How do film writers create emotional sympathy for the characters?

(READ THIS!)(Random Spoilers) If you watch a show like Game of Thrones, and when Ned Stark is decapitated, you feel sad and shocked beyond belief. Or of course the movie Titanic, where I nearly cried at the end when Jack Dawson died. But when you watch a movie such as Transformers you don't give two shits whether or not any of the characters die. Infact I thought it was quite funy when Jazz or Optimus Prime died. How do film writers create this connection to characters?