Week 2 was mainly divided into two parts. The first session focused on the lecture about Story Basic and a group storyboard exercise. The second session focused on the Previs assignment, “Hunter to Prey”, including group storyboard planning and video production. Compared with Week 1, which focused more on camera language, this week focused more on story structure, causal logic, character motivation, and how to develop an idea into a story that can be shown through shots.
The Causal Chain of “Therefore / But”
The tutor explained that the beats in a story should not only be connected by “and then”. They should be connected more by “therefore” or “but”. In this way, the story feels like the result of the character’s own desire, weakness and choices, rather than something pushed by random external events.
This helped me understand character agency more clearly. Even in a very short story, the character should still have their own goal and choice. The audience does not only want to know “what happens next”. They also want to know why the character makes a choice and what consequence this choice will bring.
Conflict, Drama and Story
The class also introduced the idea that Conflict = Drama = Story. A story begins when a character’s expectation or desire meets an obstacle in reality, and this creates conflict. The conflict can be external, such as a chase, danger or an environmental obstacle. It can also be internal, such as fear, hesitation, obsession or a wrong judgement.
The lecture gave us three useful questions: Who is it about? What do they want? Why can’t they have it? These questions can help me quickly define the main character, the goal and the obstacle at the early stage of story development. They also help prevent the story from becoming only a random collection of events.
The SWBST Story Structure
The class also introduced the SWBST structure: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then. This structure helps me turn a simple idea into a complete story. It asks: Who is the main character? What do they want? What obstacle do they meet? What choice do they make? What result happens at the end?
This method is very useful for the early stage of storyboard and previs planning, because it helps me check whether the story works before designing the shots. If the “wanted” and “but” are not clear, even if the shots look good, the audience may still not understand why the character is acting.
Class Exercise: Ladder, Flooding and Disappearing
In the first session’s class activity, we worked in pairs to develop a storyboard idea. Based on the three keywords “ladder”, “flooding” and “disappearing”, I came up with a story about a bubble.
In this exercise, I was mainly responsible for the story concept and the overall storyboard design. I tried to make the three keywords have a real connection, instead of simply placing them separately into the story. I also wanted the ending to give the audience a clear twist. My idea was that the bubble first uses the ladder to struggle against the flood, but it still fails and disappears into the water. However, at the end, there is a reversal: the bubble is blown out from a fish’s mouth and is reborn.