Structured visual stories . They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They talk about people—or at least human souls—and they argue for a theme, a moral, or a point of view by adhering to this structure.
Visual storytelling without the use of a diamond ring with the tagline, A Diamond Is Forever:
It's a marketing image. It is designed to capture attention with images and words. While you may not be using a sparkling rock, you probably use images most often as an additional tool in blogs, slides, ebooks, etc. You use images to divide Small copy, so your content gets noticed.
That's why we spend Volume 12 of The Marketer , CMI's series for marketers, visual storytelling. You can watch it here and/or read on for some highlights and takeaways:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrF3mMJ2dPk[/embed]
Storytelling with pictures requires you to first think like a storyteller and then use visual media as a way to tell that particular story. It is essential today in a world where images and video has become an integral part of our everyday language. We use emojis to add context to our conversations. We make jokes using memes.
# VisualStorytelling requires you to first think like a storyteller, then use the medium to tell that story, said @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent @Vidyard. Click to Tweet
Visual storytelling doesn't mean we never use words. It uses still images, moving images, graphics, and words that are not the means of describing the story but the visual representation of the story.
3 thoughts for better visual storytelling
Now that we understand the definition, I want to give you some practical ways to think about visual storytelling.
1. Prototypes, stereotypes and symbols are recognized as your friends
I know this sounds weird. We always try to stay away stereotypes and empty. But when it comes to creating a visual story, we want to make an impression. So when we want to create emotion, easy-to-understand metaphors are the fastest way to get there.
For example, when telling a story about a doctor, you can set a very recognizable context. with this image:
She was wearing a stethoscope and a white coat, talking to a woman in a room with a tongue-downer, a scale, in a room that looked rather sterile. The visual clues allow viewers to instantly recognize her as a doctor. They don't have to wade through every sentence to understand her position and work situation.
Here is another example. If someone wants you to have a mental picture and understand who they are, they can explain that or they share an image. This image explains “marketing” through five interpretations – what friends, mom, boss, society, and poster think it is – followed by an image for its reality.
When you communicate something like that on the fly, archetypes or sometimes stereotypes can be your friends. You can quickly get to the heart of your story using visuals that your audience immediately understands.
Or you can use images to create a melody. In these memes, the words are the same, but the images convey something completely different. For example, here's the meme of Nicolas Cage's character from The Vampire's Kiss with the word "You don't speak!" 
While this meme uses the same phrase, "You don't say," it uses the image of Willy Wonka, the guy from the candy factory movie, giving it a different connotation.
Using archetypes, templates, or iconic symbols can help you visually represent your story quickly.
ADVERTISEMENT
9 Types of Videos Every Business Must Have To Succeed
There are so many different types of videos you can create for your organization, it may be impossible to know where to start. Do not worry, We've got you covered! !
2. Let the audience fill in the blanks
Audiences can be creative if you allow them. Honestly, that's what readers usually enjoy most about a story.
Pixar writer Andrew Stanton has this great idea: “Audiences want to work to discover meaning, but they don't want to know that they're working. They want to fill in the blanks. ”
Let me write a familiar script to illustrate:
Scene one (family room)
Mom to Dad: “Hurry up, while Logan is at Grandpa's, let's go to the mall and buy him the toy every 5-year-old in the world seems to want for Christmas this year. ”
(The duo takes the car keys and runs out the door.)
Scene two (back door of grandpa's house)
(Parents come in groaning. Their clothes are torn. Mom puts an ice pack over his eyes and Dad has bruises on his face.)
Grandpa (walks over to greet them): “Logan just fell asleep… Wait, what's wrong with you?”
(Dad holds the coveted toy.)
Ending scene
We immediately burst out laughing because we knew they weren't in a car accident or a crash. They fought for the toy at the mall and they won.
It's visual storytelling, the viewer has to fill in the blanks – to find the important images – and you don't have to explain everything.
For viewers to fill in, leave the blanks in your visual stories, @Robert_Rose said via @CMIContent @Vidyard. Click to Tweet
3. Visual storytelling doesn't follow the same linear structures
You can assemble events, Picture , images, etc. to tell the most powerful story – not necessarily what happened in the correct order. You don't even have to include every event that happened leading up to the end.
A great example of this is the novel Forrest Gump versus the movie. In the book, the author ends the story with Forrest ceding the shrimp business to the Bubba family and living with an orangutan named Sue, begging for a change and sleeping on a couch. But the scriptwriter asked Forrest to give half of his earnings from the shrimp business to the Bubba family before the final scenes were shot. The film ends with Forrest seeing off his son on the first day of school. Throughout the story, they choose to rearrange some events and alter others. Their choices produce markedly different reactions and emotions.
Storytelling with pictures allows you to tell the story you want to tell without the limitations that often limit text-based storytelling. linear structure.
Show your story
Ultimately, the power of visual storytelling comes from the fact that our brains can process images faster, allowing viewers to react more quickly. And that allows visual storytellers to work in a vastly different way.
If we could create different kinds of meanings in a different way, we as content marketers could distinguish our industry, products, brands, etc. in a sea of the same. In the end, of course, it's all a combination of images, sounds, words, and words. Our job is to mix them all together into a delicious soup.
There is a great quote by a writer, often attributed to Ben Franklin, Thoreau or John Adams: “If I”d had had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. The idea, of course, is that it's harder to simplify and shorten our ideas to a concise message.
I think visual storytelling is also true. It's easy to try to create visuals for everything we write. But, in the end, it may just be a perfect picture that can tell the whole story. And that means taking the time to properly understand the visual story will be well worth it.
RELATED CONTENT TO BE TREATED:
Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski / Content Marketing Institute
Post a Comment
Post a Comment