5 Principles for better storytelling

In this article, I would like to share with you my personal experience on how to tell and improve your storytelling using photography, filmmaking, writing, and voice. These are the 5 principles that I use as my go-to checklist when creating a story

Nr. 1

Personal Growth

“Learning by doing” is one the best way for you to figure out what kind of stories you want to tell. Should they be shared directly through your own social platforms or do you want to facilitate those stories through actors and brands? This is the first thing you need to figure out.

I quickly found out that I wanted to be the narrator of my own stories.

What I would suggest, is that you go out and act as the main character/model in your stories before you start approaching clients because you will learn two things:

• How it feels to be on camera and by doing that you can relate to your actors when you have to work with them as a director
• You want to make yourself look as good as possible, right? (The right angles, lighting, editing, etc.) Learn how to produce and edit a piece of content so that you are forcing yourself to end up with a high-quality product that will be easier to sell to another business and lets you understand the full process from start to finish

Here are some examples of personal photos I have either taken or edited that I would be happy to share on my social media or present to a future client.

You are you, not them

Remember, finding your own way of telling a story takes time and in the creative aspects of storytelling you will never reach the final conclusion on how best to tell the perfect story, but if you are curious about certain ways of editing a photo or you have seen a film online that inspired you, you should use that reference to create your own style of what you just experienced. New inventions are rare, but a personal story is something that no one can take away from you.

Nr. 2

What kind of emotions do you want your audience to feel right after they have watched your piece of content? 

When telling your story, the first thing you should think of is what feeling you want your audience to experience after they watch your content and how we can make that feeling so remarkable that the person will eventually refer your piece of work to others and share the story?

Video & photography have been my go-to storytelling tools until now and continue to be so.

Below I have attached a video and a few photos that I want you to watch and then notice what kind of emotions you experience.

Olivia's Dream (Watch the first 10 seconds)

3 Photographs with their own story

What emotions did you experience?

NR. 3

So how do we facilitate these stories and what tools should you use in order to create them, but most importantly, which tool do you enjoy using the most? As mentioned before, when you find a way you like doing things, you feel motivated to create and communicate in that way. 

Here is a list of the tools I use to tell a story, which platforms to consider using and some examples of what purpose they serve in order to tell your story:

1. Photography

Instagram, Behance, Pinterest, and online blogs

• When sharing your photography you should consider what audience you want to target. All the platforms listed above except Behance work well on a daily basis, sharing your personal stories and selling products, etc. Behance from Adobe has a reputation for being a professional online portfolio for artists to share the very best of their work. In here you will find Graphic Design, After Effects Animations and much more.

DSLR, iPhone, or both?

• Decide what gear you want to use in order to tell your story. A DSLR camera like aSony or Canon is capable of producing high-quality images that you are able to edit in software like Adobe Lightroom.
• Using a phone instead, you are still able to capture some great photos and it will be easier to document your daily life (Instagram Stories) since the phone is more portable. You can use a software like VSCO Cam to edit your photos directly on your mobile device.

Personal Tip

• Light is everything when it comes to taking a ''great photo'', so go out around sunrise and sunset to get that golden look. It will make it easier for you in the beginning when capturing photos and try different angles as well. Standing in one place is not going to give you the full potential of your setting, move around, and don’t be lazy here!

2. Filmmaking

Youtube, Vimeo, Tik Tok, and IGTV

• All these platforms serve the same purpose of sharing your videos online but change a bit in order to what audience you want to talk to.
• YouTube is the best-known platform, which also means that this is where you will find almost anything that is posted online and see a variety of almost any genre you can think of.
• Vimeo is very popular among filmmakers and production houses to showcase their work since the platform has been made for a more ''professional'' audience when it comes to production values etc.
• Tik Tok is the youngest of these platforms, which is shown through the number of dancing videos and viral trends you will find here. This would be my go-to platform if you want to create content that the younger generation can relate to, but don't be fooled by the young audience, as the platform also is a place for creativity to grow based on the possibility of using different effects and use of songs without receiving a copyright notice.
• IGTV is Instagram's take on YouTube and while the platform is still being used for shorter videos, you can now show previews of your full video on your Instagram profile and share the video in your feed pretty easily.

Story is key, your gear adds the extra 10%

• Deciding if your content should typically last 15 seconds, 1 minute or a full hour is up to you and the way you like to communicate, but as you have probably heard before, your story always the first thing you should think of before you start filming. What story do you want to tell, what emotions do you want my audience to feel and what purpose is your film going to express. If your story is great, your choice of more and expensive gear adds the last 10% of ''icing on the cake''

Personal Tip

• Write a script before you go on set. Having a plan of where you want to start out and having the end in mind will make it a lot easier for you when doing the editing of your film. Create the framework and then start filming. And watch YouTube tutorials, A LOT! This is how I, combined with experience, learned almost everything I know today about production, color grading, and editing.

