Lots of theories circulating about why Google's Super Bowl ad ("Parisian Love") was such a smash hit.
We think its charm and popularity can be summed up in one word.
Storytelling.
Look how cleverly it hooks and rivets you with its suspenseful, fast-paced narrative. A character, a quest, an obstacle, a climax, a satisfying resolution.
All in less than a minute.
Lesson for videojournalists: look for the natural dramatic arc as you shoot and edit your non-fiction narratives. It's what will make them memorable.
Now here's a treat: six more similarly structured short storytelling videos, courtesy of Google's "Search Stories" channel on YouTube. Enjoy!
Out of Office
Mad to Live
High School
Potholes
Cheermobile
Newbie
Single Mother, Pioneering Photographer: The Remarkable Life of Bayard
Wootten
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In 1904, Bayard Wootten, a divorced single mother in North Carolina, first
borrowed a camera. She went on to make more than a million images.
6 years ago
Posts
2 comments:
Ken,
I couldn't agree more. When the Paris Google ad played a friend of mine said aloud "I want to study in Paris" at the very beginning of the commercial. She was hooked at the start and the story just got better. And from a marketing viewpoint, the ads tell stories in the culture of their product. Unlike a lot of Super bowl ads, I actually know what the product was.
Photographers can learn storytelling from so many other mediums. "This American Life" podcasts should also be a part of our media diet.
Tom Burton
Orlando, FL
The fact that corporate America is so invested in employing sophisticated storytelling techniques to reach its customers tells us that the media needs to do a better job of mastering storytelling to connect with its readers and viewers.
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