Wednesday, November 19, 2008
19 things to consider when producing a story
Here is the long-overdue summary of things to consider when producing a story — in audio or video.
- Be where the action is (when you audio/video record)
- Capture the energy through ambient sound/video recordings
- Set goals and be prepared to adapt them as you go
- Gather and label your material
- Understand that editing is an iterative process
- Look for candidate themes, characters, plots and stories
- Let the story identify and tell itself (if you decide the specific story in advance, you may find you’re wrong)
- Tell the story using different voices and other elements
- Remember that you can tell as much of the story with what you cut out as you can with what you include
- Avoid soundbites
- Experiment with recording, editing and storytelling
- Only use your own voice as much as it’s needed
- Use music and ambient sound/video as a backdrop and for transitions
- Listen/watch, edit, mix, repeat
- Consult with a set of honest (even blunt) ears/eyes that aren’t attached to your own body
- Keep your listener/viewer wanting more at each moment
- Don’t crowd your listener/viewer
- Be patient
- Enjoy (even be proud of) the process and the results
November 27th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Can you explain more about what you mean by “soundbites”?
November 28th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I’m referring to very concise and *sexy* articulations of ten seconds or less. They’re very popular for snappy journalistic reports that have finite and costly blocks of air time available to them.
While it’s true that soundbites can be powerful and useful in storytelling (particularly as teasers or grabbers for introducing the story or establishing a cliffhanger), I try to avoid using them. I prefer to use more authentic storytelling elements that capture the person and the story and engage the listener’s interest. You can’t rush storytelling and if you have the freedom to do so, use the pauses, allow the storyteller to build the story and be human as much as possible.