In my process of finding some kind of definition that would help me explain the importance of storytelling within the context of my project, I ran into this parragraph on John Wich’s “Storytelling on Steroids”:
“What exactly is storytelling?” is a question easier asked than answered. But the quick of it is: a writer defines it differently than a director or a game developer, just as a child’s notion of story differs greatly from that of an adman. When it comes to storytelling, everyone brings their own biases and associations to the table. It’s impossible to summarize in an elevator pitch or a tweet.” (P.11)
I thought it was very telling that this author went through a very thorough research around storytelling to understand what is it that makes it so special and in the end was unable to find a sole definition. I think that is exactly what makes storytelling so valuable, specially for creatives you can adjust the storytelling to you and your own particular needs.
Another important thing to note : “It is impossible to apply rigid scientific methods to something as subjective and craft driven as storytelling. But I challenged my entire stack of note cards against four points. This checklist functioned as my crutch, forever hanging over my head, forcing me to weigh in against my own storytelling biases and prejudices. Together with the many creative industry players I spoke to and interviewed over the past year, I dwindled down that enormous pile of note cards to just a chosen few.” (P. 14)
Even though the author says it is impossible to create a rigid step by step around storytelling he still attempt to create one. That is something humans always try to do put in a box something that is not meant for a box, trying to tame the wild instead of just letting it run wild and adapting ourselves to it. I think I am guilty of doing the same thing with this project, I’m trying to capture something wild and trying to create some rationality around it so it becomes useful for my stakeholders.
In any case, below I copy the author’s checklist with the objective of using it for reference and create my own.
STORYTELLING CHECKLIST
GOOD IDEA VS. COMPELLING STORY?
A good idea can arise spontaneously, but a good story requires execution, evolution and craft. A good idea can simply exist, whereas a good story must grow and evolve. It’s also possible that the story has the luck of right time, right place. In other words, events in the culture at large contributed to the context of the story. Opportunism was allowed.
STORYTELLING CONSTRUCTION VS. THE EMBODIMENT OF STORY
Many stories, especially branded ones, fall effortlessly into tricksterism: stoytelling as artifice. For commercial creatives, this siren call is as logical as it is impossible to resist. And why wouldn’t they? If your job is to distinguish and differentiate, then storytelling is a great go-to option. Like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two stories are alike. The stories I sought out transcended story in name alone. Not storytelling as contagious construction or campaign side show, but storytelling as essential to the product or idea. Of course, not everv story embodies this idea perfectly, but the ones in this book come close.
NICHE INFLUENCE VS. POP CULTURE IMPACT
Like pretty much everyone, I’ve got a soft spot for the little guy. But when it comes to pop culture influence, “little usually doesn’t do. New three-dimension storytellers are rearing their heads each day, but hijacking the cultural conversation requires mainstream credibility and global reach. It should coerce more than a small peep on the pop culture Geiger counter. Without exception, the events and games covered in this book mesmerized the imaginations of millions.
SELL VS. TELL
The tension between selling and telling is at the heart of storytelling in mainstream communication. While telling is inherent to more traditional storytelling forms like fiction, cinema, music and art, this is hardly the case for advertising and marketing, where selling remains the name of the game no matter what its disguise. To many, storytelling in advertising is the real-world equivalent of a Wolf in sheep’s clothing. I don’t refute that. But that doesn’t mean that advertising isn’t a whole lot more intriguing with it. Many (okay, all) of the stories in this book are commercially motivated, but there’s no hint of a sell. It’s not just that the sell doesn’t stand in the way of the sell-it’s that the tell is the sell.
NARROW BRAND FOCUS VS, BROAD CULTURAL CONTEXT
Brands, bands and agencies love talking about themselves and controlling their own narratives-sometimes relentlessly. They are narrowly focused on themselves. The brands, bands and agencies in this book don’t. In fact, they make a conscious attempt to move away from totalitarian control. They relinquish a part of themselves in order to be seen in a broader cultural context.
