Backpack Journalism Workshop with Bill Gentile

Bill Gentile is a full-time professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and an Emmy-award-winning independent journalist and documentary filmmaker. Gentile has worked as a journalist since 1977 and has covered conflicts from the Contra War in Nicaragua to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf. His career has taken him all over the world as a journalist, photojournalist, and filmmaker. Gentile joins the Association of Foreign Press to instruct on his process as a visual storyteller, how he finds and films the best stories and the different points in his career that led him to become fluent in the language of visual storytelling.  

1. “We are in the age of visual storytelling language”

Bill Gentile described the changes in journalism with the advancement of technology. “It’s the first time in the history of the world that we can communicate instantly, globally, and in a language that everyone can understand. That’s the visual storytelling language”.  Because of social media and advancements in cell phone cameras, Gentile laments that there has been a reduction in the number of traditional photojournalists practicing the craft. Gentile spoke on how he adapted to this new environment of journalism. Using his combined skills of writing and photography Gentile was able to easily jump in the video journalism market. As a photojournalist acclimating to a video journalism world, Gentile found a natural route into the scene. “Powerful pictures are the engine in this thing called video journalism”.

2. Gentile uses as little narration as possible to tell his stories

For Gentile, if a journalist knows how to use the language of visual storytelling, their audience should be able to understand a story with no narration or sound. Gentile details how he makes his stories compelling through characters. “If a storyteller doesn’t tell the story through characters then they become just numbers to the audience”. Gentile advises that storytellers use characters as vehicles to take the story through dramatic arcs. Characters move the audience from beginning to end. 

3. “Characters are king”

Gentile took us through his process of finding the characters of his stories and stressed the importance of finding the characters in any story. Gentile described his three-point test to finding characters. When on location for the first time, his first point is going in alone with his camera out. The people who approach Gentile and display a curiosity and willingness to be a part of the story are those that he considers as potential characters. The second point of his test is if they have a story to tell. Gentile looks for characters who have the most compelling stories to share. Gentile’s last point in his test is making sure the characters are articulate enough to tell their stories. Gentile also spoke on how he makes sure the best stories are captured. He conducts both formal and informal interviews because “spontaneous interviews give your piece a sense of immediacy”. 

4. “You have to be vigilant, always ask yourself ‘What’s the story now?’ ”

Before Gentile goes anywhere he has to have some idea of what the story will be like but that can change once he’s on location. Bill defines this part of the storytelling process as finding “the controlling idea”. “The controlling idea is the central theme of this piece, the meaning, the core, the line of logic that runs through the beginning, middle, and end”. Gentile cautions that without a controlling idea, beginner filmmakers will end up in a “spray and pray” scenario which entails filming anything and hoping it makes sense when it comes to the editing room. Gentile added that even with a controlling idea, a filmmaker must continue to be attentive to how a story may change and that the controlling idea can change as new information is gathered. 

5. The ABCs of visual storytelling language and Bill Gentile’s Six-Shot System

Gentile instructed that every filmmaker should know the ABCs of visual storytelling. This list includes terminology for camera shots such as “extreme close-up” and “point-of-view shot”. Gentile also recommends each shot be at least 20 seconds long to allow for cutting in the editing room. Gentile’s six-shot system details how he is able to tell a story through a series of different shots. Gentile notes that no shot can bring as much intimacy as a close-up shot. “The best stories are told in a conversational way. You pose a question to the audience and you answer it with words, images, and narration”.