Chapter Five. Shots and Shot Plans

Telling a story visually is the essence of cinematic art. Although the audience gets much of its information from dialogue, the experience of film and video captivates our brains with imagery, much as dreams do.

Ideally, pictures—not dialogue—should carry your story. In fact, at some film schools first-year students have to do all their projects as silent movies, which forces them to think visually. Videomakers who fail to learn this lesson generally make movies and presentations that are little more than radio with pictures.

Shot plans and storyboards are twin techniques that help you visualize how you're going to tell your story with a sequence of images. A storyboard shows how each shot will look on the screen. ...

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