Beginning, ending, and filling Snapchat stories
In this third edited extract from my ebook Snapchat for Journalists, I look at how narrative techniques can help make Snapchat stories more compelling.
Variety is key
The best stories tend to mix both images and video, have more than one person, and employ a range of different techniques. Just as you wouldn’t ideally write a news story which employed quote after quote after quote without any breaks (you might instead choose fact-quote-background), stories are more engaging when you switch from one type of content to another.
One technique, for example, is to use a still image with a caption to introduce a speaker, before moving on to a video clip of that speaker.
Another is to use video to show the ‘journey’ to a place before cutting to images showing more detail: the equivalent of the ‘establishing shot’ in broadcast.
You might also switch from text-led snaps to those which are more sticker- or image-led.
Beginnings, middles and endings: planning ahead
It is easy to underestimate the narrative demands of Snapchat Stories: unlike simpler social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram, Snapchat Stories represent a series of editorial decisions about juxtaposition and sequence.
Because the images and video must all be filmed within the app, there is no opportunity for editing sequence (although you can delete snaps from a story altogether), and you cannot edit snaps after they have been created.
It makes a big difference if you think ahead about the story that you are telling, and the order elements might need to come in.
For example, how does your story start? If you are reporting a story of a journey, you might need to think about where you need to take or film the ‘establishing shot’ or a sped up video of the journey’s start.
In the middle, if you are interviewing someone on video and want an ‘introducing’ snap, you need to remember to take the still image of them and caption that first, before filming the video itself.
If you are going to be doing pieces to camera, how can you break those up?
And finally, when is your story ready to end? And how do you end it? You might do a ‘summing up’ piece to camera, or a final shot with a caption telling users where they can find out more (remember that URLs are not clickable, so you need a short and memorable one using Bit.ly or better still a Twitter username or hashtag).
Remember that you can only do one Snapchat story every day: if you start reporting a new story it will be tagged on the end of what you have already reported. You face the choice of not using Snapchat, thinking of ways to signal a new story such as changing presenter (as HuffPo do) — or deleting all the snaps from your story in order to change it to a new one.
It is well worth storyboarding your Snapchat story to make sure you’re going to be able to get the right elements, in the right order.
What stories does Snapchat suit best?
Snapchat suits planned events particularly well: there are often lots of visuals and lots of people to speak to, and events take place in a natural order that doesn’t require a lot of thought regarding sequence.
It is also often used for behind-the-scenes stories, where a journalist or colleague talks through the workings of a story or updates the user as they travel in pursuit of it. Again, this doesn’t require a lot of planning and it suits the informality of the platform.
For the same reason, similar opinion- and personality-led content such as thought pieces and advice pieces is quite common. The key here is how you can bring wit and verve to the story: if you are doing nothing more than reading out the day’s news and pointing a phone at a computer screen, that’s pretty dull.
You can read about other types of stories, Snapchat techniques and ways to use the tools in my ebook Snapchat for Journalists (also available in the Kindle store)
