HOW TO BUILD A STORY
THAT MOVES YOUR VIEWER
EVERY TIME.
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 2
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We love great stories. And we believe there should be more of them.
1. The Four Pillars Of Story. And what is story anyway? 2. Why the best storytellers are the best listeners. 3. Maximize Your Impact By Prioritizing Your Ps.
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T H E F O U R P I L L A R S O F S T O R Y.
A N D W H AT I S S T O R Y A N Y W AY ?
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 4
STORY IS EVERYWHERE:
It’s the last film you saw, that article online, conversations over coffee. Story grips you. Makes you lean in. Take notice.
But the word story has begun to be thrown around randomly, here and there, every which way.
So when we say story what do we mean? And why does it matter?
AT ITS MOST BASIC, STORY IS THE RETELLING
OF EVENTS TOLD THROUGH A SINGLE PERSON.
GRANDMA’S EXHAUSTING TRIP AS A CHILD
TO GET CHOCOLATE MILK THROUGH THE
SLEET AND SNOW UPHILL, BOTH WAYS—YEAH,
THAT’S A STORY.
When children make narratives for random playthings—when their little hands use a doll and a blanket to weave together an imaginary universe—this is story too.
THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF STORY IS THAT
IT CAN BRING THE VIEWER TO THE VERY
CONCLUSION THAT YOU HAVE KNOWN ALL
ALONG.
Sometimes these conclusions are grim. Take slavery for example. The
harrowing experience could be expressed plainly, perhaps as a fact, statistic, or shocking statement.
What happens if we skip story and just bring forth a list of hard facts that we know and can prove to be true?
It’s reported that 30 million people are still enslaved in the world today. That statistic—that cold, unthinkable number doesn’t feel so good. Simply stating it doesn’t cause you to rise to action or do something about it. Or...we could share a story. One that allows you to come to that same conclusion, but in your own way.
We know that the world is full of troubling things that need to be fixed. Lots of them. And we know that people are tired of being inundated with the
latest, greatest pitches for products and services. Buy this, use that. And if these ideas are shared with us in the wrong way, it’s much easier, and more natural, to click off or turn the page.
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 6
Nobody wants to be told how to feel. Nobody wants to feel pressured by
startling statistics. Nobody wants to feel bombarded by pushy ads. But we all love a great story.
It’s reported that 30 million people…
What if we told you that there was a 9-year-old girl out there, one who was fighting a massive social issue using nothing more than lemonade. That she’d set a goal to free more than 500 kids, and by setting up a lemonade stand for 365 days she reached that goal, and far beyond.
After watching #standwithme, a room full of high-school students left a Denver theatre inspired to change their world, to make a difference. And not because we showed them a list of slavery statistics.
We simply told them the story of one clever 9-year-old girl. But what they took away from it was magical.
STORY IS OUR VEHICLE TO TAKE THE VIEWER
WHERE WE NEED TO GO. WE USE STORY TO
SPEAK TO THE HEART SO THAT WE MAY
MOVE THE MIND.
Sounds great, right? But how? How can we as storytellers craft a story that sends the audience spinning, lights a spark, and leaves them changed?
For that, we have to go back to the basics. Imagine this for a moment: You’re a kid with a big ol’ bucket of rainbow-colored LEGOs and you’ve got your heart set on building the tallest LEGO creation of your life. You dive into the bin, tirelessly assembling piece after piece until every last one comes together to form a tower in front of you.
Think of story like a LEGO tower. It’s something you want to create. But rather than making the tallest story, you probably want to make a story that goes deep—one that makes an impact on those you made it for.
Here’s the thing—there are building blocks, just like LEGOs, that come together to make your story.
If you truly set out to make the tallest LEGO tower of your life, chances are that the bucket of pieces would be totally empty by the time you were done. But here’s the thing, when most of us set out to create a story, whether it be a film, book, or blog post, we pour ourselves into it trying to make something special, and by the time we stand back to look at our creation the bucket beside us is still half full.
