Adrian Moyse Dullin On Creating a Love Declaration for the Social Media Age in the Live Action Short, ‘The Right Words’

Growing up sucks. When you are a teenager, you go through your most awkward moments in front of other people who are experiencing the exact same thing–even though we don’t want to admit it. We are always afraid of being judged or saying the wrong thing, so when you realize that you might like someone, those anxieties and troubles come naturally. In Adrian Moyse Dullin’s The Right Words, one young man feels the extreme pressures of telling a girl that he likes her.

When I realized that Dullin’s film was partly about how young people feel an extra layer of anxiety because of social media, I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn’t grow up with Snapchat or TikTok. Not only do young people have to worry about balancing a social life face-to-face, but media has become infinitely fast in the last ten years. Dullin was eager to go back to this age.

“Teenagers are at the best, because some people are afraid of how people look at one another. When I was that age, I was afraid of how my body operated. I wanted to go back to when I was a teenager. I used to afraid of myself, so I wanted to explore a little bit of myself. I wanted to portray this generation, and to do that, we have to use social media like Instagram and TikTok. It was amusing to confront my story using those tools.”

One of my favorite elements of Dullin’s film is how he uses classical music through the 15 minute short. He wanted to use a piece that was familiar to the ear, but the cover also references a contemporary song choice. When you talk about romance, it can feel very sophisticated or adult, and the choice gives The Right Words an air of sophistication–as if the teenage character of Mahdi wants to be seen as more mature.

“When I was writing it, I was listening to lyrical, romantic music, and this [kind of] love story is something that we have seen many times,” he said. “It’s a love declaration, and we used to see it in theater as well as cinema. Even though the story is very contemporary, I wanted to alert the audience to use to a song that was big in pop culture. If we would have had the money, I would’ve put Britney Spears in the film, but I wanted to use a pop song and give it a classic mood. It’s very lyrical, and it gives the feeling of romantic anxiety.”

The tightness of the space not only adds to the anxiety and impatience of the characters but it alerts to the audience how dire the situation is. The majority of The Right Words takes place on a bus, and there are many distractions. Other kids are yelling in the background, people are shuffling around, and everyone is just trying to get home. That claustrophobia is effective because it plays to both the characters and the people watching.

“Our goal was to make you feel that anxiety,” Dullin said. “I wrote this film like a rom-com, but my intention was to shoot it like a thriller. I worked with the DP to get close to get into Mahdi’s point of view. With the other actors, I wanted us, the audience, to feel the pressure. I chose a bus, because that traps the character. The time lock helps too–he only has 15 minutes to tell Jada that he loves her. With the social media, you can’t escape that either. It’s a vortex that pulls you under.”

Mahdi’s sister, Kenza, tells him that when he declares his love for Jada, he needs to act tough. When Mahdi takes this advice, it makes the situation even more awkward, but it signals to how young men see themselves. Boys are taught to show almost no emotion, because they will be perceived as weak and no girl would want a weak man. Dullin wanted to allude to how young men think they need to behave in order to be successful with girls.

“I wanted to discuss that boys have to do certain things or act certain ways,” he said. “It’s not just with acting with girls–it’s boys too. My next film will speak about shame and gender stereotypes. With The Right Words, I wanted to look at the way we are supposed to act when it comes to declaring love. I wanted to show that Mahdi can also be sincere, but society explains to him that he’s not allowed to be vulnerable. He cannot control his emotions, because he’s not allowed to have them in the first place.”