S2 Ep3. A simple recipe for great video storytelling

In this episode, Sue shares her simple recipe for great video storytelling. Because if you're going to all that effort to produce a video, you want to make sure it's actually watched, right? Right!

So what's this simple recipe for great video storytelling then? Well you'll need to listen to get the full rundown, but here's a quick overview to whet your appetite:   

Step 1.

Purpose.

Work out why you’re making your video and what you hope it will achieve. This can be as ambitious as changing government policy or as shallow as boosting your online profile.

Step 2

Strategy.

Develop a strategy that outlines the desired results for your video and the steps you’ll take to get there.

Step 3

Creative take.

Don’t be afraid to make your video stand out! Add something a little bit different to your video that gives it a personal touch and keeps your audience super engaged. 

After more video making advice? Subscribe to our channel! Mike and Sue have been making  impactful video content for more than 10 years and now they're making it their mission to help you do the same! You can subscribe right now by heading here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/moonshineagencyaus

You can learn more about Moonshine Agency at www.Moonshine.Agency
And for here's the link to that episode that Sue mentioned in this episode too:https://youtu.be/ADVe7q5ouCs

Want to follow us on social? You'll find us on all the usual platforms: 

Moonshine Agency Facebook @moonshinestories https://www.facebook.com/MoonshineSto...
Instagram @moonshineagency https://www.instagram.com/moonshineag...
Twitter @moonshineagency https://twitter.com/MoonshineAgency
LinkedIn Sue Collins https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-colli...
LinkedIn Company Page Moonshine Agency https://www.linkedin.com/company/2554...

📩 Want to stay up to date with the latest? Head to www.thedocumentaryfilmmaker.com to join our weekly newsletter and get all resources to make you the best impact filmmaker in the business. 

Find & Follow The Documentary Filmmaker on social:
Website: www.thedocumentaryfilmmaker.com
Facebook:
Instagram: @TheDocumentaryFilmmakerPodcast
LinkedIn: Sue Collins [Host] || The Documentary Filmmaker [ Company Page]

