THE

POWER
OF
STORY
FREE EXCERPT FROM

HOW TO
SHOOT VIDEO
THAT
DOESNT SUCK
STEVE STOCKMAN

ave you had this experience? You grudgingly

agree to watch a friends video. You click on the
link. The first few shots are good. Cute kids. But
about 10 seconds in you start to get a sinking feeling. This
video isnt about anything. Its a bunch of shots that arent
leading anywhere. And youre stuck having to watch enough
to lie to your friend about how much you loved it.
You are watching a video without a
story. Your friend took out a camera
or phone, pointed without thinking,
and shot for a while, also without
thinking. The result is a series of
unrelated images that become more
boring the longer they continue. Your
brain is trying its best to make sense
of the images cascading before your
eyes, but failing. That failure induces
boredom, distraction and tension.
A shot of two kids on a swingset
followed by a guy pouring a beer
followed by a wide shot of a field
where people you may or may not
know are playing softball kind of
suggests a story about a company
picnic without actually being a story
of a company picnic.
While we cant help a friend who
shoots video this way (other than

sending her this free booklet) we can

vow never to be that friend.
Fortunately, thats easy. Find the
story in your videos every time,
and they will be infinitely more
watchable, every time. Read on, try
the exercises, and your video will no
longer suck. Youre welcome.
Do you want more video lessons?
How to Shoot Video that Doesnt Suck
has 248 pages of simple concepts
and easy exercises you can use
to get better still. Buy it.
You can get still more free tips,
tricks sample videos and lessons at
SteveStockman.com.
Follow me on Twitter
@stevestockman for
even more!

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

Know Your
Story

hen someone wants to tell you about their

favorite movie, they start with the words
Its about a . . . We pay attention because we
instinctively recognize a story about to start. Its
about a girl who learns shes really a princess and has to grow
into the responsibilities of royalty. Its about a guy who
dances with strangers all over the world. Its about a girl in
love with a vampire.
If you ask about a movie and your friend
starts her description with It has good special
effects, shes given you the equivalent of datings
He has a great personality. You already know
youre not going to love it. Once upon a time is
what draws us in and makes us want to put our
butts in a seat for 90 minutes or more.

We love story. We crave

story. We remember story.
Every video, no matter how
long or short, will be better
if it tells a story.

We love story. We crave story. We remember story.

Every video, no matter how long or short, will be better if it
tells a story.
Stripped to its essentials, a story has four elements: A
hero, a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning of any
story introduces us to the hero and what situation hes in. The
middle tells what happens to the hero next. The end is how it
all turns out.

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

The Hero: For our purposes, this is the who

The Four Elements of Story

that the video is about. It can be your son

the day he gets his first haircut, your best
employee, or the singer in your band. But
make your video about someone. (Someone
could be something, of coursea dog, an oilsoaked pelican, or even a cardboard box that
ends up in a landfill. But it has to be the main
character.)

Beginning: The hero climbs the diving board.

The Beginning doesnt have to be complicated.

In the beginning of any story, we introduce

the hero, tell where we are right now, and give
some sense of where were headed and why
we are watching.
The haircut story might begin with
shots of your husband trying to convince a
two-year-old how much fun a haircut can be.
The video about the employee might open on
a customer-service phone call shes making.
And when the drummer bangs his sticks
together on the opening beats, we know were
in a music video. All simple, all beginnings.

Middle: The hero dives.

The Middle: Something happens. Baby meets

barber. Service rep calms an irate customer.

The band sings the chorus of the song that
End: The hero enjoys victory.
you shot out on the street. It doesnt have to
be complicated, it just has to progress. If you
can challenge your hero, so much the better. Show the scary
scissors coming toward us or the wheel falling off a customers
new car.