3. Writing

Medium, Twitter, Linkedin & Magazines

• Should you go for a maximum of 280 characters, creating a 5-step guide on how to learn about a certain topic or lock yourself in the basement ending up with 400 pages containing a long format piece of content?
• Twitter is the news app I use the most when I want to stay updated and want to get a quick overview of a story. Here you are learning to narrow down your story because of the limitation of characters allowed.
• Medium and magazines let you decide whether you mainly want to focus on creating more in-depth articles about your story and possibly gain a reputation among the journalists.
• I would use Linkedin to showcase my business and include your connections inside your journey of creating a brand and provide valuable knowledge from your experiences in your business.

Personal tip

• I use Grammarly to double-check my spelling before sending emails and writing posts on Social Media. There is nothing wrong with getting a little help for you to spell correctly and it will save you from a lot of unnecessary mistakes that your clients might notice when they receive a business proposal in their inbox. Also, partner up with one or two friends to double-check your writing before posting. This gives your content a preview of what people are going to point out when posted.

4. Voice

iTunes Podcast, Spotify and Soundcloud

• The audio experience has made its way back as radio is slowly about to disappear. Your audience wants to decide if they should press play or pause as they might not have the time to listen to a show without interruptions during the day.
• iTunes and Spotify provide both music and podcast service. Here you can upload your episodes through a server (I use Podbean for my podcast - Jonas Togo Talks) which makes sure that all text will look the same on the different platforms.
• You can use Soundcloud as well, but I would mainly recommend that for discovering new music and beats from producers

Voice-over will save you

• In almost every production you see, a voice-over will almost always improve the production value of your content. Being able to tell your story with two assets works really well and it is something that you can always record after you have filmed your video. Write a script before you start filming and then record the voice-over either before or after your editing for the editor to match the clips to the voice-over

Personal tip

• Talk sloooowly! I rush my words as soon as I press record and it often ends up sounding unclear or I end up stuttering half of the sentence. It might feel like you are talking really slow, but when you see yourself on camera you will see why I recommend this

Find your niche when looking at these tools and figure out what works the best for you, and when doing so, remember to be yourself. This will give you and your brand a good idea of what you mainly want to produce on Social Media and give you that extra 10 percent you need to keep going on the days you don’t feel motivated.

Nr. 4

Now we have figured out a way to create our story, we know that emotions are our main objective and we have a list of tools to use in order to tell our story. Where should you go from here?

First of all, you need to figure out what your primary drive is going to be because you will need that drive to continue getting better at one certain thing or use it to create a mix of all the tools we talked about before.

I made a whole video about getting bored of doing the same things too many times, in my case creating videos and stories over and over again, I call it ''Repeatphobia'' 

The reason for that is that I like to try out new things on a daily basis. That is my way of creating and how I like to communicate. So from here, I will leave it up to you if you want to stay with what you know really well or try different things. Both have seemed to work for me as I try to stick to the same routines, getting up at 6 am every day, training 3-4 times per week, and make sure I see my family, but within that framework, I do a lot of different stuff. I call it ''Organized Chaos''

I created a film from a trip to Ireland named ''Worry Less - Smile More'' that contains all the creative tools we have talked about so far. Documenting our trip using video, I thought that it needed something extra to tie everything together I wanted to say, so I came up with a little narrative and ended up doing a voice over to link all the scenes. I wanted to challenge myself and in that way use all four tools to create my story

NR. 5

I started my journey in Visual Storytelling for fun and definitely got into this at first because I wanted to be remembered for something. Back in 2014, I cared a lot about likes, comments, getting noticed by others and becoming, as some would say, ‘’Instagram famous’’ 

But slowly over the years, I found out that real success in storytelling and communication is Self-Awareness. Learn what you like to do and how you can use that skill for yourself and others when you have to do work for a client or achieve personal growth. The more you put yourself into your work, the more you a willing to stay longer hours and add that extra touch, because you want to show what you have made to others in the best way possible.

It is about the mark you leave while you are here, that is so inspiring to watch and follow so that others/a new generation is willing to take what you have created and take it with them as they are set to find their own way. In my family, I have three role models who, as I grow older, keep inspiring me to take responsibility within my family and the society we are living in. That is the legacy I want to maintain and continue to show to everyone I meet on my journey.

My Grandparents

I hope that you learned something and will use these tools in order to tell your story. If you have any questions about the principles I use, something you would like to add to make this article even better or give any feedback, you are more than welcome to send mail me at [email protected]

Thank you for your time, I hope this article gave you some new knowledge of how to create better stories for you and your brand.

- Jones Out