How we tell stories at Studio Giggle
(Just don’t tell our competitors!)
If I glance to my left as I sit in my office above Distortion Studio, I can see seven books explaining the art of storytelling in incredible detail. One of these books is over 1500 pages long (The Seven Basic Plots, you beast). So, with a certain amount of caveating, I will now attempt to explain coherently how we approach Storytelling at Studio Giggle and what this looks like for our clients.
Let’s start with the basics – How to tell a story.
A story can be split up in many different ways: Acts, Chapters, Beats, or lines; it can be discussed in terms of Story Arc, emotional through lines, motivations and even units of action (Stanislavsky has left the building, thank you). These are all important and relevant, but none has ever been discussed directly with a client at Studio Giggle. This is mainly because our clients are a little too busy running their multinational corporations or focusing on delivering an engaging piece about the EBITDA of a French pharmaceutical company (true story) to worry about the construction process for engaging stories. So, we must make it simpler… less smoke, more mirrors!
For me, stories, particularly business stories, can be broken down into three constituent parts –
- Facts
- Science
- Philosophy
Facts are very much the who and what of the story. Every video ever made has this part; it’s easy for clients to talk about, and they live it every day. This bloke’s new product, this woman’s new strategy, this team’s new idea —who/what all day long. However, a story this does not make.
Science – For simplicity, I chose the word Science because many of our clients have science and tech at their core, and we must understand it to tell the story, but you could also call this part Process or even just detail. It’s getting under the hood of the problem/ solution and understanding how it works. The more we understand their product/process/strategy, the better we can tell the story.
I know this feels simple and obvious so far… that’s a good thing; this isn’t difficult…yet!
Philosophy – This is the aspect that 90% of storytelling fails on. It’s easy to create characters with motivations to solve a problem, find a MacGuffin (google it), and tell a story about a process or product that solves a problem. That’s basic Peter & Jane stuff.
But what elevates a story, what takes a narrative to the next level, is Philosophy. This is the Why of every conversation. Why you, why now why this, but not from a factual place, this is why from a philosophical place. Philosophy has become so important in storytelling that most social media content creators worth talking about (there aren’t many I know) will lead with the Philosophy part… sustainability, eco-friendly, mindfulness, hope, positivity, liberalism, the list goes on and on. The Philosophy is the engagement piece –the only reason to engage. If your messaging goes out with only Facts and Process, you won’t engage anyone younger than 40 – it’s that simple!
The weird thing about philosophies is that they are pretty easy to spot from the outside looking in because if your company has one, most people will be working there because they believe in it anyway. If you don’t have one, you will find that creating the right one will fit most of your staff for the same reason.
A philosophy is much more active than a strapline or a call to action. It runs deeper, is born from the people and is a reflection of them – it’s a mirror for the soul of your business.
It is our understanding of all of this that allows us to work well with our clients year after year after year. They know that they can trust us to tell their story in an engaging way. No idea, concept or creation is too difficult for us to figure out and communicate to your audience. We’ve worked with countless CEOs, Heads of departments, Senior leaders and more to take their work and make it engaging and informative. So if you are sitting (or standing) reading this thinking, how does a Widget Company that works across three timezones create an engaging Philosophy to add to all its facts and figures… then give me a call! This is precisely the kind of storytelling problem we love to solve.
Get in touch with us by calling 0117 972 0081 or email Steve@studiogiggle.co.uk
