The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV, and Digital Media

by Bruce Block

This updated edition of a best-selling classic shows you how to structure your visuals as carefully as a writer structures a story or composers structure their music. The Visual Story teaches you how to design and control the structure of your production using the basic visual components of space, line, shape, tone, color, movement, and rhythm. You can use these components to effectively convey moods and emotions, create a visual style, and utilize the important relationship between the visual and the story structures.

Using over 700 color illustrations, author Bruce Block explains how understanding the connection between story and visual structures will guide you in the selection of camera angles, lenses, actor staging, composition, set design and locations, lighting, storyboard planning, camera coverage, and editing.

The Visual Story is an ideal blend of theory and practice. The concepts and examples in this new edition will benefit students learning cinematic production, as well as professional writers, directors, cinematographers, art directors, animators, game designers, and anyone working in visual media who wants a better understanding of visual structure.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Art, Photography, Writing, Reference, Design

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what you'd call a compelling thrill-ride of a read. :) However, it's been like 20 years since I took Film Studies 101, and this is a really solid textbook for re-familiarizing yourself with the basics of visual literacy - line, tone, movement, shape, color, rhythm, composition.

If you are primarily a visual artist, this is all beginner's basics stuff that you probably don't need. But for me, it's extremely helpful for improving my sense of visual composition when I'm working on scripts for comics, or for improving my ability to dialogue with artists when we're discussing how to implement a wireframe for UI, or for giving me a starting place if I need to adjust cameras in a 3D scene.

Basically, I'd say it's probably most useful for either people who are just barely getting started in visual media, or for people who don't create visual art but need to interact regularly with people who do.

[gage sugden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preface: This book was assigned reading for a film class.

It seems to cover the basics very thoroughly. The illustrated examples worked very well and I liked how at the end of every chapter he lists multiple movies that demonstrate the chapter's content. Personally I found it all pretty clinical in nature so it was a slog to read through, but perhaps if film is more of your thing then you'll enjoy it better. We're only using it for one unit and it's probably the only film class I'll ever take but maybe if you plan on engaging with the kind of content more completely then you'll appreciate how firmly it sets the foundation. But for me it was a big big foundation that I'll probably never come back to so it made absorbing it all rough.

[Janne Janssens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Visual Story is the best manual for creating your movie visually. All information is directly applicable in practice and clearly illustrated with examples.
A book that should be on every filmmaker's shelf.

[Torrbort · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[Monqeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

عظيم جدًا. مرتب منطقيا؛ يحتوي النظرية والتطبيق؛ قليل السرد؛ غير ممل؛ لا يحتاج إنجليزية متقدمة؛ يصلح ككتاب تعليمي، ولا شك أن العالم العربي في حاجة إلى ترجمته. لكن يحتاج إلى قراءة ثانية وثالثة حتى تحصل الاستفادة القصوى.

النظرية التي اسخدمها الكاتب تفسر انجذاب المشاهد إلى الفلم - بعد جاذبية المضمون - بأنه ناتج عن "التباين والتشابه"، الحاصل بين عناصر الصورة.
Contrast and Affinity


قسم الكاتب عناصر الصورة إلى 7 أقسام:
المساحة - الخطوط - الأشكال - السطوع - اللون - الحركة - التعاقب.

ثم شرع في تقسيم كل عنصر إلى أقسامه لفرعية، ووضح كيف يتم تطبيق نظرية "التباين والتشابه"، وكان يطرح رسومات تعليمية تمثيلية، ومن ثم في نهاية كل فصل كان يضع سلسلة من الأفلام التي تعاملت مع ذلك العنصر الأساسي وعناصره الفرعية.
أيضًا كان بين طيات الكلام يضع أسماء أفلام تعاملت بشكل خفيف مع عنصر الصورة في الفصل الحالي، وكان أيضًا يضع بعض الصور من أفلام معينة ليكون التطبيق أدق. وفي آخر الكتاب وضع منحنيات بيانية تنظم علاقة القصة بالصورة.


قال الكاتب بأن المضمون يصلح للفلم، والأنيميشن، والفيديوات القصيرة (كاليوتيوب)، والإعلانات التجارية، وألعاب الفيديو، يعني ببساطة الكتاب المفيد لكل إنتاج متحرك يعرض على الشاشات.

ركز الكاتب على أمر ضروري، وهو أن التابين والتشابه قد يكون داخل اللقطة الواحدة، وداخل المشهد الواحد، وبين المشهد والآخر.

الكتاب عرض كيفية استخدام النظرية في عملية "الإديتينج" أو تقطيع اللقطات والمشاهد، كما عرض كيفية جعل عناصر الصورة منسجمة مع القصة.

بلغ عدد الأفلام الموصى بها كتطبيق للنظرية في نهاية كل فصل، أكثر من 40 فلم معظمها من القرن الماضي، تنوعت بين أفلام ملونة وأفلام بالأبيض والأسود، كما أن هناك أفلاما أخرى بين طيات السطور.

الكتاب جدًا مفيد على عدة مستويات، لم أجد ما يشبهه في الكتب المشهورة غربيًا، ومن يقرأه ستتغير حياته، وقد قيل: ما قبل سقراط ليس كما بعده.

[Chuck Kollars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough listing/description/analysis of all the characterizations of visual images: flat-deep space, ambiguous-recognizable space, horizontal-vertical line, straight-curved line, shape, hue, brightness, tone, movement, rhythm, etc. Listing and analysis are so thorough they sometimes border on repetitive. Appears to be the distillation of a class about structure of visual images at a film school, with the topic and much of the information having a long pedigree that goes all the way back to Eisenstein, via Vorkapich and Novros.

