Video Storytelling: How Drama and Comedy Can Enliven Your Productions (page 2)

When You Don't Have a Script

Videomakers who don't have the advantage of working with a script written in advance of production often must discover their protagonists and antagonists on the fly.

Documentarians almost always face this problem. For example, Barbara Kopple shot her Academy Award-winning documentary Harlan Country U.S.A. in eastern Kentucky over an 18- month period. She and her crew lived in the homes of striking miners, recording the day-by-day progress of a bloody conflict with the Duke Power Company. They found their heroes and their villains in the editing room.

In Ken Burns' incredible, 11-hour Civil War series, the script undoubtedly emerged during the production. President Lincoln, too, emerged as the protagonist of the piece. His antagonists were many, but his primary conflict was with the leaders of the Southern army, mainly General Lee. It is to Burns' credit that the film presents few heroes and virtually no villains.

In the example of the wedding video, the most likely protagonists are the bride and groom. The antagonist is a little trickier. Maybe it's the best man who misplaces the ring, or the bridesmaid who complains about her dress or even the traffic that delays the arrival of the groom.

Don't think in terms of heroes and villains, but rather in terms of conflict, or better still, obstacles. Your clients aren't going to be very happy if you cast the groom as protagonist and his new mother-in-law as antagonist and then highlight their conflict. But in every wedding there are obstacles to overcome; many can serve as the source of compelling drama.

Three-Act Structure

Another useful dramatic element is the three-act structure. Simply put, your show should have a beginning, a middle and an end. In his book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenroriting, Syd Field describes these acts. Act I is the setup, where you introduce your characters, tell us their goals and establish the conflict. Act II is the conflict, where your protagonist strives to overcome the obstacles to the goal and the antagonist thwarts those efforts. Act III is the resolution, where you wrap it all up with a climax and denouement or epilogue.

This structure gives shape to your productions while providing a solid framework on which you can build your project. Many short pieces jam these elements in so fast they barely register, but the best productions use them in some way. Even very short pieces use them. A 10-second spot for the new science fiction series Earth II, is a good example. It goes something like this: "They fled their own ravaged planet to search for a new home. From space they come to colonize this world. They are aliens here. They are us! Coming this fall. Earth 11!" Then a bunch of human refugees from earth step out of a spaceship onto a weird planet.

See how it works? The setup: a bunch of aliens leaves their ravaged planet. The conflict: they are aliens, but they want to colonize this planet. The climax: it's us! The denouement: coming this fall!

In our wedding video example, the three-act structure could look like this:

Act I. You answer the question, who is this video about? You show the bride, the groom, the families, the surly caterer. You show the church, maybe preview the reception decorations. Maybe you get the rehearsal in here, depending on your assignment.

Act II. Everybody gets ready. The guests arrive. The groom and best man banter while waiting for their cues. The parents wait nervously. Now the groom emerges and takes his place. Now the bride appears and walks down the aisle.

Act III The vows. "I do.""I do."They stroll down the aisle and she throws the bouquet.

Of course, many wedding assignments are much more complicated than this. You may shoot the reception as well. (More dramatic fodder for your production.)

The Climax

In terms of structure, the climax is one of the most important elements you can employ in your video productions, but it cannot exist, or only exists weakly, without the others. The climax is the point of the story. The hero beats the bad guys and gets the girl. Or she beats the clock and discovers the vaccine (and gets the boy). It's your hero's reward (or if you like film noir, his punishment) for hanging in there through the first two acts. The problem is, your audience won't care much if your hero hasn't had tojump through a few hoops to get there.

A good climax is like a good joke; it's a surprise that in retrospect appears inevitable. (Where does a thousand-pound gorilla sleep? Anywhere he wants to.)

Some video productions don't lend themselves to this definition. We all know they're going to say, "I do," at the end of the wedding ceremony. No surprises here. So another definition might prove more useful here: think of a climax as the peak of the rising action of the story.

The rising action refers to the story action that becomes more and more intense, affecting or involving with each new development. In other words, you want to crank up the tension as you approach your climax.

There are a number of ways to do this. A race against the clock is a tried and true device that is inherently climactic; but you must remind your audience that time is running out, or it doesn't work.

Upping the stakes for the hero is another way to intensify the action. In my screenplay, Sleeping Dogs Lie, the protagonist has only his job to lose in the beginning, but by the third act he could lose his hard-won sobriety, his new love and even his life. Even in teeny, tiny productions like the Earth II ad, the action rises to a climax. In this case, the producers intensified the music and increasingly shortened the duration of the shots right up to the punch line.

You can also use this technique with great success in productions where there is no obvious narrative structure. Say there is no real story, no characters, nothing at stake, but you still want to engage your audience the way only a story can. Your best solution lies in the technology. Start with shots of relatively long duration and then gradually shorten them. Vary the camera angle, focal length, lighting. Long shots are relatively peaceful; close-ups more intense. By varying the production elements, you can create tension in almost any production.