Your textbook, film: from watching to seeing, makes a distinction between story and plot, stating that story is what happens in a movie, and plot is how it happens. the distinction may seem minor; however, throughout this course, you will be scrutinizing the various aesthetic choices and cinematic techniques that work together to create meaning, develop characters’ motivations, and advance the plot in any movie. with that in mind, you can see that how a film presents action can be very important. a logline is a one-sentence description of a film’s story. a plot summary is a compressed description of what happens in the film and why.