If we want to not just tell any story, but craft one that is well-told, that really moves the viewer, we need to make sure we use all of the building blocks available to us. And so understanding the different pieces, the role they play, and how to make the most of them is one of the best things you can do for your storytelling.
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 8
These building blocks, which we call the four pillars of story, will sound simple at first but each one has incredible depth to it. Series of books are written on just a single pillar.
Our goal here is to look at the four pillars of story, illustrate the role they play within your story, and look at how they call come together.
THE FOUR PILLARS OF STORY ARE PEOPLE,
PLACES, PLOT, AND PURPOSE. WE CALL THEM
THE FOUR ‘P’S.
People are the characters in the story. Places are where your story lives. Plot is the structure of your story. And Purpose is what your story says to the viewer.
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 10
So let’s look at each pillar, and what you should be looking for specifically as you seek to construct your story.
People are the characters in our story. To identify People, ask and explore, Who will carry this story? Who is somebody your audience would want to get to know?
Characters offer your audience a connection—someone to care about and root for. The strength of your characters is inextricably tied to your ability to connect with your audience.
Place grounds a story in reality. It’s where the story lives. Place answers the question, Where does the story live?
Place isn’t just geographical though, try to think about it as either time, situation, environment, or objects. Your story may take place in the middle of the night, it might be in the warmth of a family’s living room, it could be a conversation that happens around the dinner table, or perhaps it’s the
embrace you can see in a family photo. All of these are different examples of place.
Place has two main purposes in your film. The first is that it allows you to
show and not tell. In #standwithme, rather than having characters tell you how empathetic and passionate our 9-year-old lead character is, we as storytellers had to think about how we could use Place to simply show you that. In this way we allow viewers to be engaged and come to their own conclusions because they can act as a witness.
Place also offers the opportunity for the unexpected.
WE CAN’T USE EXPECTED CHARACTERS
IN EXPECTED PLACES AND EXPECT THE
AUDIENCE TO WANT TO WATCH.
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 12
Plot is your story’s structure. It is how you arrange the elements of your
story into a clear beginning, middle, and ending. A story’s structure will help to maximize the physiological arousal in the viewer. It will get their palms sweating and their heart racing. And it allows them to really feel—to be really moved by the ending or key scene.
This structure is borne out of conflict. Conflict is the foundation of story.
Finding story-relevant places to take the viewer will create intrigue or interest in your film and help to pull the viewer in and stay engaged with your story.
Now, you may wonder why a story needs conflict. Conflict is what presents a challenge, and it is in overcoming this challenge that offers an opportunity for growth or change in both the characters in the film and for the viewer.
A wonderful quote from Charles Baxter really sums this idea up well: “Hell is story friendly.”
But more specifically, why conflict? Well first and foremost it serves to create a question in the viewer’s mind. Will she be able to make it in time? Will the guy get the girl? And guess how you get that question answered—Yep, by watching the rest of the story.
CONFLICT LEADS TO JOURNEY. IT GIVES YOUR
STORY A DIRECTION.
A while back I had the opportunity to shoot the Super Bowl—Green Bay versus the Steelers. We must have shown up to the stadium a good six hours before kick-off just to walk the space and prepare. It’s obviously a huge game and it was a ton of fun.
THE FOUR PILL ARS OF STORY. AND WHAT IS STORY ANY WAY? 14
A while back I had the opportunity to shoot the Super Bowl—Green Bay versus the Steelers. We showed up a good six hours early to be ready, but when we went to check in for credentials, they didn’t have our name on the list. Here we are, the biggest game on the biggest stage, shooting for the NFL, and somehow our names aren’t on the list for credentials.
See what the conflict does? We start asking questions.
• Why were there no credentials?
• What happened next?
• Did you get to shoot the game?
And more than just asking questions—we want to see what happens next.
That’s what conflict does for your story. It pulls the viewer in and keeps him wanting to know the answer.
Purpose is the fourth pillar. It asks What does the story say? Purpose is what you want the viewer to take away from the story. It could be spreading a message or selling a product or service, but whatever it is—it’s critical to define Purpose before you begin production.
