Unit Seven : The Decision Process
How does this image inform a greater story?Three Storytelling Shots
Keeping with the theme of film school (srynotsry), let’s look at some tools you have to create a photo story using multiple images. In film there are three types of shots which are used to fully tell a story:
Establishing
Context
Environmental
When putting these three types of shots together, you are able to give the viewer a full picture of the story. So what are they and how do we use them?
Establishing Shots
Establishing shots do exactly that: give you the big picture of what the story will be about. You can equate these to an introduction paragraph in an essay. “Here we are going to tell you a story about my trip to Los Angeles - see that Hollywood sign? Now you know.” Imagine the opening scene of a film, let’s say set in New York. The establishing shot will be one of those helicopter/drone sweeps across the cityscape. It’ll show you the Chrysler Building or Empire State Building, maybe the Statue of Liberty. The shot is just trying to make it abundantly clear that the film is set in NY, and it’s using recognizable elements of NY to do that.
Context Shots
These shots give more information about the surroundings or the situation. Going back to that opening scene in New York - the sweeping helicopter shot cuts to a woman walking down a crowded street in Midtown Manhattan. We see people in business suits rushing by, tourists stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, locals getting annoyed by tourists stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, etc. The camera focuses in on that woman walking as she passes all of that in her fashionable outfit and carrying a garment bag. So now we know this NY movie is most likely about that woman in Manhattan and not an old man in Coney Island. We have some new conceptions about the tone of the movie. Maybe she’s a cool, young, successful fashion designer off to a go-see. Either way, the context of the street and the newly established subject lead us as viewers to a more specific interpretation of the coming story.
Environmental Shots
Environmental shots focus on the environment or atmosphere of a scene. We’re now following our fashionable lead woman down the steps of the subway. The subway is dark, steamy, people are visibly annoyed - some are even grimacing at what can be assumed is a terrible smell. Our subject is now less put together, sweating in the summer subway heat. The tone has visibly shifted. The environment of the dank subway has altered our previous interpretations of the story. Now we’re considering that it’s not going to be a story of sunshine and rainbows, but maybe one of strife and the difficulties of ‘making it in The Big City.’
The three shots have effectively worked together to introduce our story, and you can do the exact same thing with your images. Look at the below triptych (three images telling one story). What do you think the story is?
Our establishing shot is a quintessential iconic postcard shot of a recognizable scene. It makes it abundantly clear that this story takes place at the Taj Mahal. Our context shot gives us some detail about the location through the close-up carvings on the building, and the one covered figure. It makes us think of a calm visit to the site. The environmental shot resets our understanding of the story by showing us a busy, tourist filled scene. You can see the tourists all taking a similar photo to the establishing shot. This lets us know the environment is actually quite frenetic. You can also be less obvious with your establishing shots. In both examples, we used iconic imagery (the Empire State Building and the Taj Mahal) to set the scene. Look at the below image. Here you’re seeing more subtle clues as to what our story will be about.
This establishing shot gives us a less glamorous introduction to the Taj Mahal. We can easy guess that's where we're headed based on the street sign. With further inspection we can see that this is most likely a cab, with a cracked windshield. The smog is visible, and not a brilliantly soft sunrise like in the previous establishing shot. Both manage to tell us where the story will take place in one shot, just in very different ways.