🌒 Welcome to The Documentary Filmmaker Podcast - great to have you here!
Join us every week as we dive into untouched areas of filmmaking that go above and beyond conventional film school teachings.
Your host, Sue Collins, will navigate you through the independent filmmaking industry, guiding you to amplify your craft and foster sustainable careers.
With over 15 years of experience in documentary and impact films, Sue's expertise has resonated globally, captivating audiences through various platforms from Cinema releases, VOD, broadcast television and everything in between.
Get ready to explore the constantly evolving landscape of indie filmmaking as Sue shares invaluable insights into the business while equipping you with tips and advice to produce films that make your intended impact and reach the hearts of your audiences, no matter where they are in the world.
Tune in weekly to fuel your creative endeavours and boost your projects to their fullest potential - we're here to help make your goals in the film industry a vibrant reality ⭐️
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Once upon a time there was a video production company that defined a whole new genre of storytelling and it completely reimagined the concept in the eyes of the world….
That’s our narrative and we’re sticking to it!
Jokes aside, storytelling is an art older than human history and we’re lucky enough to play with it in some form every single day.
It crosses cultures, has been proven to help with memory retention and is quite simply the best way to keep people entertained.
But if you’re trying to create content that moves viewers to action, sometimes a great story isn’t enough. We know that’s a hard truth to swallow – particularly if you’re a longterm reader and are finally understanding how important storytelling is when it comes to video production. And it is important. Really, really important. But if your video is going to stand out from all the other millions of videos on YouTube, Facebook, Netflix and elsewhere, it needs to pack a serious punch.
Which means it must:
• Be well told
• Be shared by someone who your audience can connect with
• Present a challenge and the steps to overcome it
• Have a clear purpose and point of view
Pull this off and you’ll be on your way to creating a story that won’t just score your video thousands of views – it will change opinions. Behaviours. Even the world.
We like to call these impact stories. And how do you craft one of those? Well that’s actually our speciality at Moonshine Agency (we’re an impact film production house after all) and it’s what Sue is zoning in on in this episode.
To learn more about Moonshine Agency and our work, please visit: www.Moonshine.Agency
You can listen to the episode from season 1 Sue mentioned here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/846682/3425152 It’s called ‘Who’s the Messenger?’
📩 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.
What makes a story impactful? This is probably not a question you've asked a lot, but this episode is going to go deep into what makes a story impactful, so I'll be answering that question for you. Let me set the scene. Once upon a time, there was a video production company that defined a whole new genre of storytelling and it completely reimagined the concept in the eyes of the world. Well, that's the narrative over here at Moonshine Agency, and we're sticking to it. Jokes aside, storytelling is an art that is older than human history, and the team and I are lucky enough to play in storytelling in some form pretty much every single day. Storytelling crosses cultures and it's been proven to help with memory retention and is quite simply the best way to keep people entertained. But if you're trying to create content that moves viewers to action, sometimes a great story isn't enough, and I know that's a hard truth to swallow, particularly if you're a long-term listener and are finally understanding how important storytelling is when it comes to video production. And it is important, really, really important. But if your video is going to stand out from all the other millions of videos on YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, and elsewhere, it needs to pack a serious punch. Now why am I the one here telling you about this? Well, my name's Sue Collins and I'm your host here at the Moonshine Moonshot Podcast. Moonshine Agency is all about creating impact stories and impact videos. We've been creating videos for over 12 years now, so we've got a bit of experience up our sleeve, and I'm sharing that experience with you to help you make better content for yourself. So back to today's episode. What makes a story impactful? Well, for it to be impactful, it must be a well-told story. It needs to be shared by somebody who your audience can connect with. It has to present a challenge and then the steps to overcome that challenge. And it has to have a clear purpose and a specific point of view. If you can pull that off, you'll be on your way to creating a story that won't just score your video thousands of views, but it will change opinions, behaviors, and possibly even the world. At Moonshine Agency we call these impact stories. And how do you craft one of these? How do you craft your own impact story? Well, that's exactly what I'm going to talk you through in today's podcast. So let's get into it. Give your audience a hero they care about. When it comes to impact storytelling, the first important detail that you'd need to lock down is the character who is telling the story. And Hollywood often calls that person the hero. I like to call them the messenger, which is more of a communications term. But either way, the hero of your story or the messenger of your story, and no, when I say messenger, I am not talking about Facebook Messenger or Messenger bags, because that's what you'll find when you look up Google for Messenger. I don't know why. No one's heard of a messenger, but it is actually a pretty common term in communications terms. So now you know the inside language too. So your hero or your messenger. Sometimes our messengers deliver troublesome information, but they usually follow it up with a way to resolve the problem that's at hand. So they're setting the scene, they tell you what the problem is, and then they go through the steps of how to solve that problem. If you watch any movie, you're going to find this playing out. There's always some obstacle that has to be overcome and some lesson that's learned along the way. It's really important to use a messenger or a hero that can clearly and enthusiastically share your story. You need someone who is passionate about the topic and can communicate passion to your