focus on story, don't be seduced by sexy tools: how journalists can create great lasting...
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This is a presentation for journalists and anybody interested in why and how stories can have impact. This is all about on how to find the best form for a strong story. This is not easy. There are so many options and new tools. The key message of this presentation is that the focus should be on creating the story. Which calls for an understanding why some stories are strong and lasting, while many are not. Additionally one must understand how the creation process works, which is best done by example and practice (of course). The original presentation was held as the TASC Storycamp for the finalists of the African Story Challgenge, in Marrakesh, on August 11, 2014. http://africanstorychallenge.com Note: This version has been adapted, extended and linked to make up for the missing narrative. I added numerous links to examples, picture credits and tried to get rid of embarrassing typos. Please feel free to download, link and tweet this. Leave comments on examples for good and great stories and on how to create them - much appreciated.TRANSCRIPT
A F R I C A N S T O R Y C H A L L E N G E • M A R R A K E S H • A U G U S T 1 1 , 2 0 1 4
M I R K O L O R E N Z , I N F O R M A T I O N A R C H I T E C T
P H O T O C R E D I T: K E V I N D O O L E Y, V I A F L I C K R ( C C )
F O C U S O N S T O RY( D O N ’ T B E S E D U C E D B Y S E X Y S O L U T I O N S )
S C O P E : T R A I N I N G J O U R N A L I S T S T O C R E AT E S T R O N G , I M PA C T F U L S T O R I E S I N W H AT E V E R F O R M A N D W I T H W H AT E V E R T O O L .
A F R I C A N S T O R Y C H A L L E N G E • M A R R A K E S H • A U G U S T 1 1 , 2 0 1 4
B R I E F B A C K G R O U N D !T H I S P R E S E N TAT I O N W A S G I V E N T O F I N A L I S T S O F T H E A F R I C A N S T O RY C H A L L E N G E 2 0 1 4 . !I T ’ S A C O M P I L AT I O N O F E L E M E N T S A N D L I N K S O N H O W T O C R A F T S T R O N G S T O R I E S . !T H E M E S S A G E : D O N O T O V E R R E LY T O M U C H O N T O O L S . !I N S T E A D : F O C U S O N T H E S T O RY M A K E I T R E L E VA N T, S T R O N G , U N D E R S TA N D A B L E . !T H I S I S A N A D A P T E D V E R S I O N T O C O M P E N S AT E F O R T H E M I S S I N G N A R R AT I V E . !
A F R I C A N S T O R Y C H A L L E N G E • M A R R A K E S H • A U G U S T 1 1 , 2 0 1 4
R E A D Y ? L E T ’ S S TA RT .
!
W H AT D O E S I T TA K E F O R A
S T R O N G
S T O RY ?
!F O R T H E S T O R Y T E L L E R I T I S T H E
Q U E S T A N D S T R U G G L E T O B E C O M E A
B I G V O I C E
W H AT I S A S T O RY ?
C O N D E N S E D I N F O R M AT I O N
S U R P R I S I N G / I N T E R E S T I N G
T R U E / R E L E VA N T
M E M O R A B L E / S H A R E A B L E
P H O T O C R E D I T: E S K I M O B L O O D ( C C ) , V I A F L I C K R
S T O RY
Listening to stories is how all humans understand the world around them.
One story at a time.
P H O T O C R E D I T: T H O M A S H A W K ( C C ) V I A F L I C K R .
TA S C S T O R Y C A M P • M A R A K E S H
A S T O RY B R I N G S T H I N G S
T O L I V E .
! !
T E L L I N G S T O R I E S I S
A L E A R N A B L E A RT.
(Tools & Technology just help us doing it)
WA N N A B E T ?
Ernest Hemingway challenged other writers that he would be able to
tell a story in just six words that would make people cry.
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/ernest_hemingway_and_the_six-word_short_story
Disclaimer:
This anecdote about Ernest Hemingway
betting (and winning) is undetermined.
But the point is made. !
Takeaway:
Great Stories have Power
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/ernest_hemingway_and_the_six-word_short_story
S T E P S !
1 . P R E PA R AT I O N 2 . F O R M 3 . T I M E
Preparation, planning & form are
more important than the tools you have.
P R E PA R AT I O NS T E P 1
A repeating pattern leading to quality stories
is focus combined with a dilligent,
persistent, step-by-step process.