The book is full of pictures. Virtually every definition/comparison is illustrated with a screen grab from a well-known film. The reader is never left wondering "what did he mean by that?"

Although most of the individual items are pretty simple, the net effect of having them all organized and in one place is considerable. In fact this may provide the most complete and useful coverage of analysis of moving visual images that I've ever seen.

Throughout the book simply assumes _moving_ visual images, i.e. film. With very little effort though you could also quite usefully read it as being about the composition of _still_ visual images, i.e. photographs.

Of course only the last chapter even starts to cover the topic I was most interested in: which visual language best tells a particular story. I wished for an entire book on this topic alone, but this is not it. The very partial and incomplete answers in the last chapter seem to be: i] there are a whole lot of different ways to do it right, ii] you'll know rightness when you see it, iii] prior audience expectations are only partial, you get to "make up" plenty of associations, iv] plan it out, don't try to everything by intuition, and v] pay at least a bit of attention to that little voice inside your head, because once in a while an intuition that you can't even explain turns out to be quite good.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice clear delineation of the visual elements of screen storytelling and how to structure them to best effect. This book provided some simple working tools to get a handle on the complexities of filmmaking and other screen media in a way that I have sought for years. The framework provided allows you to move beyond intuition and gut-feeling and get a firm grasp on the creative components of the craft.

[Robt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for all Cinematographers.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cinematographers tell you not to worry about gear, equipment, budget, worrying about how pretty the stills look. Instead, they want you to worry about how the visuals support the story. It doesn't matter how pretty your image is if the story isn't good. What comes after that caution should be recommending this book.

The final section, in full disillusioning power, graphs the visual element and story development, and reminds us that they both serve each other. So that's how filmmakers can plan and manage the motion picture. It's like lifting the curtains to movie magic and it's making. Genius.

[Diego Souza · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author proposes a useful method to navigate the process of creating visual structure to tell a story. He delineates seven main visual components that can be worked to create visual structure mainly by using the principle of contrast and affinity; according with the needs of the story and expressing the author's point-of-view.
Sometimes the book felt a little abridged, especially on giving piratical examples in some of the subjects. But the content is solid, well structured and easy to read.

[Mtume Gant · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is great about this book is how the author is able to translate visual cues in a specific form that doesn’t prescribe a definitive “how to” rather than showing you “what is” or “what happens when” (only chapter he does that is the story structure chapter which is limited in scope). By doing that he really helps one consider how to go about making cinema their own way by understanding its language and how you can make your own.

[Jonah Blaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the third edition.

This book can be well used both as an introduction to the rules of visual storytelling, as well as a reference to jump back to if you get stuck in development.

Chapter 9 on story structures was by far the weakest link. The concept of using graphs to chart visual changes in the story is intriguing but did not merit the pages that were dedicated to it.

[Elisha Dunham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough and in depth look at filming technique and practice, and a great resource for both those pursuing film and those who just want to understand how the whole thing works! I’ll be keeping this one to refer back to.

[Rubinny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha encantado. Es justo lo que buscaba. Por si alguien que me lea quiere saber de qué va, es esencialmente una explicación de qué papel juegan y qué representan cada uno de los componentes visuales en la creación de vídeo.

[Vinod · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOWWWWW NOT WORKING

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff. Should have been assigned in film school.

[Vi · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid read. lots of great methods on structuring the visual.

[coolwind · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a master introducing the deep theories on movie making. Yet it is simple and direct and easy to understand.

[Ramon Galeana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I needed.

[Mohamed Yehia · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect content & I liked the book is written in a very organized, technical, straightforward way.

[Joel Cutter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. A good tool in further developing the way I think about story unfolding as a visual medium, both in prose and screenwriting.

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

again, read for school

[Ehab Elgingihy · Rating 5 out of 5]

لازم كل مخرج/DOP يقراه، بيحتوي على نظريات و قوانين كتيرة و مهمة جدا لتكوين الكادر و السينيماتوجرافي عامتا

[Pablo Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 de 10

[Marwan Yusuf · Rating 4 out of 5]

we see lots of pictures, movies and even real life scenery's that we find lovely and attractive. Ever wondered why do u find them appealing ?
The visual story provides the basic visual components of space, line, shape , tone , color, movement and rhythm and how each one contribute to the visual structure. Also presents some concepts like contrast and affinity and visual progression with some examples and illustrations.

[Josh Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and accessible

I enjoy books on composition for art and this film- centric book covered similar ground but also drilled down on the subtle and important ways these principles and concepts are unique to moving pictures. After finishing this, there does not seem to anything left to cover in this topic, which could be seen as the mark of a good textbook. This is essential reading for filmmakers, even animators and visualization artists (like myself).

[Sidney · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this practical guide, Bruce Block offers a clear view of the relationship between the story/script structure and the visual aspects of a film, video, or multimedia work. Not limited to cinematography, Block explores everything from storyboarding to colour and lens choice. It's an extremely clear and useful work.

[Greg Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Visual Story is a must read

The structure of transferring knowledge by using actual productions as examples is well done. Each chapter can be a book of it’s own and yet it builds to a highly complex art of video without feeling overwhelmed. Highly recommended for those who what to take their skills to a new level.

[Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, is something new. I haven't explored film, as a medium; and picked up a small collection of books on story/directing/scriptwriting/storyboarding/documentaries/essay film. I am slowing going through the collection; part of the problem of course is covid-19, where I am more partial to buying (the library is usually what I use).

[Maria Gillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read for an image design textbook. (I was expecting it to be excruciating, but I got through the entire thing on time for class.)

Clear, sometimes overly simplistic, however. But good for any film maker/photographer.