When I was teaching high school TV production, one of my students applied to film school. She was required to send in a story containing no more than 5-7 shots.

Silent shots. No audio allowed.

The story had to have identifiable, differentiated characters and a real plot. Now that’s packing a lot of information into each shot!

She struggled for days before coming up with a love story that relied heavily on exaggerated facial expressions, a close-up of a diary entry and cliché-ridden costumes.

You put a guy with slicked-back hair and tattoos in a leather jacket, have him pull up on a beat-up motorcycle, and that just screams, “No good wandering Romeo,” don’t ya think?

Make one female a weepy blond wearing frilly pink and the other female a snarling, spike-haired brunet in leather and everyone immediately assumes which is innocent, no words necessary.

Now granted, great story-telling isn’t so cliché ridden, but whoever said TV was great story-telling?

When you’re trying to produce a simple, quick, down and dirty video, leaning on a few clichés can make your job easier. Take a gander at the soap opera divas. The vast majority of them stick to the blond = good girl, brunet = bad girl stereotypes.

INSTANTANEOUS COMMUNICATION

If you want the audience to grasp a concept instantly, don’t feel guilty about relying on clichés, especially if your video is short. Watch any :30 second TV commercial that relies on characterization. They’re all cliché with their characters, up to a point. Obviously businesses advertising on national TV are trying hard to walk the politically correct line and not offend anyone so some stereotypes are out.

FILM SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT

A simpler version of this film school admissions assignment is the first one most film students receive, once they do get in. I used to make my students do this almost daily.

Here’s the assignment.

Without using any words, draw a three to six picture

sequence that tells a story any viewer will instantly understand.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT AN INABILITY TO DRAW WELL. Stick figures are fine. Drawing skills and visual story telling are two different things.

Remember to use visual variety and lots of close-ups!

You can select any story line you want, here are some suggestions to get you going:

1. Poor man wins lottery.
2. Hungry dog steals a bigger dog’s bone.
3. Woman misses her child, who is away at college.
4. Woman breaks off engagement because her fiancé is a cheat.
5. American spy discovers secret Nazi training camp.
6. Teenager aces test after studying all night.
7. Hospital patient thought to be incurable miraculously recovers.
8. Crooked business man cheats a customer.
9. Mother bird feeds her babies, including one that isn’t hers.
10. Man robs bank and then gets caught.

Click here for illustrated examples of stories 2, 6, and 7.
When you’re finished with your three to six drawing story, analyze it.

• How many drawings are wide-shots, medium shots or close-ups?
• Did you ever change camera angels?
• What combination of visuals best tells the story?
• Should you have done it differently?
• Does each and every visual contribute to the story?
• What happens to the story if you remove a visual? Does the story hold up? If a visual is expendable, get rid of it. Unless it contributes to your story, you don’t need it.
• Give your story to someone else and see if they can “read” it. Why or why not? What information did they need to understand that you didn’t give them?