: Interwoven story arcs (for video) - guidelines so viewers will not get lost? I am trying to create a documentary about the history of a sports team, and have identified some compelling story

@Mendez196

Posted in: #Narrator #Plot #Storyline #Subplot

I am trying to create a documentary about the history of a sports team, and have identified some compelling story arcs. However, as we know in reality, stories do not begin and end one at a time:

story 1 exposition
story 1 rising action
story 1 climax
story 1 falling action
story 1 resolution
story 2 exposition
story 2 rising action
story 2 climax
story 2 falling action
story 2 resolution


but rather are interwoven

story 1 exposition
story 1 rising action
story 2 exposition
story 1 climax
story 2 rising action
story 1 falling action
story 2 climax
story 2 falling action
story 1 resolution
story 2 resolution


I can easily modify my documentary to make scene transitions seamless/connected by having a connecting theme. BUT this doesn't ensure the viewer can identify the 2 different story arcs and feel the satisfaction that all plots were explored and resolved. To them, the interwoven structure above just looks like a bunch of connected scenes with no overall meaning.

What do screenwriters do to ensure viewers don't get lost and remind them that there is a (set of) journeys to be payed off that they should keep watching to get rewarded with? Apart from just narration which explicitly identifies the 2 separate plots, I don't get how this is done (I'm an amateur screenwriter with no training). But since I don't want to rely on English narration (I want people from other countries to watch it too), I'm wondering if there are any non-narrater ways to help orient viewers.

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@Alves689

@Alves689

Thanks to Bookeater for this recommendation:


I'd use music to unify an arc. Out there usually human leads are used to tag arcs as people easily identify with them.


This also answers another question I hadn't yet crossed yet - how many different soundtrack songs should I use in my show (anything from one for the whole show, to one for every scene). One per story sounds like a good way to go.

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@Vandalay250

@Vandalay250

Watch any of the reality TV shows in the documentary theme that are currently "popular" like


Pawn Stars
American Pickers
Tiny House Hunters
Any of the home renovation/flipping/decorating shows


Pay attention to how they summarize and cut between acts. Also some of them like Pawn Stars start a story (say someone wants to sell a stuffed buffalo) but they don't resolve it straight away. They cut to another seller (say selling a diamond), and intercut some conflict between the family. Then back to the Bullalo. Back to the Diamond. Back to conflict.

Even if not for TV, a TV hour (43 minutes) is 4-5 well defined acts.

To cut between story arcs make sure you leave each story on a question or cliff hanger, like

ACTION SHOWING

The team nearly folded in 1919 when scandal rocked the dressing room.

FADE OUT:

Commercial break

FADE IN:

ACTION SHOWING

Meanwhile in 1968 the team lost it's third finals series in a row.
Newspaper reports of the day started reporting the "Ghost of
the Dressing Room" had cursed the team.
A voodoo priestess was called in to exorcise the evil spirits.


Using graphics is almost essential if you are going to split the narrative without a narrator.

But remember am English language narration can often be dubbed or subtitled for other markets.

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