The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling can be used as a powerful formula to engage customers. During the stone age, humans sat around the fire to tell stories about their day, showing a deep unconscious interest in storytelling. Nowadays, societies show humans as hunger consumers of stories, by surrounding ourselves desperately to any form of storytelling: movies, TV, theater, talking, radio, books, etc.
Psychology studies have revealed that humans are more receptive if they are told something through narrative, because we are more likely to relate the story with our experience, absorbing it further and remaining engaged with it. I believe that every story represents a unique opportunity to experience something that we had not lived before, and through good storytelling, we are able to not just live an experience, but to achieve experiences with meaning, and get closer to satisfy this big desire of giving meaning to our existence.
Here is an example of a TV commercial we did recently, and how we approach to tell the story of this person that feels responsible for his family because he loves them. This is an experience that anyone can relate to.
Also I wanted to share this short film I wrote and directed a long time ago, where I had the experience to tell the story of an old woman that’s desperately looking to give meaning to her life, and how she faces her misery of existence. This is a very special story for me, because it gave me the opportunity to travel the world and go to top “A” film festivals (Moscow, Montreal, and Mar del Plata), recognized by FIAPF, and had the opportunity to reach audiences worldwide, by being distributed on TV in the 5 continents. The success of the short film was an early lesson that life gave me about the power of storytelling.
The Importance of Good Sound in Video Production
One of the great paradoxes of video production is that bad audio can make the picture look bad.To the casual viewer it may not be clear what is wrong, but you can tell that something is off. You’re watching a local TV commercial or on-line video. The images are great, even spectacular. But for some reason, the whole thing has the sheen of being an amateur production.
Nine times out of ten, it’s the sound.
Over the past 15 years, the cost of high-quality video cameras has greatly diminished. And the images captured by cameras that used to cost $70,000 can now be achieved with a camera costing only a few thousand. For that reason, more and more content is being generated by people working from their garage or home office. This is a good thing! The quality, diversity and availability of high-quality video content is revolutionizing independent film, web videos, and low-budget video production. Has anyone noticed how amazing wedding videos are now? More importantly, the ability to speak to an audience is now in the hands of people previously excluded from the game.
But what is often overlooked when someone buys a snazzy new camera is how important good sound is. And how greatly it affects the overall perceived quality of the production. Sometimes videographers are simply using a microphone mounted on the top of the camera, or recording dialogue in a cavernous room with tons of echo or in an environment with too much background noise.
Simple steps to improving the sound of your video, goes a long way to making them look even better.