What specifically is the cinematic style? How is it different from some mainstream commercial work? I start here since the premise of the book hinges on an understanding and definition of the cinematic style, what it means, and how you can apply it to client-based work. I start by examining a couple of moments from a 60 Minutes piece and a promotional work in order to show the difference in style when a work is created from narration and a work created cinematically (using shots, voice, sound design, and editing for rhythm). In addition, I look at Stillmotionâs concept of the psychology of the lensâthe importance of choosing the right lens for a shot, as well as charts defining and showing how different types of camera movement, shot sizes, angles, and lenses impact how audiences perceive the psychology of a scene. This is followed by a description of Stillmotionâs MUSE storytelling process. In short, I examine some of the tools of filmmakers in order to drive home the understanding needed to create cinematic-style client-based stories.
The Narration Style
Commercial narration and news narration are similarâthey share a broadcast style that grew out of radio news broadcasts where words told stories through descriptions of action. News reelsâsome heavy with propagandaâduring World War II perfected this style. Education films from the 1950s to the 1970s brought this style to film in public schools. Images were mainly used to illustrate what the narrationâthe omniscient âvoice of Godâ styleâtold the viewer.1 Words told the story. Images illustrated the story like decorative wallpaper. Most commercials and television news follow this narration-driven style.2 In cinema, visuals (along with a compelling audio design) tell the story and words are frosting on the cakeâtake them away and you can still follow the emotional structure of the story through the shots and soundscape. Words, narration, and dialogueâwhen used cinematicallyâsweeten that visual and sonic structure.
To illustrate this style, Iâll look at a couple of moments from Lara Loganâs âThe ascent of Alex Honnoldâ3 from CBSâs 60 Minutes. It tells the story of Alexâs insane free solo climbs that, in Loganâs words, sets the tone: âHe scales walls higher than the Empire State building, and he does it without any ropes or protectionâ (Logan and Newton, 2011). I compare this work of journalism with a staged promotional film by Tyler Stableford, âShattered,â4 which tells the story of another climber, Steve House, who looks like he is climbing ice without rope. Both of these projects offer compelling stories told in two different ways.
Perhaps comparing the two isnât necessarily fair.5 This book isnât really about journalism, but what I find interesting is how commercials and promotional shorts sometimes mimic the narration-based style of broadcast journalism (from shorts produced on The Weather Channel to 60 Minutes). Since Stablefordâs brilliant promotional short is a great example of cinematic client-based work, I really like how it contrasts with the real news story. So why compare the two? Because the style of the broadcast news pieceâheavy with narration that tells us whatâs going onâis a stylistic choice, not a hard and fast rule in nonfiction work. And since itâs a choice in style, the audience will perceive the story differently than in a film produced in a cinematic style. The comparison and contrast works, because Iâm focusing on how the respective stylistic choices between the two impact an audience differently.6
The key point I want to make is how different techniques work and impact audiences so that we can avoid what doesnât work and apply what does work in order to improve our own projects and learn how to use the best tools to capture an audienceâs attention. As Wes Pope, who teaches Multimedia Journalism at the University of Oregon, notes, different storytellers blend different approaches. He describes at least five styles of documentary storytelling alone: âjournalistic, interview driven, cinema vĂŠritĂŠ, reenactment, and reflexive.â Production house producers should be aware of different styles (whether itâs from news, documentary, or fiction) and apply elements from these different styles in order to best shape the stories they need to tell for their clients. For example, both Stillmotion and Zandrak produced work that utilize fiction and documentary techniques, the former in a book promotion, the latter for an app commercial (both covered as case studies in Chapters 8 and 9). 60 Minutes could have chosen to emphasize more cinematic techniques and focus less on the omniscient narration styleâbut thatâs what they do. In the process they lose some of the potential cinematic magic (and perhaps maintain journalistic integrityâbut that stylistic argument is open to debate).
Narration and Decorative Shots
If narration is used improperlyâwhen it tells the story rather than helps enlighten the storyâwe begin to lose the power of cinematic techniques and we may fail to pull the audience into the story. An example of this occurs at 2:25â2:53, at the climax of Alexâs ascent in the 60 Minutes work, âThe Ascent of Alex Honnold.â We hear Loganâs words as we see five shots, her voice is in italics (see Figures 1.1â1.5):
This is Alex in the film, Alone on the Wall. Heâs done more than a thousand free-solo climbs, but none were tougher than this one. [This narration provides context and is ok.]
Figure 1.1 Courtesy of 60 Minutes.
Here he is, just a speck on the northwest face of Half Dome: [We see this in the shot, so we donât need someone to tell us about it.]
Figure 1.2 Courtesy of 60 Minutes.
You can barely make out the Yosemite Valley Floor below, as he pauses to rest: [Again, the visualsâalong with a strong sonic landscapeâpull us into a story, while narration that tells us what weâre seeing and hearing pushes us out of a story.]
Figure 1.3 Courtesy of 60 Minutes.
Heâs the only person known to have free-soloed the northwest face of Half Dome. [Pan and tilt up for next two images]: [This narration provides context, so it is ok.]
Figure 1.4 Courtesy of 60 Minutes.
Figure 1.5 Courtesy of 60 Minutes.
Overall, these shots are goodâsome are even strongâbut their impact is lost in the narration.
In another segment, where Honnold is hanging on another cliff face, we hear this from Logan (see Figure 1.6): âAlex moves seamlessly across a section of flaky, unstable rock, pausing to dry a sweaty hand in his bag of chalk. Thereâs nothing but him, the wall, and the wind.â But all of this can be seen and heard, while the narration gets in the way of the cinematic possibilities of this moment. We hear breathing and some ambient wind but the audio mix doesnât make it stand out, because it is lost in the voiceover. In addition, the cinematographer could have zoomed in to a close-up so we could see Honnoldâs expression, visually driving home the moment. But the narration does it for us.
The cinematic impact of a close-up and a sound design has no priority. Instead, the producers chose to allow a narration to tell this part of the story. This is a stylistic choice and for those who want to engage in cinematic-style stories in production house work, itâs the wrong choice. The right choice would stem from this key question: What does it feel like to hang on the face of a cliff thousands of feet off the ground?
A cinematic approach would have forced the thinking about what kinds of visuals and audio are needed to answer this question. Perhaps this moment could have been told by the subject (through Honnoldâs voice, rather than a narrator).
Notice that with this narration, it doesnât matter what type of shot we see of Honnold. Any shot of him on the wall reaching into the chalk bag fulfills the requirement of decorating the narrationâthus itâs called wallpaper.
Figure 1.6 Loganâs voice in âThe Ascent of Alex Honnoldâ tells us what Alex does in a play-by-play style.
(Courtesy of 60 Minutes.)
By making the choice to engage in a voiceover narration style instead of a cinematic style, the emotional power of this scene fizzles. This same kind of mistake7 is made countless times in commercials and promotional shorts as well. For example, in a local 30-second commercial for Central Fresh Market we see in the second shot a woman holding a basket and an orange pepper as she looks at the camera and smiles, stating, âI shop here because the fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables make meal planning a breezeâ (see https://youtu.be/n0uyaAgl-Hk and Figure 1.7). This is narration masquerading as dialogue and I include it as a warning. You may have characters speak with no narration, but if theyâre selling a product in the dialogueâthen it fails the cinematic test (and becomes the kind of stuff I muted out as a child and still avoid watching, today). We know when the cinematic style is...
