Don't Give Them 4

Andrew explains the principle of not spoon-feeding audiences, citing a Pixar director who said "don't give them 4, give them 2+2." Smart audiences recognize and reject being spoon-fed.

He illustrates with a sequence from Moonlight: early in the film, a young boy boils water to fill his bathtub because there's no hot water. Many years later, we see the same character as an adult, and a shot of boiling water in a kitchen instantly transports the audience back to that childhood moment. This kind of visual storytelling, where meaning comes through repeated imagery rather than exposition, is character development at its best. Andrew notes that this level of smart filmmaking is increasingly rare.