The Art of Storytelling: What Works & What You Should Steer Clear From
Consumers are now living an extremely fast-paced life. There are constant flickering screens that distract them at every turn, and businesses are constantly engaging in a battle with each other in order to gain client attention. But nowadays, simply setting up a camera without any specific direction just to create video content isn't really a smart idea. If your video fails to make an impression in the first 5 to 10 seconds, there is a high chance people aren't going to watch it. This is where video storytelling comes in!
It is structured so that it invokes a special emotion inside the viewer, and it does so by targeting the client's pain points, their struggles, your struggles as a company, and how your products or services can solve those problems. Storytelling, especially in B2B situations, may not seem like a smart decision, but no one can deny that humans are hardwired for storytelling.
Storytelling is more than a simple sales pitch and focuses more on the story itself than the products. Perhaps this is why video storytelling is immersive, powerful, and effective in increasing customer engagement. If this is your first-time creating video storytelling content, here are a few things you should and shouldn't do.
Choose A Plotline
While saying that your storytelling video shouldn't be boring is incredibly easy, executing is anything but that. Every brand has a story to tell and share, but not all of it is interesting, and it probably won't interest the viewers. This is why you should follow a certain plotline that has proven to work on the audience, particularly a plotline called 'overcoming the master.'
In this narrative, businesses or people usually considered the underdogs rise to the occasion and overcome their difficulties and shortcomings. You mostly see this kind of approach in sports ads, but they can also do wonders for businesses. However, the main point of this plotline is going through a transformation and overcoming adversity.
Show Don't Tell
The most important rule in the film industry states that any video shouldn't be overly reliant on dialogues to convey a message. Things have a lot more impact if they are shown to people. Just think about PETA ads. While no one can claim they are pleasant or even well shot, they jar people out of their comfort zone by showing graphic and rather inappropriate videos. While this isn't necessarily a good example of storytelling, it does leave a lasting impact, or at least a scar on people's souls.
Think about silent films, a much more pleasant example, and how they conveyed almost every emotion, had disagreements and fights and even resolved them without saying a single word. This is probably why silent films are still so memorable.
Think About A Few Possibilities
You might be tempted to develop and go with the very first thing that comes to your mind, but you should take time to come up with a couple of different options in case the first one doesn't work out. This will probably save you a lot of headaches down the line since you won't have to come up with a new topic on the fly if the first one falls through. You can even encourage your team to come up with ideas and contemplate and develop them together. This will result in much better and more creative ideas while building group unity.
Keep Things Snappy
One of the most important things is keeping the viewer's attention span in mind when creating video content. You might think that a detailed video is much better at conveying a message; usually, videos that are a minute or two work the best. If a random teenager on TikTok can tell the world their whole life story, your brand can do too.
Use Emotional Triggers
Filmmakers are incredibly apt at using different visual tactics and communicating the character's feelings and emotions. For example, slow-motion emphasizes feelings of loss and exaggerates facial expressions, which helps audiences internalize emotions present in the scenes. And while storytelling brand videos are typically much shorter than films, slow motion can still be utilized to create emotion. Again, think about sports advertisements of people running in a race, but they are doing so in slow motion; this is particularly common in Nike ads.
With all of this, we can conclude that nothing is more effective than a well-made storytelling video. If you are thinking about hiring a film production company in Phoenix, consider choosing Occulus Films. We not only excel at creating exceptional storytelling content, but we also offer travel video production, event highlight videos, promotional videos, and so much more.
To learn more about our services, reach out to us.