The Difference Between STORY & PLOT || Storytelling Explained

#Screenwriting #Filmmaking #Tutorial

Hi! My name is David I’m a young filmmaker and screenwriter, and today we’ll talk about confusing differences and similarities between Story and Plot!

Screenwriting Apps I use:

As always:
Don't beat yourself up over trying to make everything perfect. Mistakes happen; Learn from them; Live with them; In most cases the only person noticing them will be you after all. :)

INTRO/OUTRO: My friend over at Andy Tells Things made this animation for me. He has some serious editing skills, which I‘m constantly impressed by.

[thethseven]

The story is the train going from one point to the other. The plot, Is the passengers giving life to the story.

Without the passengers, the train is just a lifeless machine going from place to place.

[storytellerofgamesneglecte]

I used to think the two terms were interchangeable, but now I know the difference between them and I have a better understanding of how telling a story works, this is truly a phenomenal video. Surprised this doesn't have more views though, your production value is something I could only wish to do in Filmora.

[Tiquono]

Thank you so much! This helped me look deeper at my narratives and understand how to build them. Much love!

[TheThinkersBible]

Great summary of the difference of plot and story. The graph of the Shrek story was very useful.

[alexblackburnproducer]

A really well executed way to layout what both of these mean when running parallell to each other

[theywereroommates]

Amazing! I have an exam today and it helped me very much, thank you!

[davide]

Yet a story can really be anything, depending by the intellectual level of the reader.

[behindthepageaudiobooks]

The Future of Storytelling provides a similar definition of story, but some writers such as indie-author Brandon McNulty argue that plot is the "what" of a story whereas story is composed four other parts: characters, stakes, structure, and setting (+ point of view).



While I agree that a story is the causal and chronological sequence of events, I think story should be defined as the "why" and "who" rather than the "what". I think the "what" or content of events make up the plot as the Future of Storytelling explained.

[jeffmcmahon]

Seems to me that the Story is encapsulated in the Logline - what is it about. The Plot is how the logline plays out.

[kathryncainmadsen]

So why do so many writing programs say exactly the opposite, that PLOT is the sequence of events and the story is who and why

[AllenUry]

I have always likened "Story" and "Plot" to "Strategy" and "Tactics." "Strategy" is "What Happens." Tactics are "How Things Happen." (Example: Strategy: "We're going to win the battle by taking the hill." Tactics: "We're going to take the hill by using a combination of light tanks, infantry and air support.") Likewise, Story is "What Happens, " while Plot is "How/Why Things Happen." (Example: Story: "Joe saves his mother's house by paying off her mortgage." Tactics: "Joe gets the money to pay off his mother's mortgage by robbing a bank.")

[AndyTellsThings]

this animation is so good David! Great video 😄

[shakeerahjohnson]

@moviemellon

How does sync licensing work?

[Xynxyl]

Story is what is this about. Plot is what happens. Idk where this guy gets his intel.