Story Telling
The intended audience for this video is filmmakers. Based on the narrators’ content on the subject of visual filmmaking and cinematography, the audience that will find this useful are people who intend to start or are indeed already making films. Apart from this, it is important to note that even at the beginning of the video; the narrator does exhibit knowledge of other aspects of filmmaking. The narrator mentions important filmmaking aspects such as lighting and the rule of thirds. This shows that the target audience already knows a bit about filmmaking and may be seeking to improve or sharpen their skills. However, further into the video one might also conclude that the intended audience is artists. This is because the narrator focuses on how pictures can be used to pass certain messages when drawn in a particular way.
The core message that the narrator tries to pass to the audience is the necessary aspects or features that should appear in a frame to captivate the audience. According to the narrator, cinema is a matter of what is in the frame and what is out. The narrator tries to show what ought to be in the frame in order to make a film or rather a scene more interesting and captivating to the audience. While the narrator does acknowledge the effectiveness of simplicity in filmmaking (films ought to be clear and understandable), he also mentions that the audience’s attention is most easily held by stories that are full of mystery. Most notably, this aspect in films (mystery) is achieved not only through good writing but also from a film’s visuals.
The goal of the filmmaker, according to the narrator, is to make the audience care about what is going to happen next. This will keep the audience fully engaged. This is achieved by focusing one’s efforts on telling a story. It would be of no use to focus on lighting in order to create a mood when there is no story being told. The narrator uses the example of filming a scene on the moon to illustrate this effectively. It would be futile to try to focus from which angles to film and which lighting to use in order to create the appropriate mood if the only thing that will be filmed is an astronaut walking around on the moon. It would be much better if there was some sort of conflict or even when the astronaut has a goal, they must accomplish. This would be much more interesting to the audience.
Finally, the narrator discusses subverting the expectations of the audience. When the audience is sure and expects a certain thing to happen, something else very different happens. This helps captivate the audience even more. They will want to know why the unexpected happened. The narrator uses the example of a man stuck on an island in despair. The second frame shows what appears to be a boat on the horizon. The third frame shows the man frantically waving his hands to get the attention of whoever is steering the ship. At this point, the audience expects one of two things. The person steering the ship will spot the man on the island and rescue him or the man on the island will not be spotted hence will not be saved. However, the fourth frame shows that it is a toy boat and not a ship. It is important to note that these frames do not need any dialogue to communicate to the audience. Instead, they give the audience the right amount of information that ensures they understand fully what is going on in each frame.
The narrator uses a formal tone throughout the video. He does not use any colloquialisms hence it is very formal. However, the subject matter and the audience dictate his tone. Since the material is educative, the narrator’s tone tends to be serious for the audience to take the material seriously. The narrator’s mode of delivery is very effective. It is simple and clear. He goes straight to the point hence the audience are not easily lost. Apart from that, he uses easy to understand examples to illustrate his points. This keeps the audience engaged to the end. Finally, the storytelling element that I found most effective in the video was that of mystery. Keeping the audience guessing what will happen next, making them care and invested in the story is quite remarkable to me. This is because the audience will be engaged throughout the film. The audience will hardly become bored.