also be added to the MZed library afterwards.

What do you think about silence as a storytelling tool? Do you actively work with pauses and unspoken moments in your own scenes, or is it still something you want to explore more? And are you planning to join the next webinar on editing? Let’s talk in the comments below!

Full disclosure: MZed is owned by CineD.