Imagine watching a show that begins with a close-up shot of an ink pen lying on the floor.

What is the visual significance of a pen on the floor?

• Does it mean someone is a messy housekeeper?
• Or did someone knock the pen off the desk in haste because they didn't want to be caught writing the incriminating ransom note?
• Perhaps the pen ended up on the floor when someone realized they'd won the ten-million dollar lottery and they didn't need to write that check to the bankruptcy attorney after all.
• Or maybe a sleepy student dropped it after pulling an all nighter cramming for exams.

• What kind of pen is it? A cheap ball point or an exquisite, gold plated pen carved with the initials of a long-lost lover?

Wow! That's a lot of story-telling possibilities for one little pen!

THINK VISUALLY 

As you train yourself to be a visual story-teller, you will begin to automatically think about what kind of visual and audio components will convey the emotions, mood, facts and information you wish to impart on your audience.

In the high-dollar profession world, every tiny detail of each and every shot is deliberate. Unless someone is asleep on the job (it happens) the audience won’t see or hear anything they’re not supposed to.
While I doubt anyone reading this wants to take it to that level, it’s a good point of reference. At a less-intense level, at least pay some attention to the backgrounds of your shots and exactly what is showing. Avoid showing cords or equipment that are only there because you’re there. If you’re outside, the camera operator’s shadow in the shot can be a real problem late in the day!

THINK OF EVERY SHOT POSSIBLE

Think about how your action looks from every angle. Shoot from as many angles as possible; doing so makes a more interesting visual experience for the viewer. Shoot from behind, in front of and to the side of your action. (Pick either the left or right side of your action and keep to that one side as much as possible. See the definition of screen direction for a reason for this).

To add visual creativity and variety, look for usual angles, such as extremely high or low angles.

You don’t want to know how many times I’ve done undignified stuff like stand on a table top to get high angle shots for the sake of visual variety. The most entertaining videos are high on visual variety so hire a camera person who is part monkey. (HINT:  Look for a well-trained one!)

Plopping my butt (and camera) down on the ground and using the floor/ground for a steadying device instead of a tripod is another trick I usel a lot. Looking at the world from a bug’s eye-view is always interesting. I often use a book, rock, my fist or whatever is within reach to prop up the front of the camera just enough to see more than shoes. (Don’t be looking up dresses and blaming it on me!)

CAMERA SCOPE 

In addition to changing your camera angle, visual variety comes from changing your scope, or; how close the camera is from your subject.

Think wide-shot, medium-shot, close-up. The close-up is your single most important shot and says the most to your viewer on both emotional and factual levels. How gorgeous are those earrings? Get a close-up and show them off! No amount of narration will tell your viewer as much about the earrings as a good close-up will. Close-ups are essential for quality visual communication. Fill up your frame, let the viewer SEE exactly what you're talking about. Remember, this is visual communication. SHOW, DON'T TELL.

That’s the #1 rule always: SHOW, DON'T TELL.

A video with nothing but nice pictures and instrumental music can “say” a lot without relying on a single word. This is TV, not radio. Visuals say it all if you pick the right visuals.

FLEXIBLE CREATIVITY
Visuals can also multi-task, and be adapted to tell a myriad of stories. In a story about alcoholism, golf video can illustrate the concept of getting a hobby to replace boozing. For the anti-aging documentary, the very same golf video can illustrate how exercise slows aging. Those uses both creatively go beyond using golf video to teach people how to play golf. The difference lies in which narration (or other audio) you choose to put with the shots of golf.

WHAT WILL YOUR VIEWER ACTUALLY SEE?

Close-ups are especially important if your video is headed to the Internet. Whereas a TV viewer might be watching your show on a huge four-foot screen, an Internet viewer is more than likely staring at a tiny three-inch pop-up window. On a wide shot, those earrings will only be .0002 inches! At that size, who can tell an exquisite diamond from a stray pixel?

In real life, our brain and eyes do a brilliant job of filtering out what we want to concentrate on. If you see your best friend across the room, you can mentally zoom in on her face and ignore the crowd. Not so for the video viewer. In order to know Sally is important we need a close-up of her face after we see a wide-shot of the crowd. Without the close-up, Sally is totally insignificant and no viewer will even notice her, much less realize that she's wearing the stolen necklace.

The wide-shot puts things in perspective and establishes location. Medium-shots fill in the blanks and are, generally speaking, the most common.

You get enough shots for good visual variety one of three ways:

1. Repeat the action multiple times, each time with the camera in a different spot. This is standard movie-making technique. It’s creatively called one-camera technique.
2. Shoot with multiple cameras simultaneously. This is the standard in-studio method popularly used with most television programs, especially older ones. One reason a modern show like CSI seems “better” to modern audiences is merely because they have taken TV production outside of a studio and they shoot using the same method movies have traditionally used.
3. Run your butt off, hither and yon, capturing things as they happen from here, there, and everywhere. This is the low budget way! You can’t be everywhere all at once, but you try.

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