The world sees things in a linear format, and by extension, so do we.
We’re born, we grow up, and eventually die. One moment follows another. Cause and effect. Beginning, middle, and end.
Naturally, we tend to approach videography the same way.
We imagine Scene 1 followed by Scene 2 followed by Scene 3. We expect the recording process to mirror the finished video.
But videography doesn’t work that way.
While a finished video may appear linear, the process of creating it often isn’t. Lighting changes. Locations become unavailable. People cancel. Weather shifts. Sometimes, life simply gets in the way.
As a result, the order in which we capture our footage may bear little resemblance to the order in which the audience eventually experiences it.
A scene that appears on screen as a single seamless moment may actually be made up of many separate recordings.
Take a simple example: leaving home and driving to work.
In reality, the sequence might look like this:
- Open the front door
- Walk to the car
- Drive to work
- Park the car
- Walk into the building
A straightforward thirty-minute journey.
But if we break that journey into individual moments, we might end up with something like:
- Hand on a doorknob (2 seconds)
- Closing the front door (1 second)
- Car driving away (3 seconds)
- Exterior of the office building (2 seconds)
- Walking into the office (2 seconds)
Ten seconds of footage.
When viewed in sequence, our minds automatically connect these fragments into a complete story. We don’t question the gaps. We simply accept that one moment led to the next.
As beginners, it’s easy to assume that these clips must be recorded in the same order they appear on screen.
But what happens if you’ve captured the doorknob, closed the door, and then discover that the car won’t start?
If you’re thinking linearly, production stops.
No car means no driving shot. No driving shot means the sequence can’t continue.
But if you’re thinking in moments rather than events, nothing has changed.
You can still record the office building. You can still capture yourself walking through the front door. You can gather every other piece of the story while the car is being repaired.
The order of capture doesn’t matter.
What matters is the order in which those moments are assembled.
This was a mindset shift for me.
I realised that a video is not a single recording. It is a collection of moments.
Those moments might be captured over an hour, a day, a week, a month, or even a year. The audience never sees that process. They don’t experience the dozens or hundreds of individual clips that make up the final piece.
They experience the finished story.
A video is not one recording.
It is many recordings, arranged with intention.