Telling Stories with Video
If you point a camera at your dog and just let it run for five minutes, that's a video -- but it's probably not a very fun one to watch. Now what if you filmed your dog waiting by an empty bowl, then filmed you pouring food into the bowl, then filmed your dog happily eating? Suddenly you've told a tiny story: a problem (hungry dog), an action (you help), and an ending (happy dog). That's the real secret behind every movie, cartoon, and video you've ever loved.
What You'll Learn
- Why a story needs a beginning, middle, and end to make sense - What a 'shot' is and why filmmakers use more than one - How close-up and wide shots make you feel different things - How to plan your own simple 3-shot video story
Every Story Has Three Parts
Almost every story you've ever seen, from a two-minute cartoon short to a two-hour movie, is built from three parts. The beginning shows you the problem or the situation. The middle shows someone trying to solve it or something happening. The end shows how it turns out. Think of a video of someone building a sandcastle: beginning is the empty sand, middle is building the towers and walls, end is the finished castle (or a wave knocking it down!).
A 'Shot' Is One Piece of Video
Real filmmakers almost never film a whole story in one long, unbroken clip. Instead they film separate short pieces called shots, then put them together in order -- this putting-together step is called editing. A shot might last just 2 or 3 seconds, or it might last a whole minute. By choosing what to show in each shot, and what order to put the shots in, the person making the video controls exactly what story the audience understands.
A wide shot shows a lot of the scene at once, like your whole backyard -- it helps the audience understand WHERE the story is happening. A close-up shows just one small detail up close, like a smiling face or two hands high-fiving -- it helps the audience feel an EMOTION. Real filmmakers switch between both on purpose.
Why Order Matters
Here's a fun trick: the exact same three shots can tell two totally different stories depending on the order you put them in. Shot A: a kid smiling. Shot B: a birthday cake with candles lit. Shot C: the kid blowing out the candles. If you show A, then B, then C, it feels like the kid is excited and about to blow out candles. But if you show B, then C, then A, it feels like the story is already over and now the kid is happy about it. Editors -- the people who arrange shots in order -- have enormous power over how a story feels.
Next time you watch any cartoon or show, try counting how many different shots happen in just 30 seconds. You'll probably be surprised how often the camera changes -- often more than once every 5 seconds!
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
Why do filmmakers use both wide shots and close-ups in the same video instead of just one kind?
A video shows: 1) a kid smiling, 2) a birthday cake with lit candles, 3) the kid blowing out the candles. If an editor changes the order to 2, 3, 1 instead, what does this show about editing?
Plan a 3-Shot Story
On paper, draw 3 boxes in a row, like a comic strip. In box 1, draw your 'beginning' shot (the problem or situation). In box 2, draw your 'middle' shot (the action). In box 3, draw your 'end' shot (how it turns out). Label at least one box 'wide shot' and at least one box 'close-up.' If you have access to a phone or tablet camera with a grown-up's help, actually film your 3 shots in order and watch them back together. Explain out loud what story your 3 shots tell.
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