A Case for Sharing Storyboards
Today I’d like to propose a revolutionary idea: video production teams should share their creative plans with the people who are IN their documentary stories.
In April, Mission Minded Media had the pleasure of creating a short film about Chris Miller, a high school teacher who authored legislation that requires mental health education in California schools.
We drafted a set of storyboards, which is an outline of our creative plan. We use these storyboards to collaborate with our team and communicate with clients.
For Miller's story, we decided that a compelling opening for the film would be to show some moody footage of a Caltrains vehicle.
Miller told us that his interest in youth mental health began when a cluster of teen suicides occurred in 2009-10, many of them who died by jumping in front of a Caltrain.
In our ethical review, Tamara Knox, the social worker on our team, suggested that we share our plan to document the train sequence with Miller.
This may seem like a small idea for those outside of the documentary business, but for those of us within it, this idea is taboo.
Photo by Andrea Scott
Reevaluating old theories.
As artists and journalists, we have been taught that our “subjects” are not experts in our craft and therefore should not be consulted.
We have also been taught that vanity, or the desire to control one's image would interfere with the storytelling process.
These ideas are ugly and contain faulty logic. It sets up an inequitable power dynamic and discourages collaboration.
I was nervous to share my creative plan with Miller, afraid that he might not understand it or may create a roadblock in my efforts. So I took a closer look at the situation. I may be an expert in art and video storytelling, but Miller is the expert on mental health for young people, and he is an expert in his own life.
He was, in fact, the best person to consult about the ethics surrounding the scene in question.
A new kind of collaboration.
In an email I shared with Miller our carefully crafted storyboards, shown above. It forced us to get very clear about the purpose of including a train sequence and to explain our plans not to overdramatize the imagery. I asked Miller if such a sequence could be triggering to teens.
With great trepidation, I sent the email. Not long after, he sent his reply.
Not only did Miller sign off on the plan, but he also provided clear and specific ideas on how to create imagery that was not triggering to vulnerable youth.
“I greatly appreciated the opportunity to provide feedback on the storyboard planning process. The ability to provide feedback allowed me to comment on an area in which I have expertise (in this case, suicide prevention and postvention) and made for a better final product. I completely trusted Autumn and her team on the graphic and media portion, given their expertise in the area. In the end, sharing and consulting was a win-win for both parties.”
Making the story better.
Miller said that we should avoid any imagery that suggests that the suicides occurred in a specific location. He thought that general images would be better. Our team agreed.
We consulted with a local resident to help us select a Caltrains station that looked more generic than specific. We chose one that had a pedestrian bridge above it, where we could create graphic imagery, and we looked for details such as the crisis line listed on a placard in the station to use.
Overall, Miller’s input helped us create a better film at the end of the day. We were confident that our approach to the topic of teen suicide was responsible and we created more artistic imagery as a result of following his advice.
Since then we have shared storyboards with multiple other story participants with positive results. We plan to make it standard practice in the future.
