Story structure

Learning goal

You will be able to turn a sequence of photos from a random heap into a narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end. You will learn to give the frames of a series a task, and choose an establishing shot that places the viewer in a place and time, detail frames that show the texture of the subject, relationship shots that connect people to each other or to their work, a climax moment that carries the story's peak, and a closing shot that leaves the viewer with a feeling. By alternating wide, medium and close frames you will build a scale rhythm that doesn't tire the viewer's eye, and see that the closing can be a conclusion or an open question. You will use this structure as a tool rather than a template, and in a series that tells about a person, think about including their face and gaze in the series so as not to reduce them to their hands or their work alone.

The question

Your friend spreads the forty frames they shot in the silversmith's workshop on the table once more. The glowing silver, the hammer coming down, the file, the soldering flame, the ring in the craftsperson's palm, the tools on the shelf, the morning light seeping through the window, the craftsperson's face laughing during a tea break, a customer slipping the ring onto their finger. They are all good frames. But whichever one they start with, something is missing. Opening with the fire, the viewer doesn't understand where they are; opening with the ring, the end has been reached at the start.

They line up the frames three times from scratch. In each arrangement the same photos tell a different story: one the steps of a craft, one a day in a craftsperson's life, one the journey of a ring. Can a sequence of photos have a beginning, middle and end? According to what task should the frames be chosen?

Context

In the single frame and series lesson we discussed that a sequence carries the duration and surroundings a single frame can't fit in, and that unnecessary repetition only lengthens a sequence (Lesson 23.1). In the get closer lesson, too, we defined the detail frame as a close frame showing only a small part of a subject (Lesson 6.7). This lesson brings the two ideas together: every frame that enters a series takes on a particular task within the narrative, and when these tasks come together a structure forms.

The idea that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end is one of the oldest tools of narrative. A photo sequence tells without using words, but the viewer's mind still wants to settle somewhere, follow what happens and reach an end. This structure isn't built in the same order in every series; but knowing the frames' tasks makes it possible to see which one is missing and which one is extra.

Simple explanation

How does a sequence open?

An establishing shot is the frame at the start of a sequence that places the viewer in a place, a time and a subject. It is often a wide frame: the general view of the workshop in morning light, the craftsperson's workbench, the place of the fire, the window. From this frame the viewer understands where they are, what kind of place they are in and whom they will follow. Without an establishing shot, close frames hang in the air; the viewer can't know whose hammer it is or where a flame is burning.

The opening doesn't always have to be a wide frame. Some sequences open with a detail, a small piece that arouses curiosity, and show the place later; this draws the viewer in with a question. But if such an opening is made, the task of establishing must be fulfilled in the second or third frame without fail. The opening's strength comes from the viewer sensing at first glance what the sequence is about and why it is worth following. The light falling in through the workshop's door and the craftsperson at the workbench can introduce the place, the person and the work all at once.

What happens in the middle of a sequence?

The middle of the sequence opens up the subject's texture and its people. Detail frames do their work here: the bright lines the file leaves on the silver, the blue tip of the soldering flame, the worn hammer handle. These frames give the viewer a chance to look closely and let them feel the labor, the material and the time that general frames can't show. Details are also a place to catch one's breath: after a wide frame has carried all its information, the viewer focuses on a single texture and the sequence's pace slows down. But each detail frame should say something; close frames added just to be an impressive texture swell the middle of the sequence and lengthen the road to the climax.

A relationship shot is a frame in a sequence that connects people to each other or to their work and shows the relationship between them. The moment the craftsperson shows their apprentice how to hold a file, the moment they talk with a customer, or the moment their hand holds the ring up to the light to examine it is of this kind. Relationship shots add feeling to the story; the viewer sees not just a process but also the people inside that process.

Scale rhythm is giving the viewer's eye a tempo by alternating wide, medium and close frames one after another in a sequence. Five close frames in a row feel suffocating, five wide frames in a row feel distant. If a wide frame of the workshop is followed by the craftsperson at medium distance, then a close hand, then a wide frame again, the viewer moves forward without losing either the place or the detail. This rhythm isn't a requirement, but a tool that lets a sequence breathe in and out.

How are the peak and the end built?

A climax moment is the frame in a sequence that carries the story's most intense, most meaningful moment, toward which the other frames move. In the workshop, this could be the moment the stone is set in its seat: the craftsperson's eyes narrowed under the magnifier, the dark red stone at the tip of the tweezers, the warm light of the fire falling on their face. The climax moment is often placed a little past the middle of the sequence; tension is built first, then the peak comes.

At the climax moment the light is often difficult. On a dark-skinned face in front of the fire, if you expose for the flames the face is lost in darkness; if you expose for the face, the flames blow out. At this moment, prioritizing the skin and accepting that part of the flame slips to white makes the climax moment's real subject, the person, visible.

