On our previous page, ‘What’s The Story‘ Malcolm Hall and Emily Jupp talked about good and bad storytelling. Now let’s take a look at how you choose a story, then build it into a video people would want to watch.
In some ways, this is the most difficult part of filmmaking, much harder than shooting and editing bits.
So Many Stories… So Little Time
What you have to do first is talk, talk, talk, talk with your group until everyone finds a story they like.
Don’t settle for the first idea somebody comes up with just because it’s kind of okay.
This is harder than it sounds because we’re all a bit lazy and it’s much easier to say yes than to think of something better.
But here’s the thing, if you just go along with the crowd and accept any old story, you won’t really care about it.
And if you don’t care about it, nobody else will. So, it will suck. Simple as that.
Well Begun is Half Done
Think about it. You’re asking people to spend 3-5 minutes of their life watching a film that not even you think is special, why should they?
It’s just a waste of everybody’s time, including yours.
All those hours you spent shooting and editing, you could have been out playing sports with your friends or maybe even visiting your poor old granny.
Once you’ve chosen a story you really care about; you can start to develop it because you don’t just grab a camera and stop shooting.
There are some important steps before that, and the first one is called research.
Research, Research, Research
You’ll need to become an expert in whatever your film is about.
When you talk to people who know about the subject, you might even get a nasty shock.
Maybe your original idea was all wrong and your story is a complete dud.
That can be tough, but hey, it’s better to find out before you’ve wasted time and energy making a film that’s a load of rubbish.
The good news is there’s nothing magic about research. It’s mostly common sense.
Research. What’s it All About?
Here’s how it works, you’re kicking story ideas around and one of your group says,
“Hey, my friend at school is from Syria, he came here with his mum and dad after somebody dropped bombs on his village. Why don’t we make a film about what a great place Kaipatiki is for refugees? It’ll be awesome.”
You talk about it and yes, it’s an amazing story. A family escaping from a terrible war and settling in a peaceful new country, this sadness, happiness, drama, danger, and just about everything else you could want in a film. Terrific.
Not so Fast
But hold it right there, before you even think about filming, there’s a whole heap of stuff you’ll need to find out. In other words, you’ll have to research your story.
For starters, you’ll want to know:
- Who in Kaipatiki knows about resettling refugees?
- How many refugees live here?
- Where did they come from?
- Do they like it here? Why? If not, why not?
- Will any refugees let you film them?
- How do the local residents feel about refugees?
- Did they like them or hate them?
- Will they agree to be filmed?
- Are there any fabulous events featuring refugees that you can film?
- Can you get permission to film in the places you need?
- If there are any free ethnic music, you can use in your soundtrack.
- Has anyone else made a film about this stuff?
- How did they handle their story?
It all looks a bit scary, so where do you start?
Okay, here’s how it goes. First of all, you contact lots of people and you explain your idea to them, and you ask them who they know who might be able to help.
Then you contact those people and ask who they know and so on.
Now, don’t be shy about this because really, they’re quite flattered to be asked because what you’re actually saying to them is, “Hey, you’re an expert, would do you help me please?”
When you talk to everybody who can help, it’s time to stop and have another serious think.
Ask yourself, “after all my research, does the story still hold up or do I need to change it?”
The good news is, now you’ve collected all this information you can fix most problems, quite easily.
Say you’re doing the refugee story and you find that no refugees want to appear because their English isn’t too good. Don’t panic. Now you know there’s a problem. You can do something about it.
For a start, you can find interpreters or support people who can speak for them.
What if you find there’s an amazing festival of Middle Eastern food happening a week after you plan to finish shooting? No problem. Just delay your shoot for a week.
You’re in Charge
The point is if you know what’s happening, you can make it work for you. If you don’t, if you haven’t done your research, even little problems will start to become big ones.
Okay? You’ve chosen what story you want to tell, and you’ve done your research so you have all the information you need and you’re thinking, can we please stop filming now? Sorry, not yet.
You still have some important decisions to make and the most important one is how you will plan to build your film. What shape will it be?
Is Your Video in Good Shape?
If you’re building a house, you don’t want to leave big holes or sharp bits sticking out all over the place. It’s the same with a film.
You want it to look good with no odd parts that don’t fit properly. You’ll be pleased to hear that structure isn’t rocket science.
The simplest structure is a beginning, a middle and an end. How hard can that be?
The beginning is called the setup. That’s where we’re going to meet the people who are going to be important to the story. We also find out where they are and what they’re up to.
The middle is where you grow your story. Something interesting happens to those people that will change things.
The end is where we say how it all turns out and everybody lives happily ever after. Or not!
Have You Finished Starting Yet?
Let’s try that with the story set in Kaipatiki. So, you’re planning a video about looking for a Taniwha in Le Roy’s Bush.
The beginning is where we introduce your main characters. You tell us what their mission is, to find the Taniwha, and you tell us how they plan to do it and when.
You’re going to have a lot of fun in this section. Maybe there’s a bossy kid who really wants to be the leader, except he keeps getting lost.
Or, how about a scared cat youngster who’s worried that you really will find the Taniwha and there’s bound to be at least one person who reckons these Taniwha legends are all a load of rubbish.
Who knows? Maybe they’re in for a big surprise.
You get the idea.
The main thing is we get to meet this bunch of people and we start to take an interest in what happens to them.
The middle is the mission itself. You set off into the Bush and have some adventures, big scares or whatever while you search for the monster. If you’re lucky, you might even find the Taniwha.
The end is what you tell us what happened, how amazing it all was, what you could have done differently and what you plan to do next.
So, the whole thing is a neat little puzzle. Even if you don’t find a Taniwha, that’s okay. The viewers still feel satisfied because they’ve shared an adventure with people that they care about.
If you’re telling an interesting story about interesting people, it doesn’t matter too much how it turns out in the end.
Cinderella Story – Alternative Ending
Okay. Let’s take the Cinderella story. We’ll change the ending and see if it still works.
This time the handsome Prince falls in love with a wicked stepmother.
Cinderella isn’t too worried though. She just gets the fairy godmother to change her into a butterfly so she can fly away from that horrible family.
Would we still watch this story through to the end?
Yes, because we care about all the people in the story, so we still want to know what happens to them, especially Cinderella.
Okay, you know what the story is and how you plan to shape it with a beginning, middle, and end. Now you need to decide how your film will look, and we’ll talk all about that in the next video: Look Before You Leap