@richteatv Welcome to The Quad! Glad you are here with us. We will be premiering our smartphone filmmaking and storytelling panels this week. You can also join us Click: in this forum after the premier where we'll be there discussing the panels. First one is Wed. January 6 at 1pm PST. The Videos will premier Click: here. 

Everyone here, do pick Rich's brain. He's very knowledgeable in the industry.

Thanks Susy, happy to help wherever I can. 

What makes a mobile film story?

It is always good to start with a question, it helps to get your brain whizzing around and coming up with an answer. Sometimes the question can be quite easy and other times it may take some time to ponder on. But in story development there is always an answer to the question and each person will interpret the answer differently.

The film industry will be our example because mobile stories tend to be about making a film, tv, or some online series or vlog. So I will introduce you to some film industry terms and explain what they mean to you.

The first term we will look at is "Story" or as the industry would prefer you to call it, "The Premise".

part 1

What is the premise?

The definition of "premise" in the industry is the idea behind the film that drives the plot. It is the idea, the story, the research, that brings your film to life. It is not the film in itself, (that we will discuss later in the blog), it is just the beginning.

Idea's in themselves are really just the beginning of your story, of your premise. You build on a premise to create a whole story, that means the bit in the middle and the bit where the story ends. However a good premise starts before the beginning of the film and ends after the end of the film. Now that may sound complicated and we will get into that at a later date.

Lets start with the premise

In the film industry the premise is also known as the pitch, the logline, or the summary, it is quite simply a few words that succinctly (briefly and clearly) describe the story. This premise will become the strapline when your film finally makes it to DVD.

Think of it this way, the next time you are in a supermarket or a shop that sells DVD's or in your home entertainment library of DVD's read the sometimes single sentence on the cover that will attract you to buy and or watch the movie. 

But why is this single sentence so important? Because it will make you decide whether or not you want to purchase the film. you may look at it and think "oh I have heard this all before" or you may read it and think "that sounds interesting, that sounds like something I could get into; I'm going to buy it".

One of my all time favourites was from the film Twins, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. The strapline read:-

"Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are twins, but only their mother can tell them apart".

"Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are twins, but only their mother can tell them apart".

Obviously in real life everyone can tell Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito apart, one is a huge bodybuilder actor, the other is a short extremely funny comedian actor. But the strapline is intriguing it draws you into the story. Why is it that only their mother can tell them apart? This premise makes you think, it makes you want to know more and it asks you many more questions about the story. Who are the characters, why are they twins, what makes them twins, have they grown up together or have they just met; are they on a road trip to find their mother and finally get the answers they have been looking for?

the premise is also the pitch. traditionally if you wanted to make a movie you probably would need money to make it, so you would need to pitch your idea to and Executive. The Pitch would need to be conveyed in such a way for the Executive to remember and Emily pass on, because the person you pitch to is usually not the person who pays the bills. The Executive would have to pass on the idea of the premise to the next person in line and so on.

This then means, that not only does your premise need to succinctly tell your story, like the film Twins it needs to have a unique angle that intrigues the listener enough to remember it and want to pass it on. A film Executive would normally hear simply hundreds of pitches and may only remember one of them.

So the "premise" is the idea for your story, it's not the story but it's an important part of making your story. It's fresh, it's new, its' unique, it's  what makes a great film.

"But surely", I can hear you say, "mobile filmmaking is not traditional”!

You're right it's not traditional, and frankly it's evolving so quickly that what we can do today will be old fashioned tomorrow. It is cheaper quicker and easier to use, even a 7 year old can make a movie and upload it to YouTube.

But that is the equipment and not the story. Story never changes, it's the same today as it was yesterday and a thousand years ago and more, and it will be the same a thousand years from now, the only thing that will change is the medium we use to tell that story.

Story follows certain rules, and outside of that narrative it stops being story and becomes reality.

Okay I think I have given you enough to think about and ponder for a while. Next week we will go further into what makes a good idea and we will look at the various different options you have as a film maker, to develop good story.

Posted by: @richteatv

the premise is also the pitch. traditionally if you wanted to make a movie you probably would need money to make it, so you would need to pitch your idea to and Executive. The Pitch would need to be conveyed in such a way for the Executive to remember and Emily pass on, because the person you pitch to is usually

Excuse the Executive to remember and "Emily" pass on, should read "eventually" I think my spell checker went mad. 😊 

This is great information for those looking to make better films. In mobile filmmaking we hope to get more people interested in storytelling through film using smartphones. I don't think enough people realize the power of a good story but hope we can help guide them in the right direction so they will be more successful with their films. 

Posted by: @susy

This is great information for those looking to make better films. In mobile filmmaking we hope to get more people interested in storytelling through film using smartphones. I don't think enough people realize the power of a good story but hope we can help guide them in the right direction so they will be more successful with their films. 

 

Thank you Susy as the weeks progress we will delve deeper into story an character development and what sells a script. In one of my past experiences I worked with Europe's leading story development agents who had over 170 Oscars Palm D'Ors and Golden bears attributed to his work. And I also used to write articles for the UK Screenwriter Magazine which was part of the prestigious Blake Friedmann Agency (Julian Friedmann) which is one of the worlds largest Literary agents for Film, TV, Theatres and Novels. And was an attender at the London Screenwriting Festival, so I have a lot of insider secrets to share.

@richteatv I am tagging a few members of The Quad here. Hopefully they'll join the conversation.

@olsburger @aguillossou @al-garcia @ryan-mcdonald @steven-palmer-peterson @rossperkins28 @jsmithwriter @myalismfilms