"Exploring visual storytelling" notes

"Always emphasise contrast": character names or personalities, colour, etc
Rule of the three: jokes start with set up, reinforcement and pay off; in a story, the hero fails two times and succeeds on the third attempt; etc

Brainstorming steps:
1. Decide on a word/phrase that sums up the envisioned product
2. Write down any random words/phrases associated with it
3.Give yourself a few days/weeks and write down new ideas daily

Observe your surroundings, tastes, smells, mannerisms of people everywhere
Outline the project's story and plan your time
Define context, goal of story and motives/desires
Show instead of tell: translate intangibles into tangibles on screen
Create conflict and emphatic links: "exposition best revealed during conflict"
Create facts about the characters: will show in behaviour
Plant information that pays off later
Don't forget about cause and consequence
Consider personality types when creating the characters
Each character has different ways of dealing with obstacles
Obstacles can sometimes be characters
"A great visual story must be crafted so that not every obstacle encountered is overcome and not every obstacle results in change"
"The main character is the source of all obstacles and plot points."

What's going on? Who's involved? How should the audience feel?

"Conflict occurs whenever two forces with mutually exclusive goals meet."
"Tension is the emotion experienced by the audience while anticipating conflict."

Consider the stakes: 1-10 and what they mean to the main character

"Plot is a method of organising scenes in a visual story. Story is the impact of events on a character with whom the audience identifies."
"A scene in a visual story is all the action that takes place until there is a significant change in time or location."

Long shot - shows relationship between character and environment
Full shot - shows character's actions
Medium shot - shows more subtle action than full shot
Close-up shot - shows what character feels in regards to a situation
Extreme close-up shot - shows detailed emotion/objects important to the story

The 180 degree rule: "The camera should remain on one side of the line of engagement through a sequence."

"Each new shot needs to deliver new information to the audience or it grows bored."

Reference:

Arnold, B. and Eddy, B. (2006) Exploring visual storytelling. Nashville, TN, United States: Thomson Delmar Learning.