Brand storytelling is all about using the power of stories to create an emotional connection between your customers and your brand. Effective brand storytellers paint pictures of people, events, places and experiences that connect audiences to the values a brand stands for. The most powerful stories are authentic and connect back to what your brand values.
Everything we see is storytelling and we can learn from apps and title screens such as Netflix or Apple. Netflix sets the scene though their famous title sequence which is recognised by everyone due to its well known intro audio and animation.
<aside> 💠What I did not know before today was the beam of lights used for the opening titles of Netflix represents the array of content it has. The “barcode visualisation” came from the idea of turning thumbnails of Netflix’s own shows sideways to create beams of light which is used within title sequence.
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The goal of storytelling is creating an immersive world which viewers can get lost in. At first I thought well how does this apply to me I don’t work within TV or films but Kyle showed us the work of graphic designers such as Simon Wild, Annie Atkins and Flora Fricker and their work for television and film which is both real and animated and it made me realise how important their work is to create an immersive experience within these.
Annie Atkins makes props for Television and film such as posters on walls or props which are specifically placed to enhance the story. About 90% of what she makes for a film is placed in the background so is not even seen by the audience, in fact if they were focusing on the props she would inevitably be doing her job wrong.
The truth is a movie set and what we see on cinema screens look completely different so it is her job to make props to dress the artificial environment with some small authentic details and help create a more fully realised world for the actors. Some of her favourite periods or genres to make props for is contemporary style such as antique documents and old shopfront signage. This may be due to her speciality in creating lettering that looks like it was painted up rather than created by a professional digital designer.
Flora is a graphic designer who works within the art departments for Film, Television and Animations. Through this job she gets to create a world for viewers through design and make graphic props such as shop signage, medicine labels and love letters. Her style is very much nostalgia, vintage typography and the natural world as she gins a lot of inspiration from the world around her.
She has worked for some big companies such as Netflix and Warner Bros, creating props like Coronation invitations used within the Netflix show Queen Charlotte and posters and packaging labels used in the animated Scrooge: A Christmas Carol!
<aside> đź’ It is so cool to learn about how design is used within television and movies to help enhance storytelling. Before I knew nothing about this or honestly had even thought about it but it is so interesting to now know that every little prop in the background of TV and movies is thought out and plays a role in fully enhancing the story. I especially thought it was cool to learn that it is not only created for live action movies but for animated movies too!
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Sometimes taking a long pause can be an uncomfortable silence however we can also use a pause in speech to create emphasis and convey emotion, allowing the listener time to absorb, comprehend and reflect on what’s being said. A great example of the power of pause is the soundtrack from Jaws as they use two notes to create a dark sound which leaves listeners in with a sense of anticipation as well as anxiety for what is coming and that feeling of the unknown.