Story vs report

Consider a report, which simply declares what was done and presents the facts:

  • the Circle met on Saturday
  • 40 people came
  • 200 food packs were handed out

None of it is wrong, but nobody in it wants or decides anything, so there is nobody to follow and no emotional arc to involve people. There is no story.

A lot of these posts have good production, nice music, clean graphics, and the numbers on screen, but not much about who the people in them are or why any of it happened.

When structured using a storyline, the same report could run as follows:

Since the factory closed in March, Mrs A has fed six people on one income. Going door to door with the Circle, she found 39 households in the same position. She said a petition would take months, so the Circle ran a food drive instead. On Saturday, 200 food packs went out. The factory is still closed.

Same Saturday and the same 200 food packs, but now you follow one person through it. You see what Mrs A is up against, why she chose a food drive over a petition, and what came of it: 200 food packs. Most videos leave her choice to act out, even though it's what someone with the same problem would want to know. The 39 households come in after her, because a number means little until people can picture who it is happening to, so start your video in that same order. And with the factory still closed, the viewer is left with something to do.

Before filming

You cannot write the story before filming, but you can take these questions with you:

  1. who the character is: one person or one family, not "the community"
  2. what the challenge was, how long it had been going on, and what had been tried before
  3. what they did about it, and what else they could have done
  4. the outcome so far, and what is still not fixed

Get the answers from the people involved, in their own words. The story you find is often not the one you expected, and if someone else's is stronger and more engaging, tell that one.

Writing an outline

Before the shoot, write a short outline with what you already know for each question. The choice and the outcome stay open until the people in the story tell you about them, so remember to stay flexible and open to changes.