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:05

If you've just completed a production on your video, then congratulations, you did it, you wrote the script, you found great talent, perhaps that great talent was even yourself. You figured out a compelling call to action, you got it looking flash in your editing software, exported it in HD, and finally, finally, you uploaded it to YouTube and hit publish. You sat back to watch the views roll in, and then not much happened. So in your frustration you jumped online to Google around and find out what was happening, and that is when you discovered that there is 30,000 hours of video published to YouTube every hour. Yes, you heard that correctly. And the answer is absolutely not. But the ones that do get watched have three common ingredients, and that is what I'm going to walk you through today. So, yes, in the last episode I promised all of you baking nerds a recipe for a great video, and that is what I'm about to share with you. If any of you are new to this series, it's the weekly Moonshine Moonshot podcast, and it's all about helping you make better videos. I'm your host, Sue Collins, and I've been specializing in video production and filmmaking for many, many years. And I I just don't want to see boring, poorly crafted videos anymore than you do. So to combat the onslaught of rubbish content being served up on social, I am sharing what I have been learning all over all of these decades about how to make great videos, and the good news, it's not as hard as you might think. No one sets out to make a boring video or boring content, but that is actually what happens when you don't have skills or information to make it great. Sometimes just a few small pointers can take something dull and make it shine online. So get your pens out and let's get started. But seriously, this recipe is only three ingredients, so you probably don't need to stop your treadmill or pull over or pause on whatever it is you're doing to write it down because you're going to be able to remember this. It's that simple. The first ingredient to give some thought to is your video's purpose. Hmm, what is that? What do we mean by purpose? How does a video have purpose? So don't you worry, I am not about to launch into one of those chats and get all mystical on you. I want you to think about the video that you're making. It's actually pretty quick to figure out the purpose when you give some thought to the why. Why are you creating this video in the first instance? Maybe you want to increase sales. That would make the purpose that it's a sales video. Or perhaps you're looking to build brand awareness for your company. You might be trying to persuade your local council to increase how often they collect recycling. Or perhaps you just want to help reach 2,000 followers on your Instagram account. Big goals or small goals, it really does not matter. But there are a few questions you can ask to help hone in on this. The first of those questions is who am I speaking to? Or who is the audience for this video? The second, what am I communicating with them? And the third, what am I trying to achieve? Once you know the answers to these questions, wow, you're Ricca, you have got your video purpose. Not that hard. So ingredient number two is strategy. Create a strategy for your video. If you're like most people starting out in marketing, advertising, or communications, you probably hear the word strategy and think, ooh, I really should know what that means. Strategy is one of those terms that can leave you feeling like there's a huge black hole in your mind where the information is supposed to be. Blank, there's nothing. You just don't have your strategy yet. But once you do get your strategy right, you'll have people climbing all over each other to watch your video. Get it wrong? Well, crickets. So a solid strategy will outline the core intent of your video. Think of it as your plan for success. It will frame your vision and define your desired results. And it'll pinpoint how you're going to reach your audience and compel them to action too, which is pretty cool. So we shared a great video strategy in episode one, and it was called Now Your Video Strategy. So you can find that in whatever podcast platform you're looking at. It was episode one in the series two, so it was probably two episodes back. And I'll put a link in the show notes as well because it's got a really simple strategy that you can easily apply to your own project. The other part of strategy that you need to think about is messages. What are the messages you'll communicate to your audience and the steps you want them to take after receiving your message? So put that in plain English. A great strategy will include your goal, what are you working towards, how are you going to get there? Your target audience, who are you talking to? Your messages, how will you reach your audience? Your desired outcome. What do you want your audience to know, believe, or do? Getting your strategy down, Pat, usually starts with knowing your audience through and through. It's possible, trust us. We wrote the course on it. If you're interested to find out more about Define Your Ideal Audience and discover a simple formula to create successful video projects that reach your audience, you can head over to Moonshine Communications Academy.com and you'll find all the information on the Define Your Ideal Audience course listed there. But back to this episode because this leads me nicely into ingredient number three. Find a unique creative take on your topic. So they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but sometimes it's just better to go your own way, especially when it comes to videos, because as we discussed at the start of this episode, there are 30,000 hours of video content uploaded to YouTube every hour. So if your video is looking like all the other videos out there, well it's gonna struggle to stand out, grab attention, and pull those views in. Yeah, talk about a vibe killer, especially after getting you all pumped up about your video's purpose and strategy. But the thing is, it's actually way more fun to add your own flavour to your video. You don't have to go all out in your style a la Baz Lerman style either. You just need to have one creative take, like adding some animation or a cutaway scene or adding a unique spin to your video that will keep it fresh, interesting, and memorable for your audience. If you're a subscriber to the weekly Moonshine Moonshot YouTube show, and even if you're not, you can just duck over there now and fix that problem with a quick visit to the Moonshine Agency YouTube channel, you'll have noticed that we're regularly interrupted by our voiceover guy's booming voice, often with some irreverent take on the topic at hand. The voice sounds as if it's coming from the heavens above, but it's really just our very welcome voiceover guy helping us out. It's part of our unique way of storytelling for each episode. It's fun, keeps things a bit fresh, and as Oscar Wilde famously said, be you, everybody else is taken. So there you have it, a simple three-step guide for video success. To recap and remind you of the key ingredients. Step one was purpose. Work out why you're making your video and what you hope it will achieve. This can be as ambitious as changing government policy or as simple as boosting your online profile. Step two, strategy. Develop a strategy that outlines the desired results for your video and the steps that you'll take to get there. Step three, creative take. Don't be afraid to make your video stand out. Add something a little bit different to your video that gives us a personal touch and keeps your audience super engaged. I have a favor to ask you. If you found this helpful, please subscribe to this podcast on whatever platform you're listening on. You just have to hit the subscribe button, which sometimes looks like a plus symbol just to keep it all a little bit confusing. When you do subscribe to this podcast, it really helps it to be found by other people, and it also lets me know you like what you're hearing, and it generally helps me to make good content that's really tailored for you. So I will be back next week with more ideas to help you make great videos, and don't forget to subscribe. Looking forward to speaking to you next time.