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY BEFORE
YOU SPEAK.
A story with little or no purpose is one that won’t stay with us long. And those stories that we carry with us for years are the ones that really made a difference in our lives—that made an impact, that left us with something. We need to be incredibly intentional about what our story is saying to the viewer. But how do you find your keywords and therefore your purpose? For that, we’ll explore the value of listening.
WHY THE BEST STORY TELLERS ARE THE BEST LISTENERS .
16
W H Y T H E B E S T S T O R Y T E L L E R S
A R E T H E B E S T L I S T E N E R S .
So you get a phone call or email from a local coffee shop that wants you to do a story on how awesome their coffee and process is.
You excitedly start brainstorming different ideas to get back to them with. You can imagine people that could be in the story and where it might take place. Here’s the huge problem. You can’t effectively tell a story you don’t fully
understand. We have to take patience to listen and let the story be fully heard. Only then can we bring it life in a truly powerful and authentic way.
Listening sure sounds good, but how do we actually do it? How do we listen for the story?
For that, we’ll go back to our first three pillars of story.
Our goal here is to gather as much information and experience around the different People, Places, and Plots that exist with the story you want to tell. So for that coffee shop we mentioned above, that means going to the actual coffee shop. Talking to people there. Trying the actual coffee, looking at where the coffee is made and how it gets to the coffee shop. Thinking about all the places that their coffee travels to. And asking about the different conflicts in the industry, the area, or in coffee itself.
WHY THE BEST STORY TELLERS ARE THE BEST LISTENERS . 18
A few things to think about when exploring your first three pillars of story.
When it comes to people, try to meet people who will offer you a different perspective. So you might talk to an owner, a manager, and a patron of the coffee store.
For places, try to get outside of the obvious. Ask yourself where this story lives outside of the immediate use of the product, or service. Ask what comes before that? Think about how it got there, and think about what comes after. For the coffee shop we could ask where the beans came from. We could ask about the farmers who made them (another person to explore), how the beans get into the shop, and what process they go through once they arrive. We could then think about the different places that patrons might take their coffee, perhaps a park or a walk in the neighborhood.
And for the plot, try to understand the different conflicts that exist. These will lead you to the journey. So you could do some research online about the coffee industry. You could ask the owner and manager about the challenges their business faces. You could ask them what problem (conflict) they solve for their patrons. And you could ask the patrons why they come here rather than anywhere else.
There are often many conflicts that exist within any product, service, or issue and our job, as the storyteller, is to uncover and understand them.
Throughout all of the listening we come to our fourth pillar, Purpose.
To really define the Purpose of a story we suggest creating five keywords. As you are exploring the different People, Places, and Plots that exist, take notes and write down words or ideas that stick out to you.
Often just doing this pre-production will lead you to your keywords. Here are a few questions that can help you further refine your five keywords;
• Why are you telling this story?
• How do you want the audience to feel?
• What inspires you about this story?
• What do you want the viewer to do?
WHY THE BEST STORY TELLERS ARE THE BEST LISTENERS . 20
THE KEYWORDS ACT AS A FILTER FOR ALL
OF YOUR DECISIONS. THEY REPRESENT WHAT
YOU WANT YOUR STORY TO SAY TO THE
VIEWER.
Taking the time to make these keywords will help you ensure that all of your decisions are made with intention. So rather than choosing a character
because he or she is accessible, or choosing a specific place because it looks cool, your keywords can hold you accountable to the story you are trying to tell. It always helps to see an example, so let’s take a look at the five keywords we came to for #standwithme.
As we met Vivienne, Paul Rice, and Lisa Kristine, we kept seeing the power of one person to really make a difference. And for many of these people, they weren’t superheroes with the ability to fly or shoot a web from their palms, they were just incredibly passionate about something and kept at it.
We wanted to make sure that viewers felt the power that one person (just like them) could have in making a difference.
