Chapter 2

Planning a Video

Level 1

Once you have got your idea and you know the theory of how to communicate it to your audience, you need to plan how you will actually present it.

2.1 What Type of Video Do You Want To Make?

There are two basic types of film, fictional and documentary.

Fictional films - A fictional film is one in which all or the majority of the story has been invented by the author.
Documentary films - Documentary film tells a story set in reality, using the events to express a point of view.

2.2 How Are Fictional Films Structured?

The overall structure of fictional films - The three act theory. 1. establish your characters 2. create a conflict 3. resolve everything!

2.3 How Are Documentaries Structured?

Documentary films follow 3 basic formulas.

Observational documentary - Like nature programmes, the film crew do not interact at all with the subject.
Standard documentary - Interviews, voice overs, even confrontation can come together in this format.
Drama documentary - Uses reconstructions to tell the "truth", common in disaster or history documentaries.

2.4 How Will You Structure Your Story?

When film was invented, there was no such thing as editing, the story of a journey covered the whole event from start to end. Your story does not need to be told in a linear order like this, you should use a structure which emphasizes the most important aspects. Here we will look at some different ways of doing it.

Basic story structuring - You should be able to relate your story in such a way that the most important bit is highlighted, usually placing it in the middle.
Flashback - This is a common technique used to give perspective and interest to the structure of stories.
Parallel action - This is where separate events are shown at the same time and will generally come together.

2.5 How Will You Put Your Idea Onto Paper?

Here are some of the many different ways you can prepare your idea for filming. For examples see appendix.

Text - Just like a novel, you can write your story down as short or as long as you need.
Scripting - The most well known way of putting down ideas.
Storyboarding - Ideal for describing framing and angles very specifically. You don’t need to be brilliant at drawing.
Shot lists - Each shot is described in detail, like a description of the storyboard.

2.6 How Will You Plan?

Schedule for everything, this applies to people’s time, the resources, money and equipment you need. Make sure it is available when you need it. See the appendix for lists of equipment you may need.