Effective storytelling relies on a "story loop" framework, consisting of a context (opener) and a reveal (closer), which creates engaging micro-narratives that keep audiences hooked.
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Today we're talking about storytelling.
If you want your content to perform
better, you have to learn how to tell
better stories. And here's the truth
that may surprise you. Every great story
uses the exact same storytelling
framework. Whether you're Christopher
Nolan making movies or Nolan Christopher
around the fire, this one super simple
framework will 10x your stories
automatically. And after watching this,
I guarantee you will think differently
about the way you write scripts and make
videos. By the way, I'm Callaway. I have
a million followers. I've done billions
of views. And this stuff is all I do all
day long. Now, when you think about
storytelling, you probably imagine this
shape. This is the traditional story
arc. You've got introduction, rising
action, climax, falling action, and
resolution. It's what all our first
grade teachers taught us about
storytelling. And broadly, this is the
path that most great stories follow. But
here's the problem. If we all know that
arc is how most great stories are
constructed, why is storytelling still
so hard? It's hard because that broad
arc doesn't actually give you the
guidance on what to say or how to say it
to keep a viewer interested. It's a nice
framework, but it's actually not that
helpful tactically. Here's what is
helpful. If you metaphorically zoomed in
to that story arc, you would notice a
series of cascading loops. These loops
create many rise and fall actions that
keep the viewer engaged through the
broader arc. I call these story loops.
Think of it like mini hills before the
roller coaster hits the mega drop.
Instead of one giant up and down, all
the great stories have tons of mini up
and downs that live within each loop.
You string together enough loops and
you've got yourself a compelling story.
And so, if you're trying to get better
at storytelling, the million-dollar
question really is this. Is there a
framework for figuring out exactly what
to say in each loop so that a viewer
can't stop watching or listening? And it
turns out there is. If you understand
this one fundamental framework, story
loops, you could become a master
storyteller literally overnight. And I'm
telling you, this doesn't just apply to
nursery rhymes, and Disney movies. Every
single type of story, public speeches,
YouTube videos, sales presentations,
emails, even campfire stories. They all
get better when you understand how to
think in story loops. So, in this video,
I'm going to break down how the story
loops framework actually works, a few
different examples of it in action, and
then I'm going to share my tactical
steps for how you can apply it in your
own content. All right, let's dive in.
Every story loop is made up of just two
parts. The first half is the opening of
the loop. This is the context. And the
second half is the reveal, the closing
of the loop. So the loop gets open with
context and closed with the reveal. As
soon as one loop closes, another loop
opens. And this continues for the entire
story. Now, here's how these loops
actually work in the viewer's brain.
This is super important. First, you say
or show something to set context. This
can be an establishing fact, an opening
question, or a declarative detail. Once
the viewer hears or sees that context,
their brain tries to process what it
means. At this point, once the initial
context has been communicated, one of
two things is going to happen. Either
the viewer doesn't understand the
meaning of what was said. They get
bored, they get confused, and they churn
out. Or the viewer does understand the
meaning of what was said, they get
curious, and their brain starts
predicting what they think will happen
next. So, this first half of the loop is
all about clarity and understanding. Did
you say or show context in a way that
the viewer can understand it or not? For
example, let's say I started a story
with something like this. The bear
parked quickly. The unicycle flew in the
air. The red cabin swayed in the wind.
Trees rustled. The hollow was still.
Now, these couple sentences I just said
make zero sense. You're listening and
trying to connect what those sentences
mean and how those details connect
together. The bear parked what? What
does a bear in a unicycle and a red
cabin have to do with each other? Do
these things even go together? You're
asking yourself questions, but these
questions are because you're confused.
The point is that was an example of a
bad story loop intro. If a story started
out this way, you would lose interest
almost immediately because you're
completely confused as to what this
means and why those sentences were
strung together. Now, instead, imagine I
started that same story like this. There
was a red cabin swaying in the wind. A
bear walked out of it. He got on his
unicycle and started riding into town.