On the other side of one, and the power of a single person to make a
difference, was the role of community in coming out to support that person. Vivienne made a stand every day but it was her community that kept
supporting her through that journey. It is also through our connection to our products that we can make a difference, and we wanted to embrace that connection through the idea of community and that we are in this together.
ONE
WHY THE BEST STORY TELLERS ARE THE BEST LISTENERS . 22
As we devoured everything we could online about Vivienne and her lemonade, it was astonishing how many people were talking about her. Vivienne and
her family had been on hundreds of news outlets by the time we started the documentary. Never before was there so much conversation about slavery, and it happened because of this bright, beautiful 9-year-old girl. She was the spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine go down. We wanted to make sure that we were staying in the light in the making of this film.
Slavery happens because of objectification, because we can see someone as nothing more than a tool to make money. But Vivienne acted because she felt two real boys in the photo she saw. And for us, we wanted to tackle a movie about objectification with subjectivity by bringing you face to face with those who were trying to make a difference and those who had been enslaved. The more you feel the individual people, the more likely the viewer is to connect and care about the larger issue.
LIGHT
We wanted to make sure that we didn’t make a movie that left you feeling Boy, the world is a terrible place. It was critical to us in making this film that we offered different things that you, the viewer, could do to really make a difference. In this way, the film could actually have a real impact.
MAXIMIZE YOUR IMPACT BY PRIORITIZING YOUR PS .
24
M A X I M I Z E Y O U R I M PA C T B Y
P R I O R I T I Z I N G Y O U R P S .
One last idea we want to leave with: Of the four pillars—People, Places, Plot, and Purpose—the P you put first, or prioritize, determines the type of story you’ll end up telling.
Lead with Plot and you have an action movie. Lead with Purpose and you
have a commercial. Lead with Place and you have a travel video (or something similar to most wedding films).
But when you lead with People, we have the potential for an emotional,
character-driven story. When you lead with People you have the ability to form an incredible connection with viewers, to make them fall in love. You give them somebody to root for.
So while you may not have been particularly interested in the issue of slavery, if we can make you fall in love with a special 9-year-old girl and we show you her dream, you’ll likely stick around to see if she can achieve it. And as she sets off on her journey, we can share the who, what, when, where, and why of slavery. In this way, we allow People to take us to the Purpose. And we allow the viewers to come to the Purpose as well, instead of just telling them about it.
OUR WHOLE STORYTELLING PROCESS IS BUILT
ON THIS ONE FOUNDATIONAL IDEA: SPEAK
TO THE HEART TO MOVE THE MIND.
MAXIMIZE YOUR IMPACT BY PRIORITIZING YOUR PS . 26
Hit the ground with the four pillars of story in mind and take the time to let the story be heard. Let the story move you before you try to move the story. Find the heart of your story. That character that the audience can fall in love with and root for. Learn about her desire and the conflict that surrounds it. The conflict will pave the way for the journey. The journey is the story. And the story will allow for the purpose in a way that that goes much further and deeper.
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER. LET’S RECAP.
Story is built on four Pillars or Ps: People, Places, Plot, and Purpose.
• People are the characters in our story. They help create connection with the viewer.
• Places are where the story happens. We can think of Place as time, environment, situation, and object. Places allow us to show, rather than tell, and they give us the opportunity to create intrigue.
• Plot is the structure of the story, a clear beginning, middle, and ending. Conflict is critical to story and it leads to your journey. Conflict creates questions in the viewer, as well as a physiological response, both of which help keep her engaged.
• Purpose is what your story leaves the viewer with. Having a strong purpose is a big part of making a lasting impact on your viewer.
MAXIMIZE YOUR IMPACT BY PRIORITIZING YOUR PS . 28
The P or Pillar that you prioritize in your story will define the type of story you tell.
• Lead with Purpose and you get a commercial
• Lead with Plot and you get an action film
• Lead with Places and you get a travel video
• Lead with People and you have the opportunity for a story that connects with the viewer emotionally and gives them somebody to root for
We believe the strongest stories come when you put People first. When you find characters that are worth your audience getting to know. Let your People lead the viewer to your Purpose.
