Boston Fashion Week
Storytelling in Video
Welcome!
At Sevenpair Studios, we have enjoyed capturing several stories for Boston Fashion Week over the past few years. Here on this page, we want to share some thoughts on how we approach storytelling that hopefully will help you with your own content creation development.
What Do We Want to Say?
Every time we begin a video project or even just start thinking about one, we view it as an exciting opportunity to explore a new story. We also acknowledge that it can be a daunting moment full of endless ideas and limitless directions to go. So how do we take the first step forward?
The most important thing to consider first is defining a purpose and a message. Try to take all of the thoughts and ideas floating in your head and see if you can boil that down to one succinct sentence. For example, if you’re launching a new clothing line and want to show it off to people, perhaps your message could be, “I want people to understand that my new clothing line is perfect for that special night out.” There may be several other details, features and additional messages to share about this clothing line, but it’s important to first establish that top level goal.
Dream Big
Once you know what you want to say, then you can start thinking about the kind of video content you want to create. This is where you want to dream big and imagine ways of sharing your message without worrying about how you’ll accomplish it. If you start big and then slowly evolve your ideas into more manageable concepts, you’ll have given yourself a better opportunity to discover new creative methods as opposed to if you had first concerned yourself with limitations.
Who is Watching?
As you develop your concept imaginatively then realistically, it’s equally important to consider who your audience is going to be as well as where they will be watching your content. This can help fine tune the length, details and overall feeling of your video. Let’s consider our example of launching your new clothing line and perhaps you have a great social media following which you decide to launch your video there. We immediately know that our audience will be swiping or scrolling quickly and the first few seconds of your video is how they will determine if they watch the rest of the video or not. We can also imagine that they will want to continue scrolling after the video so we know we have to condense our message into a shorter time to make sure they get to the end.
If you want to also have a video on your website, we would already know that our audience is going to be more engaged with your content than on social media because they’ve taken the next step to exploring your website. In that case you could expand more details in your video and not feel the need to rush through your pacing quite as much because your audience could be more inclined to watch and learn more.
Examples
Example of a video that may have more success on a website because of the length, the amount of details shared, and the overall pace.
Example of a “sizzle” type video with footage accumulated from various moments by this designer (footage provided by designer). This higher energy video could have a higher potential to attract an audience on social media and lead them to your website.
A second example of a longer form video telling a designer’s story. You can also experiment with making one longer video and then creating a shorter version to share on social media.
Define Your Style
There isn’t one single way to tell a story or one specific style you have to adhere to. This is where your creativity and experimentations play a large role in developing your own style over time. Watch other videos to see what resonates with you in terms of stories and visuals, then explore incorporating elements of those in your own practices to see what results it creates. The best piece of advice in terms of content creation is to simply keep creating. Keep trying new things, exploring different stories and finding new ways of telling those stories. Listen to feedback while also remembering to maintain your unique voice. You have a story that’s worth sharing and when you match it with the right audience with a clear message, you will find greater success at being heard.
About Sevenpair Studios
We invest ourselves fully in creating films that welcome the viewer into the stories of organizations through exploring the passion that drives their members. Not everything is accomplished with the camera and we pride ourselves on engaging with every individual we interact with by listening and supporting their efforts. We see ourselves as a creative partner and supporter of the organization.
Get in touch!
We want to be a resource for the Boston Fashion Week community, so please feel free anytime to reach out if you have questions about your own content creation ideas and how you can include video in your storytelling efforts.