Follow these steps to help make a strong story.
1. What’s your story?
- Choose a topic*, issue, or character to explore.
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son (character)
2. What’s unique about your story?
- Decide on a unique angle in your story that had not been explored before.
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son story explores the life of a boy who grew up as the son of a lighthouse keeper; the unique angle is that the story is told through two different time periods set forty years apart.
3. What do you want your story to do?
- ENTERTAIN (to provide a fun or thrilling experience for your audience)
- INFORM (to educate your audience)
- PROVOKE (to encourage your audience to take action)
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son story is created to entertain the audience; to take them on a journey and provide an insight into what it can be like growing up as the son of a lighthouse keeper.
4. What medium(s) will you use to best tell your story?
- Photography,
- Words,
- Video,
- Radio.
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son is a video story with additional words from the protagonist that supports the film.
5. What’s your distribution plan?
- Decide on the audiences that would be interested in your story, their distribution channels, and make a plan,
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son was distributed to lighthouse enthusiasts groups on social media; friends, colleagues and peers of the Laver family; online; and promoted on local radio and through ABC Open. A copy was given to the Maritime museum, GBRMPA and the museum of Tropical QLD to broadcast in the museum and online to their audiences.
6. How will you make your story?
- Develop a rough script and production schedule,
- Organise your crew, equipment and resources required to produce the story,
- Create content (i.e. record interviews, action/overlay/b-roll footage),
- EXAMPLE: Strong planning session required for shooting The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son as we only had a six hour window to get to location, shoot the interviews and re-enactment shots, while having to manage multiple talent and film crew. Two digital SLRs, P2, extra batteries, sound gear, back up hard drives and reflectors for natural light were used.
7. Edit your story,
8. Produce multimedia content that will help promote your story (photography, video, words, and radio),
- EXAMPLE: Still photos from The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son were made for online publishing, social media, local newspaper and the local maritime museum, and audio excerpts were taken from the film for local radio, plus talent were invited to speak live on air.
9. Publish and promote your story using your distribution plan,
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son was distributed based on the distribution plan.
10. Celebrate!
Additional tips:
- Start your story with a crucial, unique fact,
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son begins with an old man finding an old film reel that reveals he was once a lighthouse keeper.
- Highlight 3 strong emotions throughout the story that will help your audience to empathise with your characters,
- EXAMPLE: Joy, humour, love and warmth can be felt through the protagonist (The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son) sharing stories with his family, solitude through visual imagery, sadness to discover the film was the last time the family were together.
- Include unexpected reveal moments throughout your story.
- EXAMPLE: Kids had more freedom forty years ago; there’s a lot of wildlife around the desolate lighthouse; the protagonist was a hunter; the protagonist died the year the film was made and it is revealed the viewer is witnessing the last time the family were together.
Topics that audiences tend to be more interested in
- Stories about things people desire (better lifestyle, prestige, fantasy),
- Controversial stories that generate opinions (politics, sport, religion, money),
- Stories about how people use their time (hobbies, careers),
- Stories that represent people’s values (culture, sexuality, health, fame),
- Stories about unusual characters (activities, lifestyles, quirks.)
- EXAMPLE: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Son utilises a blend of Desire; for audiences who romance about living on a lighthouse, Use Their Time; by exploring how people once lived and worked on a lighthouse, and Values; exploring how family values influence raising kids.
PDFs
*Topic examples
Animals, art, biography, business, culture, defence, photography, filmmaking, writing, education, food, health, history, indigenous, music, place, rural, country, seniors, sport, work, youth, environment, trending, news, family, values, science, technology, social media, etc.