Welcome to this week’s Sunday Evening edition of The Backlot. These newsletters will include stories from my recent experiences working in indie filmmaking, helpful resources for emerging filmmakers, and other posts covering different topics in the film industry.
NOTE - This version of the newsletter is free. The mid-week version, which includes the Documentary Series, is now a paid subscription.
This week, we’re exploring a few major ideas behind good storytelling and how they can help us create more meaningful films…
🎞️ The Elements of A Good Story
🎬 Getting Innovative in Storytelling
🗞️ Three Movie Recommendations
Last week, I had the privilege of leading a storytelling discussion for members of The Greenlight Guild, a community meetup for local filmmakers in Central Oregon.
Our discussion focused on a roundtable conversation about storytelling, and our group of filmmakers spent a few hours sharing their experiences, insights, and viewpoints on different ways to tell a good story.
These discussions reminded me of the power of storytelling and why it is one of the most powerful tools we have as human beings.
For thousands of years, our species have been sharing stories with one another, using this form of communication to describe our experiences in life, spread new ideas, and communicate across cultures, languages, and continents.
Only in the last hundred years have we started using filmmaking to tell stories, learning to share our perspectives of the world through a visual medium. In many ways, the stories told through film have profoundly influenced our culture. They’ve created dialogue around social issues, brought people together, and built a common bond among our society's vast and diverse population.
Over the years of working in this medium, I’ve learned that a few major elements make up a truly powerful and memorable story.
What Makes A Good Story
Over years of working with filmmakers, I’ve learned to see storytelling in various ways. In some cases, storytelling can be a form of creative expression; in others, it is a means of escape. I’ve often seen storytelling as a tool for sharing a unique and important perspective of the world. In reality, every story is probably a mix of all three.
I’ve learned that stories come in all shapes and sizes. They can be about the beauty of love, the pain of grief, or the excitement of adventure. No matter what, though, good stories help us understand our existence in this life. And if told right, these stories can have a profound impact on many different facets of our audience’s lives.
Make People Think
One of my favorite quotes on storytelling comes from novelist Brandon Sanderson, who says, “The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”
The best stories are the ones that make us evaluate our perspectives on life and question our understanding of the world. These stories help introduce us to new worldviews, entice us to think about what it means to be human, and make us feel different emotions toward our lives. They leave us with new questions, ideas to explore, and changing views of the world around us.
As filmmakers, our desire to make people think is a driving force in the desire to practice the craft. We make films because we want our ideas to make people think and entice them to question their understanding of the world.
We have to remember this throughout the process and realize that every story should center around this desire to seek change in its audience. If we can focus on this desire to enact change, we can find ways to create a truly powerful film that connects with people and sticks with them for years to come.
Simplifying the Message
Another critical element of storytelling is simplicity and the ability to convey a message, prompting this ability to make people think.
This doesn’t mean a story has to follow a very specific format or narrative arc; it just means that the message behind your work needs to be effectively communicated to the audience.
For example, if you’re trying to tell a story about love and relationships, the audience needs to understand the message behind your story and what you are saying about these topics. Are you saying love is a powerful and magnetic force? Or are you telling them that love is painful and can hurt the soul?
Being too vague can hurt your message and distract the audience. Without direction and explicitly highlighting the intended message, people will leave the theater wondering what the story was about, why this director made this film, and what they were trying to say.
As filmmakers, we can often be plagued by the tendency to overcomplicate the message and say too much. Many filmmakers, myself included, have gotten caught up trying to introduce too many complex subjects or attempting to address multiple issues in a single film.
This complexity is usually a result of the filmmakers not knowing exactly what they want to say or share with their audience.
That’s why it’s good to take time to think about the purpose of your work. Are you trying to shed light on an important issue in our society or sharing a personal experience from your past?
The answer can sometimes be complicated, which is why we have to break it down and make it simpler.
I’ve found that when I recognize this complexity, I have to take time to truly write out what I am trying to say, making it explicitly clear to myself and those who are helping me make the film. This helps clarify my work and message and helps me find people who can collaborate to tell a story that has a deeper impact and resonates on a deeper level.
The Character is Critical
Characters help you share that message because they are the vessel through which our audience connects with the story.
