1146: Big Picture, Little Picture

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, it takes 80 seconds to drop Arnie into the steel. Let's talk about why... Because during that time, director James Cameron gives us a little #masterclass on #storytelling. In an on-set report, a journalist at the time talked about Cameron's ability to hold two things in his head at once – the big picture and little picture. • Where do we want all the extras in this wide shot? • But also ... how much blood do we want on this specific extra’s hand? I call this "Nailing The Scaling" – it's a critical skill in storytelling, business and life. Most humans tend to default to one scale or another. They naturally Zoom Out to BIG PICTURE THINKING: • Strategy • Context • Perspective Or they naturally Zoom In to obsess on the detail: • Critical actions/reactions • Key emotional beats • Tension (when we know something is wrong beyond our view.) But to tell great stories (or live great lives) we need to push through our defaults and master both. In this moment, I'm geeking out about a sci-fi movie. In the future, I'm compiling all these riffs into an ebook I can give to people who care about storytelling in business. For inspiration, watch the end of Termintor 2. In 80 seconds you'll see how Cameron mixes the wide shots that establish jepardy with close ups that reveal emotional impact. Down. Down. Down. Down. Down. Gone. Gon Go G . . . There's no words. No crying. No wailing or tearing of hair. Just the slowest and most emotional section of a Terminator movie ever. And we can't look away. Nick --- This is one of 30 riffs on #*Business #Storytelling*. Follow me to get the series. ------------------- The Stories Mean Business podcast with Nick Warren. One Idea A Day, Every Day. Get deeper into business storytelling: https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/storybusiness/ https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/podcast