The term ‘audiovisual dramaturgy of affect’ designates a theoretical model to analyze the compositional structures of audiovisual movement-images with regard to strategies, means, and patterns of affectively engaging spectators. The model makes it possible to accomplish this analysis in an empirical manner that can be reproduced among different researchers. This approach enables a comparative and system-based analysis for researching large corpora of audiovisual images ranging from fiction films to TV news and web videos. The method corresponding to the model – called eMAEX (electronically based media analysis of expressive-movement-images) – was developed in the context of researching classical Hollywood war films and has since then been continuously refined. We will first provide a short overview of the practical process before elaborating on the theoretical background of the model. After that, we will carefully break down every step of the process into details before discussing possibilities of adapting the method to different subjects of study.