Fitting the format to the story

Whichever format you pick, you are still telling the same story, with a character, a challenge, a choice, and an outcome. What changes between formats is who tells each part and how it gets told on screen.

Look at your outline first, since who your story follows will often tell you which format fits. None of the formats below represents strict rules; they're there as guidance. If your story works better another way, go with that.

Five formats

These five formats have been proven to work online:

  • One person's story: you follow one person that the issue affects or one person in your Circle doing something about it, through a specific thing, like a trip, a task, a day, or a decision. This person is the character, and the challenge, the choice, and the outcome come from what they experience on camera. For example, Ange Zountchegbe raised 37 million FCFA on TikTok for one paralysed ex-teacher by posting about the same person again and again until it was solved, and More Perfect Union opens on one worker in their own workplace, then widens out to the system that put them there.
  • The history of one issue: the issue is the subject, not one person. You go back to how it started, how long it has gone on and what has been tried, then show who it is hurting now, with names, if people are happy to give them, and facts and figures if you have them. One person it affects can open the video as a way in, then end on what your Circle chose to do about it and what has changed so far. For example, Valerie Keter opens on one strange, concrete detail, then gives you the history behind it.
  • Winnable issue highlight: you show your Circle doing the action it decided to do, a food drive, a clean-up or a fundraise, while it is happening. The choice is on camera, so make sure the viewer also sees who it is for and why the Circle chose it.
  • Steward or activist interview: a steward talks about why they started their Circle, or an activist shares why they joined, what they've done since, and what they want the Circle to become. Have a friend record it somewhere that shows the work. Whoever does the talking is the character, and the problem that made them start or join the Circle is the challenge. For example, Salary Transparent Street is one question and one answer, with no intro and the question on screen inside the first second.
  • Quick unscripted interviews: you ask people one question about the issue and let them answer in a few sentences without a script, cutting their answers against footage of what they are talking about. The answers give you the challenge and show how many people share it. End on what your Circle chose to do about it and what has changed so far, which gives you the choice and the outcome. For example, Invisible People asks one question, then stops talking, and cuts on the moment the person's face changes.

In every format, film plenty of B-roll, meaning footage of the issue itself and of your Circle working on it. Remember, if nobody on screen is challenged and makes a choice, it is a report, whatever the format. Once you have selected a format, add it to your outline.

If you don't want to film

The four parts work without video, too. You can tell the story in photos, as a thread on X, or as a blog post like this one on the Liberland clean-up. The rest of this course is about video.