Every Footstep Counts Film Competition Toolkit #2: Storytelling

Transcription

1 Every Footstep Counts Film Competition Toolkit #2: Storytelling 1

2 Toolkit Context This guide explains principles of storytelling and provides technical guidance on how to film a video. Its intention is to help you as you plan and develop your video entry. PLEASE NOTE that it is only a guide you are not expected to follow any of the principles within this Toolkit, nor are you expected to buy any new equipment. Most importantly, your entry will not be disadvantaged if you are unable to follow the Toolkit s principles. We want to see your creativity in whichever way you can and choose to show it! Presentation title 2

3 Goals & Content Goal Increase your understanding of different media channels Introduce you to Storytelling Provide tips on how to structure and capture your story Understand how to best engage your audience Contents 1. Understanding Media Channels 2. Telling a Story a. Creative Principles b. Structure & Storyboards c. Capturing d. Engagement Presentation title 3

4 1. Understanding Media Channels

5 Understanding media channels Social channels Global context / channels Social web can amplify signals, influence behaviour and lead to action (Harvard Business Review) The power of social media networking is vast. Sharing thoughts, ideas, viewpoints, posting updates, collaborating consumers and colleagues is immeasurable but the metrics of take-up of these networks is measurable: Huffington Post Twitter YouTube 1Bn page views in December , 000,000 tweets per day in trillion views in 2013 Presentation title 5

6 Understanding media channels Choosing the right digital channel a quick summary Advantages Photo - Quick and inexpensive to take - Easy to print and place - Little space on your hard drive - Permanent record of a moment - Good for capturing and analyzing detail - Inclusive (most devices take/show photos) - Can inspire emotion by providing visual prompts Video - Sensory-immersive (eyes, ears) - Excellent at capturing complex moments - Captures someone s personality - Next best thing to reality - Can deal with complex issues - Conveys emotions effectively - Videos have popular appeal Audio - Inexpensive and faster to create - Reaches more devices than any other medium - Non-intrusive (listeners can do other activities) - Greater concentration on the spoken word - Captures conversations in real-time - Takes up much less memory/space than video - Creates intrigue without relying on visuals 6

7 2. Telling A Story a. Creative Principles b. Structure & Storyboards c. Capturing d. Engagement

8 Telling a story A. Creative principles Storytelling Matters Storytelling is the oldest form of influence. Throughout the ages, stories have been told around campfires, partly to entertain and partly to educate. They offer us inspiration by examining how others have shown strength of character to overcome a dilemma or crisis, to achieve their goals. The point of such stories is to show us how we can live our lives better. Emotional Engagement Because stories speak to the heart as opposed to facts and figures which speak to the head they have great relevance and appeal. Think about how different mediums can bring out emotions from your audience. Different media types can reach audiences in different ways 8

9 Telling a story A. Creative principles of different media use Media Audience Characteristics Emotional Engagement Photo Viewed in-print or online. Likely to be viewed on the move (storage space, easy to share, mobilefriendly). Everyone takes them! Lasting record of facial expressions and physical events. Single pictures can create powerful emotional effects in a short time. Video Viewed via a screen (computer, TV, etc). Good videos are emotional & entertaining and you know a good one when you see it! Carefully-crafted videos can generate deep levels of engagement. The best videos resonate with the target audience. Audio Listening solo (headphones), often while the person is active but prepared to concentrate (driving, running, cooking, etc). Listener can feel personally connected to the presenter. Strong authenticity. Good for communicating detailed information. 9

10 Telling a story A. Creativity verses Process There are several ways you can look at creative story telling - we are going to focus on three: 1. Structure 2. Capturing 3. Engagement 10

11 Telling a story B. Structure Beginning, middle and end It might sound obvious but all good stories have a beginning, middle and end. Structuring your photo, audio or video project from the outset will help you to tell a meaningful story. Beginning (context) Middle (main part) End (summary) Interview Introduction to topic /interviewee Main questions Round-up / conclusion Piece-to-camera Introduction to topic / you Main talk Conclusion Event Introduction to event / location / people Event / presentations Highlights / outcomes Feature Context / background / introduction to story Main and supporting stories / items / places Conclusion

12 Telling a story B. Structure: Storyboard The accepted way of presenting stories is in a format known as a storyboard. This document forms the core structure of your production (whether photo, audio or video). Keep your beginning, middle and end in mind, using as many boxes as you need. Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Description 1 Description 2 Description 3 Description 4 Image 5 Image 6 Image 7 Image 8 Description 5 Description 6 Description 7 Description 8 12

13 Telling a story B. Structure: Storyboard Storyboarding will help you: 1. Maintain the structure of your story and not miss anything 2. Consider multiple aspects (both audio and visual) of your story. 3. Identify resources you might require (helping you to plan and budget) 4. Start the visualisation process 5. Have a memory aid for the production days (you tick each scene as it is done) 6. Keep track during the editing phase Download and use the Storyboard Template on Everyfootstepcounts.com!

14 Telling a story C. Capturing Once you have an established structure to your story, you should consider how best to share your core content: Quality: whether you are taking photos, recording audio or video, you should set out to capture at the highest quality that is available to you. This will also be useful if you decide to repurpose your media in other formats (such as broadcast). Variety: the more variety you can include in your core content - both creatively and with information, locations, interviewees etc - the better chance you will have of telling a complete story that is both objective and interesting. Pace: too slow and you risk boring your audience; too fast and you might lose them. Consider the medium that will make the story the most interesting and think about the pace of delivery.

15 Telling a story D. Engagement Engaging an audience starts with knowing your subject matter well and knowing what inspires your viewers: Confident: you want to get across factual information, include contributions from trusted sources of authority. Authentic: reliability and familiarity work well for influencing opinions and emotions. This often requires featuring members of the target audience in your story, and delivered in a style that your audience would be used to. Authentic Confident Engaging Engaging: we all love to be entertained so try to inspire your audience through emotions. This can be through humour, drama, music, cartoons or simply a cleverly written script.

16 Activity: Storyboard What did you do before work today? Your challenge: Print out this storyboard (A3 if possible) and tell the story of your journey to work today in 6 scenes. Each of the scene squares is split into 2 parts: the top part is for you to draw the key elements of your scene. The space below is for a description of dialogue / information along with any special filming descriptions (e.g. close-ups etc) Use this exercise to practice how you would Storyboard your Every Footstep Counts story. 16