Visual Storytelling

How important is what you see? Can you tell a story without words? Silent movies told stories long before voices could be heard on screen. And, if you watch carefully, you'll discover that there is a language or grammer to the audio/visual medium. It varies from film to television and genre to genre much like dialects within a language. Take Spanish for example, Spaniards speak differently than Mexicans, who speak differently from Puerto Ricans or Cubans, but they all speak spanish. Genres are like that.

It all goes back to the language of the audio/visual medium. If you watch an amatuer filmmaker's product, you may not know why, but you'll know it's amatuer. Typically there are a number of reasons, one of which is the misuse of the language of film. The amatuer will usually move from a master shot to an extreme close up or something equally as jarring. Or they will take a conversation without using over-the-shoulder shots. They may even only give the viewer one angle the entire piece.

So, you have to have the ability to plot out in your mind what you want the final product to look like, then capture those images. That's why live events are so difficult, you can't plan enough. Along with different shots and angles, you need to consider the way the image is framed or will look on-screen. There are rules to keep, bend and break when shooting, but until you know the rules and how to capture a visually stimulating image you have to learn. Take a photography class, read books, look at great art.

Then, once you've captured the images you have to put them together with good editting. But that's another post.

It takes time and practice to understand and learn what we've all become visually accustomed to. That's why film school is important, one of the reasons anyway. Sure, you could learn without schooling, many have. But school helps, a lot.

Importance of Story

Anytime we watch television or go see a movie there are a few things that we expect to help us stay engaged. We expect strong characters/good acting, high production value, and a good story. Here I want to talk about the last of these: story.

A good story can sometimes overcome the lack of good acting, most of the time it can overcome lack of production value. As has been shown with the independent film market, production value is important but not the end all be all. but, we'll talk about that more later.

A good story should engage the viewer. It should suck them in and make them suspend their disbelief. Anything can happen in a movie or Tv show if the veiwer is into the story and the event follows logically from the plot.

There are differing opinions on how to craft a good story. You can use the classic three act structure. You can use the Hero's Journey. Or you can combine both, which is what I prefer. Use the Hero's Journey in a 3 act structure. You can find many good books on both of these topics: Sid field, Lew Hunter, Christopher Vogler, Joseph Campbell, Aristotle, Robert Mckee... the list of authors who have written about how to tell a good story is long. You can even find contemporary writers like Stephen King giving lessons on how to tell a good story.

The main thing is story is important. It is vital to capturing the audience. Christian media producers should look closely at their story, their foundation, before building on it. Our stories should be built on rock, not sand. Especially since great actors and good production values are hard to come by in the Christian market.

Who am I?

I am a videographer specializing in the christian market. I shoot weddings, concerts, promos, conferences, and more. I also edit and use public domain films to create christian pieces targeting the youth.