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

TRY THIS

Story Strips
Before you shoot your next video, no matter
what it is, write out some notes on the four
story building blocks. Who is your hero?
What happens at the beginning, middle, and
end of your story?
The daily comics are masters of threepanel storytelling. Take a look at your
daily paper (or a site like http://comics.
com) and break any three-panel strip into

story components. No need to writejust

notice: Each one features a hero and a setup
(beginning), complication (middle), and joke
(end). Simple and elegant storytelling.
Practicing looking at story this way will
help you internalize story structure. And all
by itself, that will change for the better the
way you shoot video.

The End: What do you want to leave your audience with?

Endings should have some kind of resolution or closure.

Maybe your son finally stops crying when the barber gives him
a lollipop. The employee takes another call while explaining in
voice-over that customers
even crazy onesare why she loves her job. The song ends,
and the band members smash their instruments.
Story structure makes video easier to understand. You
dont have to work it all out in detail, and the result doesnt
have to be a feature-film script. Without any extra work,
practicing with the rhythm of story will help you shoot better
video.
Think about something as simple as your sons first dive
off the high board. In story terms, hes the hero. Beginning:
He approaches the board. Middle: He climbs up nervously.
End: He divesand comes up smiling. Just thinking about
this sequence before you shoot gives you ideas about where to
stand and when to press record. Youre more likely to be in
the right place at the right time, shooting the right video.

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

T H E H E ROS JOUR NEY

n most well-constructed stories, the hero

wants something. How he tries to get it is
the story we tell about him. So it is with many
videos:
Beginning: The hero expresses a desire or
need. Middle: He struggles to fulfill it. End: He
overcomes the trouble and gets it.
Not all heroes are Luke Skywalker.
Sometimes the hero is your son, learning to
ride a bike. He wants to ride without training
wheels. He falls a lot. And finally he makes it
down the street without crashing. A complete
heros journey in a two-minute video.
There is also a tragic heros journeyin
the end, the hero doesnt get what he wants.
Think Hamlet, where everyone dies at the end.
Thats also the structure of the comic heros
journey. Americas Funniest Home Videos has
been on the air damn near 20 years with its version: Boy wants candy. Boy is blindfolded and
swings at piata. Boy hits father in the groin. A
tragedy, to be sure, but one that apparently is
never not funny.

Heres a real example of what isnt a

Heros Journey (anonymously adapted from the
website of a nonprofit organization that should
know better): Beginning: A scientist heading a
major environmental group more or less reads
her rsum on camera, ostensibly as a way for
us to get to know her. Middle: One unrelated
and unfocused anecdote after another about
how much she cares about the environment.
End: She finishes the rsum. Fade out.
Had there been a story about how she
went into environmental science after her
neighbors came down with a mysterious cancer, we would have seen some struggle. Had
she come from a poor background and worked
nights at a landfill to get her doctorate, we
would have cheered her. But no. Just one job
after another untilBANGshes heading this
organization. Yawn.
We all struggle through life. We tend not
to be interested in people who dont.

STORY SAMPLER

EXERCISE 1
Channel Charles Schultz or Gary Trudeau
1. The daily comics are masters of three-panel storytelling. Take a look at
your daily paper (or a site like www.comics.com) and break any threepanel strip into story components. No need to writejust notice: Each
one features a hero and a setup (beginning), complication (middle), and
joke (end). Simple and elegant storytelling.
2. Practicing looking at story this way will help you internalize story
structure. And all by itself, that will change the way you shoot video for
the better.
3. Before you shoot your next video, write out some notes on the four story
building blocks. Who is your hero? What happens at the beginning,
middle, and end of your story?

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

Make Every Picture

Tell the Story

very part of a well-made video, no matter how small,

tells a complete story. Even the smallest part of a film
has a hero, a beginning, a middle, and an end. The small
parts add up to larger parts, which also tell a complete
story. Those larger parts combine to make the whole video,
which also tells a complete story. Lets take a film example:
The film is about a boy (the hero) whose family is tragically

killed, forcing him to join forces with a strange guru/warrior

and flee his home planet to avenge them. After being captured
by a corrupt and powerful enemy, he escapes, returning with a
band of rebels to destroy the enemys army.
A sequence is a section of a film that covers a big part of the

story. In this film, one sequence tells the story of the boy and the
guru entering a lawless town to find transport on a mercenary
spaceship. They meet a corrupt ships captain and barely
manage to leave the planet one step ahead of enemy forces.
TRY THIS

Subject + Action = Shot

Start thinking of your shots in a complete
sentencenoun, verbjust like your
English teacher taught you in fourth grade.
The noun is the hero of the shot, the action
verb is story.