ONE-HIT-WONDER VS. NEW PARADIGM
YouTube’s tagline is “broadcast yourself.” but it could just as well be ‘provoke your neighbor.’ In the Attention Economy we’re all running like mad to not be overlooked. But if your livelihood depends on arresting the attention of others, provocation is your new best friend. It’s cheap, it’s uncomplicated and, like a successful B-thriller, it can offer a striking return on investment (and even make you famous overnight. For one night). Provoking convention grabs attention, but new paradigms remain in our memory. Sometimes forever. None of the stories in this book just happened. They weren’t fortuitous accidents. Not one-off hoaxes, newsworthy stunts or random acts of storytelling. They were well thought-out and meticulously crafted. Storytelling in all its guises is presenting creative thinkers with new opportunities to engage and connect, but only a few are skilled enough to defy expectations on such a scale that it will either shift an existing paradigm or establish an entirely new one. I wrote this book as much for the storytelling detractors as I did for its advocates. If there’s something I want them to take away from this book it is this: those who think that storytelling is the latest artificial fast-moving consumer good trend that will vanish by the time next season’s Nikes hit the market are mistaken. It is easy to misjudge how ingrained storytelling has become to the average individual, but even easier to under estimate the opportunity storytelling presents to brands, to fashion labels, to producers and publishers, not to mention the design, digital, strategy and advertising agencies that service them. It’s no longer a modish approach, but also and mostly-_-a powerful weapon in their communication arsenal. After all, in just a few short years it has helped transform the most commercial salesman from obnoxious intruder into welcome distracter. And there’s nothing pop culture loves more than meaningful, immersive distractions.
Throughout this book I found many interesting concepts that reinforced my project’s idea and that made me think on how to absorb this concepts and in some way make them my own, make them unique. One of these concepts is the 1/f fluctuation which is a discovery made by a study that Cornell University made: “Turns out our brains have a biological rhythm/mathematical pulse–also called 1/f fluctuation”-~-that determines our attention spans in everything from music to language, economics to engineering. We follow this pulse blindly without necessarily knowing it is there.”
The author points out that even though the logical course of action for people working with video storytelling (filmmakers, game designers, producers, etc.) would be to use this as a base for the creation of content, however it appears that it is not something consciously used.
“… the guys at Cornell University felt the same way, because not so long ago a few of them sat down and meticulously deconstructed 150 successful Hollywood flicks released between 1935 and 2005. They did this shot by tedious shot. What they discovered was that the most successful of these films came pretty close to mimicking our natural 1/f fluctuation. But what makes the Cornell study so interesting is its conclusion: filmmakers aren’t mimicking 1/f intentionally. It is a natural process of directors and screenwriters and editors and directors consciously and unconsciously mimicking each other. “Make the fight scene more like Rocky”, “Give me a car chase more like Vanishing Point”, “Capture the emotion in the same way the opening sequence of Up does.” (P. 29)
The author continues to point out that cinematographers as well as screenwriters are stealing each others tropes and narratives. I would add that the same thing happens with writers, marketers, social media content creators, etc. We live in a world were people are celebrated for taking something that works and making it better. And that is exactly what I’m trying to do with my project, take a formula (or a few different formulas) that we already know that work in different disciplines like literature, film, social media campaigns, advertising, branding and make it better for millenial creatives specifically.
Lastly, I would like to mention this last excerpt from the book which I felt resonated so much with me and the reasons behind why I have chosen to work with this particular idea. “Our definitions of and approaches to story may differ, but storytelling as a whole means more or less the same thing to everyone. This is why it is one of the few tools we have at our disposal to connect, coalesce and, most idealistically, unify. We tell stories continuously; we tune into them unconsciously. Storytelling is our social glue.” (P. 51)
Weich, J. (2013). Storytelling on steroids. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Bis Publishers.