Copyright: Monkey
Why?
The difficult (and time consuming) part of preparation is to find an element of surprise.
How?When setting out to create a good story a common trap is that you drown in too much material. !
Keep in mind:This is not a thesis. Focus on story. !
Hint: Look out for telling anecdotes relevant to the make the point.
U S E S K E T C H I N G T O V I S U A L I Z E A N D S C O P E Y O U S T O R Y O N
O N E PA G E
H O W T O K E E P F O C U S
http://konigi.com/book/sketch-book/why-we-sketch
Iterate, shape, reduce.
http://konigi.com/book/sketch-book/why-we-sketch
Define the storyline.
http://konigi.com/book/sketch-book/why-we-sketch
From idea to completion: Not a straight line.
http://konigi.com/book/sketch-book/why-we-sketch
Work fast, trust that the shape will be revealed.
Will you be able to… (a) write a four abstract article about your topic.
(b) extend with data photos, videos in four weeks? (c) to answer „Why“ and „How“?
?Takeaway: Stories are shaped step by step.
F I N D T H E B E S T F O R MS T E P 2
Fairytale
Crowdsourcing
Big Picture
NewsletterExplainer
Article
VideoSoundslide
SMS
DataLongform
Joke DramaMultimedia
M A S T E R T H E F O R M …
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/ernest_hemingway_and_the_six-word_short_story
Do not dress up the story when it is not needed.
For starters: Tell the story of one person, not a group.
P H O T O C R E D I T: N A N D A D E V I E A S T ( C C - B Y ) , V I A F L I C K R )
P E O P L E J U S T D O N ’ T C O N N E C T T O G R O U P S , W E C O N N E C T T O O N E P E R S O N AT A T I M E .
Y O U N E E D T O T R A I N Y O U R S E L F O N W H AT S H O U L D B E PA R T O F Y O U R S T O R Y.
A video based on an interview with master storyteller Ira Glass (This American Life).
Define beginning, middle and end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ
The shape of stories (Kurt Vonnegut)
Before you create, feed yourself with
many, many examples.
Example: A newsletter. A really good newsletter.
And of course,
exceptionally good writing
has value.
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/14322/what-a-day/
Longform. (Try it. Medium has a great edit mode, which helps to focus).
A variation of form: Ask and answer questions.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/
Simple, but effective: Use full screen photos.
Avoid to be „everybody’s darling“, go and find a niche audience that really cares about what you have to say.
IMPORTANT
With more than a billion people online a niche audience can easily turn into amega niche (Clay Shirky)
Example of a small, big audience
Here is another example. What would be yours?
Best destination for high quality video stories.
Mediastorm thrives on quality, not quantity.
Great example of a data-story explainer.
Visualize in a smart way to surprise and educate.
T H E P R I N C I P L E AT W O R K , B Y E X A M P L E .
D ATA S T O R Y T H I N K I N G
I N V E S T I G AT E D ATA F O R S T O R I E S
How this worked: - How many people run? - Where are the outliers? - Winners? Cheaters?
Then: - How do they cheat? - By skipping the course - What other ways are there?
W H E N U S I N G D ATA : G O F I N D A L A N M I L L E R
Source: Andy Lehren, The New York Times
Finally: Hidden in data, there is the story…
A S K T H I S : W H AT A R E T H E Y T RY I N G T O H I D E F R O M U S T O D AY ?
T I M ES T E P 3
If you don’t make choices and cuts, you will be trapped by too much material and too many options.
STRANGE, BUT TRUE:
THROW AWAY GREAT CONTENT
Boil it down!
W H AT Y O U N E E D T O D O : A L O T O F R E A D I N G ,
C O L L E C T I N G , S H A P I N G , G AT H E R I N G , I T E R AT I N G , C H E C K I N G .
!
O N E S T O R Y
If you throw away a lot of quotes that are really good to find the best quote,you are en route to quality.
B O I L I T D O W N
T O :
T I M ES T E P 3
Opening: Why should I care?
Facts & Model
Article
Middle: Conflict/Barriers
ONE character in trouble
Video/Pictures/Radio
End: Cliffhanging resolution
Suspense/revelation
Morale or truth of the story
O N E S T O R Y AT A T I M E !
