The Basics of Video Storytelling By Abi Gleckler

Components of a video story

An effective video has 3 important aspects • Clear story line • Good audio • Good video

Factors to consider when selecting a story

Visual appeal • The strength of a video is that can

show motion, if there is action happening video is the only way to capture that

• Highlight the only the interesting, most important parts of a story to keep viewer watching

Factors to consider when selecting a story

Emotion • Go beyond the facts to tell a story • The emotional appeal or subjective

point of view will get the audiences attention so they want to watch your video

Factors to consider when selecting a story

Character • A story should feature someone your

intended audience would want to spend some time with

• Someone who the viewer might not encounter in their daily lives

Factors to consider when selecting a story

News Value • Always consider the journalistic value

of the story • Know the facts especially with

breaking news • The viewer should take something

away from the story

Factors to consider when selecting a story

Others:• Location • Time • Community • Web traffic • Shelf life of the story

Audio

• Practice how to capture good sound because it will be a vital part of the video

• Use a microphone or a lavaliere mic to avoid the natural sound from the background causing white noise

Audio

Vosot: voice over sound on tape • Script read by news anchor live while

video is shown is a voiceover (VO)• The anchor will stop reading so an

interview clip will play• This clip is called a soundbite or SOT• The SOT is added to the VO to create a

vosot that will be included in the video

Audio

• Vosots are usually used for stories that can be told quickly but need the soundbite from the authority figure or eyewitness

• Soundbites are usually 10-15 seconds

Audio

• The audio is often laid down first in a sequence and then the video is placed to match • Music can be added to a video to make it

more entertaining

Shooting video

• Video footage should enhance and illustrate the story told by the audio

• The video should also always match up with the audio at any given moment

Shooting video

• A good video is about someone doing something • The action is what will hold the

audiences attention • Follow a noun/verb/object formula

Shooting video

• Hold still while shooting • Zoom with your feet • Move-point-shoot-stop

Shooting video

• Keep it short • Cut by 2/3

Shooting video

• Shoot what interests you • Pick a specific topic and show every

aspect of that subject in depth

Shooting video

• Keep the brightest light behind you • The camera needs light to capture the

subject, so get as close as possible • If you are father away from the

people you’re shooting, so is the light bouncing off of them

Shooting video

• Don’t shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes

• If you’re too far away you won’t capture the nonverbal communication such as body language

• Eyes tell half the story so if you miss the eyes you miss half the message

Shooting video

• Think in shots • Short bits of video 1-10 seconds cut

together to make a scene • We process visual info quickly and get

bored quickly so shoot short shots

Main points

• Too make a good video you must first plan video and gather resources

• Shoot the video making sure your shots have a subject and action

• Edit your footage to make sure each shot is cut to its best and shortest

Main points

• And remember every good video story has 3 things!• Clear story line • Good audio • Good video