Think about Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, Ripley in Alien, or Luke in Star Wars. These characters are dynamic and interesting, and the audience’s connection with the storyline revolves around their narrative and viewpoint of the world.
As humans, we resonate with these characters because we like to connect with other conscious creatures that allow us to imagine ourselves in the story. In this way, we feel as if we are involved in the world, which helps build a stronger connection with the story’s messages, emotions, and feelings.
Characters also drive the story because their decisions influence the way the story is told. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo’s decision to take the ring on his own without the Fellowship leads to the story branching into multiple parts. This decision also provides insight into Frodo, showcasing his strength and courage to do what is right for the sake of the world around him.
As filmmakers, we have to ensure that our characters help us tell the right story. Sometimes, we can fall in love with certain individuals or ideas and get too attached to them, even when they aren’t good for the story.
When this happens, we have to realign with our message and ensure that these characters or ideas are right for our story and that they continue to drive it forward in some shape or form.
If we can find the right characters, we can use them to build a lasting connection that keeps the audience moving toward our story's message.
Getting Innovative in Storytelling
Over the years, many people have found ways to innovate their storytelling. During our Greenlight Guild discussion, several films and filmmakers were mentioned, including The Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, and Momento.
The latter of the three films may be the most prominent example of getting creative with storytelling and narrative. Momento is known because of its unique storytelling style, which tells the story in reverse and lets the audience piece together its uniquely beautiful purpose over the course of the slowly unraveling film.
Another great example of unique storytelling is Wong-Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, one of my favorite films of all time. The story follows two narrative storylines and uses a central connecting location to connect the two main characters. In this way, the film is unique and powerful while also providing a beautiful snapshot of the real stories that cross paths every moment in reality.
These forms of storytelling are unique and help these films stand apart from the more common storytelling techniques. They also allow the artist to construct a story in a way that can strengthen the connection with audiences and provoke deeper and more complex thought.
As filmmakers, we can use these types of unique storytelling mechanisms if they are purposeful for the message behind our story. Sometimes this is harder said than done, but if you can make it work, it makes for a truly powerful film that will shock and intrigue audiences for years to come.
Three Movie Recommendations
Okay, well, we’re talking about storytelling, so here are three recommendations for films with a truly great story…
My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Easily one of the best documentaries of the past ten years, My Octopus Teacher is a profoundly inspiring story about a diver’s connection to one of our most fascinating marine creatures. One of the reasons this film is powerful is because of its story and the way it uses the main character as a vessel for the audience to experience the protagonist’s connection to the natural world.
As an environmentalist myself, I believe this film is deeply important for many reasons. The story of this diver and his octopus friend teaches us to reimagine the way we view animals, inspiring us to cultivate meaningful relationships with the natural world and open our minds to the idea of a different kind of intelligence. Truly, it's one of the most inspiring environmental documentaries of all-time.
Life of Pi (2012)
I recently watched this film, and it’s a profoundly inspiring tale of loss, grief, and resilience that strikes a chord every time. Life of Pi follows Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma), a young Indian boy who becomes stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger after their ship sinks in the Pacific. Over time, the boy learns to live with the fearsome predator as he fights to stay alive.
The film is a memorable survival story that provides an incredible commentary on storytelling and its role in religion, culture, and personal experience. Ang Lee’s masterpiece is incredibly beautiful both visually and metaphorically, leaving audiences contemplating their own questions about resistance, religion, and the existence of a higher power long after the final credits roll.
The Illusionist (2006)
The Illusionist is a wonderful example of using the theme of the story to dictate the storyline. The film follows Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician from Vienna who is in love with the Duchess (Jessica Biel) and must try to thwart the efforts of the Crown Prince (Rufus Sewell), who is trying to have him arrested for Necromancy.
The film’s storyline is straightforward, but as the story unravels, it becomes clear that the narrative isn’t as clear as we are meant to believe. Without giving away too much, the film uses the ideas of magic to construct its storyline, providing an excellent twist and a few great rewatches.
On Wednesday, we’ll be discussing …
🎞️ The State of Documentary Film - A New Dawn for Documentary Film
🗞️ Other Latest News and Updates from the Industry