T O G E T T H E R E : D O I T O F T E N …
T H E B E A T L E S I M S T A R – C L U B H A M B U R G 1 9 6 2 © D A N N Y WA L L / K & K
http://www.vinylrecords.ch/B/BE/Beatles/Live-Starclub/live-starclub-beatles.html
T H E R E I S A PAT T E R N H E R E : B E F O R E Y O U C R E AT E , P R A C T I S E T H E F O R MThe Song/tracks on "Beatles Live At The Star-Club in Hamburg 1962" are
• Introduction/I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon/McCartney) 3:01 • Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) 2:15 • Hippy Hippy Shake (Chan Romero) 1:52 • Sweet Little Sixteen (Chuck Berry) 3:20 • Lend Me Your Comb (Wise/Weisman) 2:00 • Your Feets too Big (Benson/Fisher) 2:24 • Twist and Shout (Medley/Russell) 2:20 • Mr. Moonlight (Johnson) 2:23 • A Taste of Honey (Scott/Marlow) 2:10 • Bésame Mucho (Velázquez/Skylar) 2:46 • Reminiscing (King Curtis) 2:05 • Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Leiber/Stoller) 2:56 • Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on a Tree) Colocrai/Fontaine/Gluck/Lampert 1:24 • To Know Her Is to Love Her (Phil Spector) 3:23 • Little Queenie (Chuck Berry) 3:57 • Falling in Love Again (Hollander/Lerner) 2:14 • Ask Me Why (Lennon/McCartney) 2:33 • Be-Bop-A-Lula (Vincent/Davis) 2:29 - Featuring Fred Fascher on lead vocal. • Hallelujah, I Love Her So (Ray Charles) 2:08 - Featuring Horst Fascher on lead vocal. • Red Sails in the Sunset (Kennedy/Williams) 2:11 • Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (Carl Perkins) 3:04 • Matchbox (Carl Perkins) 2:37 • I'm Talking about You (Chuck Berry) 2:06 • Shimmy Shimmy (Massey/Schubert) 2:20 • Long Tall Sally (Johnson/Penniman/Blackwell) 1:47 • I Remember You (Schertzinger/Metter) 1:56 • Where Have You Been All My Life? (Weill/Mann) 2:09 • Till There Was You (Meredith Willson) 2:02 • Sheila (Tommy Roe) 2:00 • I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You) (Thomas/Biggs) 2:43
W H AT T H E B E AT L E S P L AY E D B E F O R E T H E Y B E C A M E FA M O U S .
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-beatles/1962/the-star-club-hamburg-germany-3bdae050.html
F I R S T T R A I N , T H E N C R E AT E
Part of the story on how and why some people manage to be extremely good at something (like storytelling) is investigated in „Outliers“.
There is a pattern here.
The Journey: Experience, adapt, mix - finally create your own.
U G LY PA RT: L E A R N T O M A S T E R D E S A S T E R
Audiorecorder not running.Battery empty.
Video unusable
Interviewpartner not showing up
Missed the plane/train/bus.
Not enough material. Too much material.
Equipment stolen.
Lost notes.
O N E M O R E T H I N G …
M O N E YS T E P 4
O V E R C O M E B A R R I E R S
W E H AV E N O T I M E F O R T H I S .
T H E R E I S N O B U D G E T.
W H Y N O T D O J U S T A N A R T I C L E ?
W E N E V E R D I D I T L I K E T H I S .
S H O W T H E M T H I S :
K E Y P O I N T — - >
http://gigaom.com/2014/07/16/the-news-about-reader-attention-and-the-evolution-of-media-isnt-all-bad-theres-the-hill-of-wow/
W H I C H M E A N S — - >
„A significant number of people are willing to spend significant amounts of time with articles that are relatively
long, and are willing to share them — in other words,
there is a demand for things other than just shallow clickbait.“
T H E R E I S A N A U D I E N C E , F O R S U R E .
http://gigaom.com/2014/07/16/the-news-about-reader-attention-and-the-evolution-of-media-isnt-all-bad-theres-the-hill-of-wow/
Now go tell a story. !
Six words, many words, cool photos,
awesome video, visual data. Whatever.
!
But do tell a story.
M E R E LY C O M P I L E D B Y M I R K O L O R E N Z , P R E S E N TAT I O N H E L D AT S T O R Y C A M P
I N M A R R A K E S H , M A R O C C O . - A U G U S T 1 1 , 2 0 1 4
T H A N K Y O U .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxJ3FtCJJA
Before you go….Make sure you watch this (all four parts)