A beginner’s guide to storytelling with Jan Vincent Kleine

Storyboard vs fly on the wall

“Traditional documentaries aim to capture life or events as they happen – the classic fly-on-the-wall approach – while a scripted documentary takes a more controlled path to ensure the narrative is clear,” explains Jan Vincent Kleine. “Ultimately, the approach you choose should depend on your topic. I don’t storyboard in advance. I believe that if you script a documentary beforehand, you risk not being open to what actually happens, and it’s my job to be attentive and ready. Fortunately the Nikon Z6III is fast, nimble and intuitive – and because I’ve configured it to my needs, it allows me to react to whatever unfolds in front of me with virtually no delay. With the AF properly configured and Auto ISO, I’m ready to press record within what feels like a second after turning the camera on. Plus the image stabilisation allows me to handhold, so I can film in the highest quality as soon as the camera is lifted from my hip – a huge benefit in run-and-gun documentary work.

“With the fly-on-the-wall approach, it’s not my job to direct things that are happening. But that being said, what I can have is an influence on are things such as the time of day that certain things happen and the route I take. As my documentary was purely about the journey, location scouting was an essential part of the planning. Finding an elegant route through the terrain, knowing what rivers can be crossed, where there are crevasses, where there are resupply possibilities, were all vital and took months to plan. The camera then just came along for the ride.”

Make a list of must-have moments

“Instead of storyboarding or scripting, I have are building blocks that are universal, no matter what happens in the main narrative,” Jan Vincent Kleine explains. “So I know I need enough material to create an introduction to a place, person or topic, and all the essentials to guide the viewer through the journey, making sure they’re neither lost nor overloaded. So when an important moment arises, I make sure to film enough material around it. Otherwise, you end up with a bunch of beautiful or interesting individual clips that are in no way connected with one another. I also like to have a certain variety of scenes: long, medium, closeup etc, not just to keep it visually varied and interesting, but to help convey certain feelings.”

Talking heads checklist

“There are certain elements that can be planned,” says Jan Vincent Kleine. “Talking head interviews for example, plus stylised moving portraits to support certain moments of the interview or, after the interview, the person’s environment to support the narrative. It’s a matter of respect to do proper research beforehand, to know the history, the context and what led up to this point. Then it’s about creating a personal connection so your subjects feel comfortable to open up. From here on out I recommend being openminded, attentive and eager to learn and observe, instead of trying to fit what unfolds into what you planned at home.”

Story structure

“The easiest way to approach a documentary is to rely on a talking head for the main story, and to intersperse this with some direct action and key observational moments,” Jan Vincent Kleine advises. “Add some B-roll archive footage if relevant, and maybe some off-camera narration to close some gaps and you’ll end up with the archetype of most documentaries. That said, some filmmakers move the story forward relying not on any interviews but only on direct action, while others prefer to narrate to mostly quiet footage. A lot of it boils down to gut feeling. Is something meaningful happening? Is a situation building? Is a character developing? Are there emotions? Strong emotions are almost universally worth capturing in a respectful way.”

Filming in the field

“When you are filming, be selective with what you record, though not to the extent that you end up not having enough footage in the end,” says Jan Vincent Kleine. “But it will save a ton of work if you only have to go through 20 hours of footage instead of 200 hours. And while some moments naturally ask to be shaped into sequences or short vignettes in the field, not every clip needs to be. It’s perfectly fine if some visuals stand on their own for the time being. In the edit, they may stay solitary, or they may blend beautifully with something else. This is why in documentaries, the editing phase carries enormous importance. In ads, shorts or feature films, the project is almost ‘finished’ before filming even begins, but with documentaries, the film usually only comes together in the edit. So I encourage you to think in scenes when an important moment arises. But if you don’t know how to connect it to something else, don’t worry – that’s a problem for later.”

Pulling the story together in post

“With non-scripted documentaries, there is not much of an original plan,” says Jan Vincent Kleine. “Instead, the idea is to bring scenes and sequences together in such a way that they become a captivating story. To do this I ask myself questions like: how do I introduce the topic, the place, the people? Do I stay in chronological order or do I jump in time? Will I tell more than one story in parallel? Where will the stories meet? How can I create a story arc? How do I keep the viewer interested?”

Jan Vincent Kleine’s top seven storytelling tips

1. Choose a story, not a topic

A topic is not a story. Almost every story ever follows the same basic structure: beginning, middle and end, or the set-up, the journey to the climax and the solution. Think in these terms and you’ll turn your topic into a story.

2. Explain what you take for granted

When you’re filming someone else, you naturally think like the audience and know what they need to follow the story. But on a project like Norway’s Wilderness Up Close, where I’m the subject, it’s easy to forget the viewer doesn’t share my perspective. You have to make sure they understand what’s happening at all times.

3. Film a variety of angle

Photography looks to tell the story in one frame, but in video the story takes shape in the edit, comprised of clips that become scenes, and scenes that become sequences. Angles help to connect these, so be sure to take several. A good guideline is to record three angles for every scene – wide, medium and tight – to establish for details, cut scenes, etc.

4. Good audio is everything

You can hide bad clips behind audio, but not the other way around. So make sure to get decent audio on the conversations that matter. A simple mic like the Røde VideoMic NTG is ideal.

5. Improve your editing skills

Research what type of cuts there are. A simple J-cut, for example, can help a lot with building anticipation or connecting scenes more seamlessly.

6. Building a framework

If your story is built around an interview, compile that first. This becomes a framework into which you can layer action, archive material, B-roll etc.

7. Use silence for impact

We’re used to sound all the time – in real life as well as in film, either as score, dialogue, narration or direct action. So when everything turns quiet, the silence has a more profound effect than everything gained to the max.

Jan’s recommended camera settings for beginners

• Frame rate: 24 or 25fps
• Resolution: 4K
• Speed: 1/50 sec at 25 fps (180° rule)
• ISO: Auto
• WB: Auto/Manual and lock it for same scenes
• AF: AF-C, the crosshair for AF-area mode and subject detection on
• Picture profile: Flat profile in 10-bit
• Stabilisation: Standard/Sport. “But for hectic camera movement, I’d turn it off.”
• Video codec (recording format): h.265