A closing shot is the frame that ends a sequence and leaves the viewer with a feeling or a question. The closing can be a conclusion: the ring on the customer's finger. Or it can leave an open end: the frame in which the craftsperson switches off the evening light and a new, unfinished piece sits on the workbench. A closing that shows a conclusion completes the story; an open-ended closing leaves the viewer thinking. Which one to choose depends on what is to be told; both are valid endings.

In a sequence that tells about a person, the structure also carries the question of representation. If the workshop's frames show only the craftsperson's hands, the viewer sees them not as a person but as a tool of a craft. Especially showing a dark-skinned craftsperson only through their laboring hands can reduce them to a faceless worker. Having at least one frame in the sequence that carries the craftsperson's face, their gaze and a moment in which they speak in their own voice makes them the subject of the story. Asking them which frames tell about them correctly is also a way of building this balance.

Visual evidence

From among the forty frames you choose seven and write a task for each. Opening: the workshop's door in morning light, the craftsperson at the workbench. Detail: the lines the file leaves on the silver. Relationship: the moment the craftsperson shows their apprentice the file. Detail: the blue tip of the soldering flame. Climax: the craftsperson setting the stone under the magnifier, their dark brown face in the light of the fire, exposure for the face, the tip of the flame white. Relationship: the moment the customer slips the ring onto their finger. Closing: evening, the empty workbench and the unlit fire.

The sequence's scale rhythm is wide, close, medium, close, medium, medium, wide. In the first arrangement the craftsperson's face showed only at the climax moment; when you add their face laughing during the tea break in fourth place, the craftsperson becomes the subject of the sequence. When you show the frames to the craftsperson, they too choose that laughing frame most of all.

Common mistakes

Summary

The frames of a photo sequence take on tasks: the establishing shot places the viewer in the place and subject, detail frames and relationship shots open up the subject's texture and people in the middle, the climax moment carries the story's peak, and the closing shot leaves the viewer with a conclusion or an open end. The scale rhythm of wide, medium and close frames gives the sequence tempo, and this structure is used not in the same order in every series but as a tool according to what is to be told. In a sequence that tells about a person, the person should appear not only through their hands but also through their face and gaze; in difficult light, the climax moment's exposure prioritizes the skin.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will build a sequence with a structure from a shoot's frames.

1. Shoot a process, an event or a day in someone's life in at least twenty frames, or use a sequence you shot before.
2. Choose six to eight frames from among them and write each one's task: opening, detail, relationship, climax or closing.
3. Note the sequence's scale rhythm as wide, medium and close; if there are more than three frames of the same scale in a row, change one.
4. Build two arrangements, once with a closing that shows a conclusion and once with an open-ended closing, and write the difference. If there is a person in the sequence, check the frame in which their face and gaze appear, and if possible go over the selection together with them.

Check yourself

• Can you name the task of each frame in your sequence?
• Can you explain why you put the climax moment in that position?
• Did you show the person in the sequence not only through their work but also through their face and gaze?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the basic task of the establishing shot?

• A) To be the sharpest frame of the sequence
• B) To show the story's peak
• C) To show the subject's smallest detail
• D) To place the viewer in a place, time and subject

2. A sequence with five close frames in a row feels suffocating. What is done?

• A) Turning all five into black and white
• B) Building a scale rhythm by putting medium and wide frames between them
• C) Moving them to the start of the sequence
• D) Cropping them all to the same size

3. In the climax frame of the dark-skinned craftsperson setting the stone in front of the fire, how is exposure prioritized?

• A) For the face; part of the flame slipping to white is accepted
• B) For the flames; the face may stay in darkness
• C) With average metering; between the two
• D) Exposure doesn't matter

4. In a sequence that shows only the craftsperson's hands, which change makes them the subject of the story?

• A) Adding more frames of hands
• B) Turning the frames into black and white
• C) Adding at least one frame that carries their face and gaze
• D) Removing the closing shot

Answers

1. D — The establishing shot lets the viewer understand where they are and whom they will follow.
2. B — Different scales give the sequence tempo and rest the viewer's eye.
3. A — The climax moment's subject is the person; the skin should stay visible, and the tip of the flame can be sacrificed.
4. C — The face and gaze take the person out of being part of a tool and make them the subject of the story.

Summary card

• The opening places the viewer in the place and subject.
• Detail and relationship frames fill the middle.
• The climax moment carries the peak; in difficult light, prioritize the skin.
• The closing can be a conclusion or an open end.
• Build a scale rhythm; show the person with their face too.

Bridge to the next lesson

When the sequence was ready, your friend happened to put two frames side by side: the craftsperson's hands, blackened with soot and full of scratches, and the finished ring gleaming on the glass shelf of a shop window. Neither said anything special on its own; side by side, the invisible bond of labor and value appeared between the two. When they put the empty workbench next to the ring, on the other hand, the meaning turned in a completely different direction. Why does the order of photos matter? The next lesson tells about the third meaning two photos give birth to when placed side by side, and about pairing frames.