The Power of Storytelling Through Video
By: Cameron Granger
As a filmmaker, and freelancer, a huge part of what I do involves not only explaining, but advocating the power of video as a vehicle for storytelling. Creating a solid, compelling video for your brand may take more time or manpower than a text or design based alternative, but I guarantee that the moving image will help you and your company tell your story in ways far more difficult to achieve than without it.
Video Is Accessible
For the vast majority of people, a film based on a novel is far more approachable than even the most well written and beloved novel. There is a visual language that comes from moving image that operates outside the barriers of written language. When we read books or articles, our imagination begins to create these films for us.
Video relies on audio and a series of complex visuals to tell a story. Though it may contain dialogue or text, these are always supplements to a greater whole. Movement shows actions; expressions on subjects faces convey emotion. When compared to the written word, there are a number of instances when it presents obstacles for the reader. As an example, consider website visitors who speak different languages. Online translators are faulty and often deliver clunky translations of what otherwise could be eloquently written prose. What’s more, for the potential client or collaborator with a reading disability, a dense wall of text could become a grueling, unwarranted task.
Video provides a nearly even playing field for visitors to your site and those looking to learn more about your brand. It’s a way to talk to most everyone, regardless of background — and isn’t that what we want to achieve in our work in the first place?
Video Can Be Brief
As society becomes more mobile, we want to spend increasingly less time doing more things. Imagine you are sending a three minute video to introduce potential clients or customers to your organization. Going into the video, viewers know exactly how much time they will spend. Viewers can then set aside the time the video requires in advance.
On the flip side, imagine you send a three page brand manifesto, packed with a number of (surely well-written) details and (potentially charming) fluff. The reader, who is constantly on the go and short of time, skims over the document, and — finding nothing of immediate interest — tucks the document away and ultimately forgets about it.
A well crafted video can synthesize that three page manifesto into a two or three minute video that potential clients can watch anywhere, at any time.
Video Sticks With You
Good videos can stick with you the same way lived memories can. Think of the way you felt when you first saw your favorite moment in your favorite film. Think of the moments you have cried or celebrated alongside your favorite characters while sitting in the theater. These moments are visceral. Not only do we get to watch them unfold before our eyes — we’re also feeling them.
When we write, for most of us, we’re trying to translate the visuals we see in our head into written prose that we only hope our readers understand. A successful video brings life to those words and allows us to open the doors for our audience to help them understand the messages we are trying to convey.
Want to see how video can help strengthen your message? Send us a note.
Cameron Granger is a videographer at Fulcrum Creatives. He likes long PokémonGO-filled walks on the beach and reality television.
