My son Adam is a senior in high school and in the process of applying to college. I just finished reading the second draft of his personal essay and realize he has a lot to learn about how to tell a story.
But that word “story” is so overused these days, that it understandably no longer has meaning.
In fact, a potential client recently asked me to tell the stories of three of their members for an upcoming gala. “We just want people to know their story,” she shared. But she offered nothing more, and I wasn’t sure what she wanted people to know.
I feel like the word “story” is a buzzword that’s used almost flippantly these days. People need to realize that when they tell stories, whether in writing or with video, there needs to be a point to that story. It has a beginning, middle and end. It shares details that bring the audience in with purpose. The story has an angle or point of view the reader or viewer can learn from and take away with them.
A story at its best should make people feel something and give context and color to a broader concept.
My client Kristie did exactly that with a film we called “Horse Tales.” We had already created her life story, but she had specific anecdotes related to growing up on her non-traditional mother’s Arabian horse farm, and wanted to share these with her children and grandchildren. We divided the film into eight segments, and each one has a clear point – whether sharing a piece of history or something that makes you laugh and understand her unconventional childhood better.
Whether you’re making a video for your family or organization, or writing a college essay, keep asking yourself – what is the point of my story? What am I trying to say here? What do I want the audience to know or walk away with? This is what I think of every time I’m working on a video for a client and something for you to think about the next time you share a story.