Now, this is a lot more clear. If you're
curious, you're asking yourself, why is
there a bear riding a unicycle? what is
he going to do when he gets to town,
etc. These are questions, but not from a
lack of clarity, from a source of
curiosity. And that's the big
difference. Viewers only have so much
leash for confusion in a story. The
context part of the loop has to be clear
enough so they can get curious in the
first place. So, it sounds pretty
simple, but this is the first half to
all story loops for every story. This
fundamental clarity point is so
critical. Okay, so the context has been
set, the curiosity has been peaked, and
the viewer is interested in finding out
what comes next. Here comes the second
half of the story loop, and this is
really where the money is made. Once
that initial context is set and clear,
the viewer's brain is going to start
predicting what it thinks will come
next. That proactive prediction is
curiosity. If you're good at telling a
story, the viewer will keep themselves
focused because they're so interested in
what's going to come. Now, once you set
the context and you get into the second
half of the story loop, there's only
five different scenarios that could
happen. A. The reveal is worse than
expected. B. The reveal is about neutral
or equivalent to what was expected. C.
The reveal is better than expected. D.
The reveal is unexpected but in a
confusing way. And E. The reveal is
unexpected but in an intriguing way. So,
you set some context. The viewer
predicts what will happen. And then you
make some reveal. And these are the five
types of reveals. Now, here's what
actually happens in each scenario. And I
promise this will be a light bulb moment
as soon as you hear it. When the reveal
is worse than expected, the viewer will
tune out and stop paying attention
immediately. When the reveal is about
equal to what was expected, the viewer
won't bounce, but their attention will
start fading quickly, and so it needs to
be recaptured as soon as possible. When
the reveal was better than expected,
dopamine releases in the viewer's brain,
and they keep paying attention. When the
reveal was unexpected but confusing, the
viewer tunes out and stops paying
attention immediately. And when the
reveal was unexpected but intriguing,
dopamine releases in the viewer's brain
and they keep paying attention. So, for
our example with the bear and the
unicycle, let's go through each of these
five scenarios and think which of the
five would be interesting enough to keep
you watching. Remember the first half of
the loop, the context was this. There
was a red house swaying in the woods. A
bear walked out of it. He got on his
unicycle and started riding into town.
Now, I want you to pause the video for
just a second and ask yourself, what do
I expect to happen next in the story?
Cuz this is really what people are doing
in their brain when they watch or listen
to a story. They hear something and then
their brain predicts what they think
will happen next based on the context
they heard. So, pause the video and just
think, guess what you think will happen.
Okay, now that you have that in your
head, I want you to compare how
interesting your scenario is against the
five different scenarios that I'm going
to walk through. Okay, so first
scenario, imagine this is where the
story went. This is what the reveal was.
There's a red cabin in the woods. A bear
walked out of it. He got on his unicycle
and started riding into town. As the
bear pedal, he noticed some potholes on
the ground. He tried his best to avoid
them, but the wheel kept bouncing up and
down and it made for an uncomfortable
ride. Now, this is an example where the
reveal would be worse than expected cuz
you're probably thinking, "Who cares at
all how bumpy the road was? These are
unnecessary, boring details. This story
sucks." So, you get bored, wonder why
you were wasting your time listening to
that, and you'd bounce. Okay, scenario
two. Imagine if I said this. As the bear
got to town, he approached a large black
building. It was ominous. The sign on
the door said, "Honey." The bear parked
his unicycle and walked in. This is an
example where the reveal is about in
line with what you'd expect. Based on
the context I gave originally, most
people would assume the bear would go
into town and visit some place or some
person. In this case, you're kind of
interested in what's coming next, but it
better be compelling or your interest
will be fading fast. Okay, scenario
number three. Now, imagine that I said
this. As the bear started pedaling, he
noticed he was under attack. There were
wolves that started chasing him on bikes
that came out of nowhere. They were
throwing fireballs at him, and so he was
pedaling as fast as he could, racing
through the woods. Now, this is an
example where the reveal is better than
expected. It's still in the realm of
possible outcomes, but you probably
didn't see that coming. And because of
that, your interest is now more peaked
and you're curious to figure out what's
going to happen next. All right, fourth
scenario. Imagine if I said this. As the
bear started pedaling, he quickly
stopped and pulled out a fifth of Jack