Ask yourself: Whats this shot about? If you

can answer in a complete sentence, youve
got a good shot. If you cant, you dont. A
dog walks past the house is a complete
story in one shot. A dog all by itself is not.

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

A scene is a smaller part of the sequence that

Three Frames from One Shot

happens in a single place and time. One scene

in this sequence shows the boy meeting the
rogue ships captain in a bar and taking an
instant dislike to him.
A shot is a single piece of film or video without

cuts. One shot in our bar scene shows us the

action of a mercenary bounty hunter (the
hero of this shot) catching sight of the ships
captain, who has a price on his head. Note that
the boy isnt in this shot, but the action affects
him. Hes still the hero of the movie, but since
hes not in it, he cant be the hero of this shot.
Star Wars is much bigger and more
complex than your video, but the principles
remain the same. If any part of your video is
missing its story, the video feels stagnant.
Story-less shots add up to a bad scene. Bad
scenes make bad sequences. One bad sequence
can kill a film. Every single piece of your video
needs a hero, beginning, middle, and end.
In a birthday video, a shot might be
Daughters hand reaches cake. It starts with
a piece of cake (the hero!) on a pretty dish on a
high-chair tray (beginning). A chubby oneyear-old hand reaches out (middle action) and
landsplopin the middle of the cake. Cut.
End of shot.

Beginning: The hero of the shot (a piece of cake) sits on

highchair tray.

Middle: A hand threatens our hero.

End: Our hero is destroyed by the marauder.

For most home videos, if you worry about the shots,

the story will take care of itself.

THE POWER OF STORY from HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESNT SUCK

EXERCISE 2
Subject Plus Action = Shot
1. Start thinking of your shots in a complete sentencenoun, verbjust
like your English teacher taught you in fourth grade. The noun is the
hero of the shot, the action verb is story.
2. Ask yourself: Whats this shot about? If you can answer in a complete
sentence, youve got a good shot. If you cant, you dont. A dog walks past
the house is a complete story in one shot. A dog all by itself is not.
3. Turn on your favorite TV show or movie. Watch the individual shots
with your finger on the remote. After each shot, pause. Decide who or
what is the hero (noun) and what is happening to them in that shot
(action). Repeat until you can see it without pausing.
4. Extra credit: Notice how the shots end when the action is complete and
we know what just happened.
5. For more on story, go to: stevestockman.com/?s=story

10

Stockman skips past all the technical

crap and cuts right to the chase:
How do you shoot a video somebody else
will want to watch?
DAVID A. GOODMAN, executive producer/head writer of Family Guy

ow to Shoot Video That

Doesnt Suck is all about
the language of video. Its about
how to think like a director,
regardless of equipment. Its about
the rules developed over a century
of movie-making-which work just
as well when shooting a two-yearolds birthday party. Author and
director Steve Stockman explains
in 74 short, pithy, insightful
chapters how to tell a story and
entertain your audience.

PURCHASE HERE

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Available on Audio at Audible

STEVE STOCKMAN

is a working Hollywood
writer/director/producer.
Hes created and executive
produced shows like
Dogs of War on A&E and
Brew Dogs on Esquire Network, over 200
commercials, and the MGM film Two Weeks
starring Sally Field and Ben Chaplin.
STEV E T W EETS W ITTILY A BOUT V IDEO

@stevestockman

HIS W EBSITE FOR LOTS OF COOL FR EE V IDEO STU FF

stevestockman.com

FOR WOR K SHOPS A ND K EY NOTE S, CONTACT

[email protected]

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