Lesson 1 Summary:
What is a story? Why do we tell stories? What kind of stories do you want to tell?
In this course, we will explore a brief history of storytelling and filmmaking and what makes a story compelling.
Other main points include what it means to “show” versus “tell”, review some sample scripts, and go over how scripts are formatted.
We’ll explore some key terms to describe shots, angles, and lenses (if you are using a camera), and when to use each one to best suit the story you are trying to tell. You can apply these to both narrative and non-narrative (experimental, documentary) filmmaking and video!
We will also learn about storyboarding as a tool for envisioning each shot and start to think about how we want our films to take shape. Resources for free screenwriting programs and storyboarding templates will be shared.
Part 1: Introductions
Please share your name, pronouns, how you are feeling, and what is a movie you enjoyed watching recently? What did you like about it?
Today’s main questions:
What is a story?
Why do we tell stories?
What kind of stories do you want to tell?
What makes a story compelling?
—
Part 2: What is a Story?
Definition–noun: story; plural noun: stories
- an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment.
- an account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something.
ARTICLE: The Art of Immersion: Why Do We Tell Stories?
“Anthropologists tell us that storytelling is central to human existence. That it’s common to every known culture. That it involves a symbiotic exchange between teller and listener — an exchange we learn to negotiate in infancy.
Just as the brain detects patterns in the visual forms of nature — a face, a figure, a flower — and in sound, so too it detects patterns in information. Stories are recognizable patterns, and in those patterns we find meaning. We use stories to make sense of our world and to share that understanding with others. They are the signal within the noise.
In a landmark 1944 study, 34 humans — Massachusetts college students actually, though subsequent research suggests they could have been just about anyone — were shown a short film and asked what was happening in it. The film showed two triangles and a circle moving across a two-dimensional surface. The only other object on the screen was a stationary rectangle, partially open on one side.
Only one of the test subjects saw this scene for what it was: geometric shapes moving across a plane. Everyone else came up with elaborate narratives to explain what the movements were about. Typically, the participants viewed the triangles as two men fighting and the circle as a woman trying to escape the bigger, bullying triangle. Instead of registering inanimate shapes, they imagined humans with vivid inner lives. The circle was “worried.” The circle and the little triangle were “innocent young things.” The big triangle was “blinded by rage and frustration.”
So powerful is our impulse to detect story patterns that we see them even when they’re not there.”
VIDEO: Kuleshov Effect / Effetto Kuleshov
What emotion do you see on the man’s face after each “reaction shot”?
Does it seem to change?
Are we being told what emotion he has, or are we piecing it together ourselves?
Who has heard of the term “show don’t tell”?
Part 3: The Danger of a Single Story (25 mins)
DISCUSS:
What kind of stories do you want to tell?
What stories do you feel are missing in our culture?
Watch (05:47 – 11:01) 5 mins Chimamanda Adichie – The Danger of a Single Story
—
Part 4: Telling Stories Through Film (Script, Screenplay, and Storyboard) (35 mins)
Highlighting a few key terms
Invite students to take turns reading the definitions aloud, drop in the chat
Angle: relative position of the camera in relation to the subject
Background/b.g: anything within the rear plane of action in a film. Anything in the front plane is in the *foreground.
Close-up: shot was taken from a very close distance to subject, of an object or a body part used to emphasize the importance.
Composition: the way in which different visual elements are arranged in the frame. Can be created during *storyboarding.
Rule of Thirds: composition guideline. Process of dividing an image into thirds using two horizontal and two vertical lines, and placing the most important visual elements along the intersections. Horizon lines should be placed on the top or bottom horizontal line created by the rule of thirds.
Contrast: the difference between light & shadow. High contrast displays a full range of tones and has a strong delineation between bright and dark elements, and can make a scene feel more moody or tense. Low contrast displays a smaller range of tones with less delineation between bright and dark.
Foreground/f.g.: anything in the front plane of action in a film. Anything in the rear plane is in the *background.
Focus: the degree of distinctness or sharpness in an image. As a verb, it relates to the adjustment or manipulation of a lens to create a far sharper image. You can have shallow, deep, or soft focus.
Frame: a single image. It is the smallest compositional unit you can have in a film’s structure. A series of frames will be shown in rapid succession to make up the moving picture. Many frames make up a shot. Many shots make up a scene. Many scenes make up a sequence, and many sequences make up a film.
Lens: an optical glass placed in a camera through which light can pass through. The image is focused before it makes contact with the film stock. There are numerous types of lenses out there, including normal, telephoto, and wide-angle.
Lighting: the illumination present within a scene. It also refers to the manipulation of said illumination by way of the cinematographer and gaffer trying to alter shadows and brightness.
Long Shot: a camera view of a character or object from a vast distance away. This makes the subject appear small in the frame. You can also have a medium or extreme long shot. The opposite of a long shot is a close-up.
Medium shot: a conventional camera shot filmed from a medium-length distance. It typically captures the actor from the waist up, while a medium close-up is from the chest up. It’s abbreviated as “m.s.”
Screenplay: the script for a movie production written by a screenwriter. The screenplay contains all of the dialogue, character movements, and essential actions. The individual who creates a movie’s screenplay is called the Screenwriter.
Storyboard: a sequential series of rough sketches or stills showing what will happen in the movie. It captures what the camera lens will film so that the filmmakers can outline the various shots needed. The storyboard provides a rough synopsis of what will take place.
Storyboard
Storyboards are rough sketches used to visualize how each shot will look and move, and includes the camera and lighting setups. Not all films or videos use storyboards, but they can be a helpful tool for planning, mapping out a location, and anticipating continuity problems. If you want to have a tracking shot of a character moving through the hallway, you must have a large enough hallway to be able to maintain proper distance and focus, and if you have a second camera set up, to make sure neither the moving camera nor a light stand gets in the frame of the second camera!
Here is an example of a very detailed storyboard! https://www.powerproduction.com/storyboard-templates/Breakdown-storyboard-template-labels.pdf
Printable Storyboard PDF
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/downloads/storyboard-template/#pdf-storyboard-templates
ACTIVITY: On a piece of paper, notes app, Microsoft Paint, etc, plan a frame of a film by drawing a character in a space. Decide if the shot is CLOSE UP, MEDIUM, or a LONG SHOT. Are elements placed along the rule of thirds, or is it symmetrical? What is in the foreground, and what’s in the background? Is it low contrast or high contrast? Why?
Script and Screenplay
These terms are often used interchangeably, but a screenplay is a pre-production tool created for the screen, while a script is a production and post-production tool that may go through many different iterations depending on the needs of the production at the time. For example, a lined script is a document created by the script supervisor during production that outlines different dialogue, coverage, wardrobe, continuity, etc. Basically, it contains a lot more information than the regular script or even screenplay would.
There are a lot of resources and programs out there for screenwriting. My personal favorite is WriterDuet which gives you three free scripts: https://www.writerduet.com/
Media Resources:
The Art of Immersion: Why Do We Tell Stories?
Kuleshov Effect / Effetto Kuleshov
Chimamanda Adichie – The Danger of a Single Story