If you haven’t heard of Casey Neistat you should really check out his videos. I particularly enjoy his Snapchat stories.
Life in 27 seconds by Casey Neistat
This video is featured as the first one of the weekly series because I feel it is a great example to learn from. It reminds me that anyone can tell a story through the moving image. There is no need for high-end equipment and a large amount of budget. If the story is there everything else will follow.
I highly believe that simplicity is the greatest form of complexity. If you have the smallest idea that you feel would be a successful story all you need then is a camera and I’m sure that by now we all have one in our pockets. Remember: If you’re using your phone to shoot video always film horizontally, as technical quality does matter since people do enjoy an aesthetically pleasing product, however if the story is a natural one people will relate to it regardless.
A story does not necessarily involve the conventional type of three arc structure (Act 1, Act 2, Act 3); that is very difficult to achieve in a 27 second video or even more so in a 6 second Vine, however there are many videos of this short format that are quite successful due to their natural story. Sometimes it also helps to have a slight twist to the story.
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I would love to hear any other thoughts you may have about this topic.