audience. So when you're thinking about who to cast as your hero or your messenger, make sure you're thinking about who your audience is as well. Who would they like to hear from? Because it might not actually be the same as the person you personally would like to hear from. So here's an example. Say Tim from Marketing or your sales guru, let's call her Sally, she might be able to spin a really good yarn, has everybody's ear at the water cooler and everybody hangs on her every word. But that doesn't actually mean she's the right messenger for your story. You need to use someone that your audience can relate to because when a messenger is relatable, viewers are more likely to trust the message and take it all on board. So giving some serious thought to the right messenger or hero for your story and audience is incredibly important, but it is also often overlooked. So my advice is to cast somebody that is similar to your audience. So, you know, just think about it. Say Tim's a 22-year-old bachelor who works part-time in the marketing team and spends the rest of his days surfing. Now he's going to be a fantastic person to talk to the surfing crowd or to a marketing crowd, but he is not going to hit the mark if your video is actually speaking to busy working mums aged between 30 and 45 who don't surf. So that's a really simplified version of this, but you're just keeping in mind who is going to actually tell your story in the best way to actually cut through and have the person you want to have hear it take it on board. So we go a lot deeper into who is the messenger in another episode that Mike and I did together, Mike Hill, my co-producer. He and I talk all about who is the messenger, and I'll put the links to that episode in the show notes for you. It was in season one, and I can't quite remember the episode number, but it will be in the show notes. The next step that you're going to be thinking about is to make sure that your messenger faces a challenge. I touched on this earlier in the introduction. I talked about how the messenger would set up a problem and then throughout the story they would solve that problem. So they need sometimes to even be given tools to overcome that problem. So, for example, you know that scene at the end of pretty much every movie where the protagonist or hero finally achieves what they've been aiming for for the entire length of the film. As viewers, we tend to get a huge sigh of relief. At last, the happy ending we've been hoping for has been reached. Thank goodness. But that feeling wouldn't really mean much if the main character or our hero or our messenger hadn't faced challenges or obstacles along the way. The stumbles, the letdowns, the headache is often what keeps viewers, or even think about yourself, interested and invested in the story. And it's a technique that you can apply to your own video storytelling projects. Challenges and problems often evoke the strongest emotion or emotional connection between your audience and your messenger. It's how you can tug on the viewer's sense of empathy. And empathy is a key ingredient when it comes to impact storytelling. It's what connects your audience to your message and really keeps them engaged. So when you're crafting your impact story, ask yourself what is the challenge and what is it that your hero is going to do to overcome that challenge? Those two really important parts of your storytelling. And then you've got to figure out your point of view. So this is this is the other part of it that's really important. So we've talked about who's your messenger or who's your hero, and we've talked about what is the challenge that they're going to overcome and how are they going to overcome it. And then you're thinking about what is the point of view. So the final piece of advice when it comes to defining an impact story is getting clear on your point of view. It often comes down to how you're framing your story, and this is usually linked to its purpose, which means you need to think long and hard about the reason for sharing your story in the first place. Purpose is about as ubiquitous as hashtag gratitude these days. But as much as the word might make you cringe, your video needs a purpose. It could be big, like getting more funding for wildlife protection, or it could be small, or should I say simple, such as lobbying your local primary school to provide healthier foods at the canteen. Well, that's actually a pretty big thing, actually. But um I don't know that I'd call that small now that I've said that after all. So what I'm trying to point out is that you need a purpose, you need an outcome. What do you want to have happen once somebody's actually consumed your story, watched your video? What are they going to do next? So that's less about what and a bit more about why. Why should your audience care and why should they want to get involved once they've watched your content? If your purpose is funding to be given to wildlife protection, how will that impact your audience and their environment? If the school canteen provides better food options, how will that make your viewers' lives easier? You're trying to push your product. So should I say, if you're trying to push your product, tell your audience how it will benefit them. So you can build that into your story and you'll have a lot of people doing the thing you want to have them do once they've finished watching your film. But you've got to ask them to do it, and that means you've got to have that purpose in mind when you're crafting your story. So let's do a really quick recap. If you know what you're shooting for before you begin, you are likely to create a video story that really hits the mark and achieves the impact that you're hoping for. So pick a messenger or hero your audience will care about and can relate to. Pose a challenge or a problem, and capture the steps your messenger or hero takes to overcome that problem and get really clear on your purpose. What do you want to have happen once your audience has seen your video? I want you to make the biggest impact you can with every video you create, and it's because frankly, we don't need any more lackluster videos that fall flat, and I'm sure you don't want to create one. If you need some more advice on how to create impactful, compelling video content, please check out the YouTube series on Moonshine Moonshot, or you just do Moonshine Agency on your YouTube search and or look for Moonshine Moonshot on the podcast platform that you're looking at. Because we delve into the best kept industry secrets so you'll never make a boring video again. So don't forget to subscribe, and I'll see you next week.
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