I'm reading Don Miller’s book, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”.  It’s about Don working with two filmmakers to write a movie about his life.  The point of the book is living a life worth living.  But the framework is what Don learned about storytelling.  At some point early in the book he states that “a story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it”.  So even if we are doing a video on a “real person” , they need to be a compelling subject.  We want to see the character grow.  

Just Because We Can, Doesn’t Mean We Should

I once took a course taught by a PBS documentary producer.  He came out of the theatre tradition.  So he called it “casting” his subjects.  I don’t know how many story idea meetings I have sat through where every criteria was matched up except whether they were a good story.  Just because we can tell a story in video, doesn’t mean we should.   Because even if they have a compelling story, they still need to be able to tell that story in a compelling way.  That instructor looked for what he called “Ordinary Extraordinary” people.  What he meant was  he was looking for that every day person who could express themselves like no one else.  The kind of person you ask what color the sky is and can’t wait to see how they respond.  

Emotionally Invested

Once we cross the hurdle of a good subject choice, the first step to making our story matter to our audience, is getting them emotionally connected.  We want our audience to feel something when they watch our story... compassion, anger, joy,  sadness... something.   If they care about our subject, what matters to our subject will matter to our audience.  And once they are emotionally engaged, we want our viewers to see the role that our character plays in the big picture.  That’s where R-O-I is important.

Return on Investment

The second step is R-O-I; return on investment.  In this case the audience is not investing money, but their time.  If the subject has has an impact on me or a clear benefit, then I am going to invest the time, energy and emotion into the story.  We want our audience to personally relate, to see themselves, or to see the value of our story.   Strong characters propel your story, strong stories propel your message.  And once they invested in your message, you can then move them to whatever action is necessary next.  

Stay Tuned
Those are some important elements in telling a good story.  Next time we will take a look at some of the things that distract from a good story.  See, nothing like a cliffhanger.

WE  WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
We would really like to hear what you think is the most important element of a good story. Would you take a moment to answer the quick poll at the top of this page? We value your input and appreciate you taking the time to vote!