Cinematography-Can we incorporate principles for better storytelling?

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Let’s set the stage that Drew is unlikely to ever read a book about storytelling and I might not be alone. It’s just not something that’s likely to happen given the need for me to triage the opportunity costs of how my time gets allocated. I also know I cant be the only person who watched a movie in the last 15 years and thought - this looks like shit and i did not get into it, but I cant quite articulate specifically why.

The link (warning its a solid 25+ min) i posted is full to the brim with discussion about cinematography, probably deeper than any of us ever got in a 101/102 cinematography classes. Movie making IS storytelling though and I think there are a number of interesting thoughts contained therein which are relevant to DMing.

When the opportunity presents I will occasionally think about the upcoming sessions in movie terms. I am thinking about wide shots to establish scene. I am thinking about textures and details that ground the scenes. Of particular note is the video’s discussion one haptic movies which elicit sensory experience vs optic movies. It ties back to our favorite line: “The first thing you notice is the smell…”. This is exactly sensory details to ground a scene. It has some good food for thought about how directors use lighting and natural elements to ground the scenes as well. I am thinking about how I could use those better in storytelling for more “haptic scenes” which elicit more deep sensory experiences.

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Cinema provides us a lot of language and cultural context for expressing narrative ideas in games, but the medium of games is stubbornly unique. It’s a useful, if incomplete, framework.

Games exist in social (interactivity) and meta-social (role assumption) spaces, while cinema is inherently didactic. I’m talking here about the experience and not the content, the affect without regard to plot. Films communicate a creator’s vision, their intent, with rich visuals and sound. Games lack the sensory force of film, relying on conceptual consensus (or, at least, harmony) among the contributors.

Games have weaker audio-visual elements, sometimes none at all. Experience-wise, games strike me as being a lot more like novels. All of the sensory information - the “texture” - is carried in text to the imagination of the audience. But this is also an imperfect comparison because of the real-time, collaborative nature of games.

Lacking a critical vocabulary for campfire stories or meadhall boasts really puts us at a disadvantage.

Edit to Add: One idea I saw recently was comparing the game experience more to a writer’s room than a finished product. There are dead ends, “trying on” of different concepts, magic moments, and just generally a bunch of talented, highly-engaged people trying their best to define a path from “here” to “there” together.