Daniels whiskey. He cracked the top,
drank calmly, and slowly emptied the
bottle into his stomach. Now, this is an
example of an unexpected result, but one
that's confusing and out of place. An
alcoholic bear. Who could have seen that
coming based on the unicycle and the
woods? It just doesn't make sense to
have those details come next. In other
words, it's unexpected, but it's
confusing. And because of that, you'd
probably stop watching, think it was
stupid, and bounce. All right, last
scenario. Imagine if I said this. As the
bear started pedaling, he clicked his
heels together, and suddenly the
unicycle flew into the air. Immediately,
the forest became small beneath him, and
he was soaring through the clouds. After
flying for a while, he looked down and
could see a castle in the distance as he
started descending towards it. Now, this
is an example of an unexpected reveal
that is also intriguing. I guarantee
nobody expected a flying unicycle and a
magic bear that was going to go fight at
the castle. But since that was revealed,
compared to the other five, you're now
on the edge of your seat trying to find
out what's going to happen next. As you
can see, there are certain reveal paths
that lead you to churning from the story
automatically. And those are the ones
where the reveal is worse than expected
or it's unexpected but confusing and you
don't want to keep watching. There are
also certain reveal paths that lead you
to get super curious and want to keep
watching at all costs. And those are
when the reveal is better than expected
or it's unexpected but also intriguing.
And then the remaining path, the fifth
one, is a neutral one. It doesn't really
kick you out of the story automatically,
but your attention is going to start
fading fast. And so the next loop better
be one of the good ones. Now, these
loops happen fast within a story.
Sometimes fully open and close in just a
couple sentences. And this loop
structure, context to reveal, is
actually how stories progress under the
hood. They're just a series of microl
loops stitched together to create that
big arc. And when you zoom out, you
can't tell the difference. Now, you may
be thinking that bare example was kind
of silly, but it turns out this
fundamental framework holds true for
every single type of story. Whether
you're a business owner making a YouTube
video, a creator making a Tik Tok, or
just an average person telling stories
around the fire, your ability to hold
attention will come down to how well you
can build your story loops. And the
macro point really is this. If the
reveal of the loop is confusing, or a
letown, the viewer is going to stop
paying attention and bounce. If the
reveal on the loop is exciting,
interesting, or curiosityinducing, the
viewer will keep paying attention
because they're curious as to what's
going to happen next. It really is that
simple. Now, to help make sure this
video is actually tactical for you and
not just strategic theory, I'm now going
to walk through my exact tactical
process for how I write scripts using
this story loop method. And I'm going to
share a couple different examples in
wildly different categories so you can
see how this process works in any niche.
By the way, guys, if you like how I
think about this stuff and you want me
to help you grow your business faster
using these principles, I've got a bunch
of links in the description for you to
check out. All right, here we go. This
is the exact process I use when writing
scripts to make my video so good that
viewers cannot stop watching or
listening. All right, the first step is
just to look at a story and try to
understand what are all the facts or
takes I have at my disposal that could
be interesting. And this process could
be slow or fast depending on how much
you know about the topic already. Now,
second, I pick which of those facts that
I think are most interesting that I want
to include in the story. And I do this
by asking myself what things if I told
the viewer would beat their expectation.
These are the second halves of the story
loops. These are the reveal facts.
Basically, I look at all the pieces that
could make up the story and I ask
myself, what would shock me if somebody
told it to me? For a short form video,
you've typically got three to four loops
total to work with in the 45 to 60
seconds. So, I'm just looking for three
to four interesting facts that would
shock me. For a long form YouTube video,
you've probably got eight to 10
different story loops, maybe a few more
because every point is its own loop. So,
you have a few more to play with. Now,
third, and this is really important, I
take those interesting facts, the second
half of my loop, and I work backwards to
figure out what context would I have to
provide to a viewer so that when they
got to the loop, it connected and
everything made sense. It's kind of like
starting at the end and working
backwards. That's how you really build a
story loop that is cohesive. And then
lastly, once I have these loops built,
I've got my first and second half kind
of dialed, these separate loops, I
figure out what order should I string
the loops together to make one cohesive
story arc that the viewer can follow.
And my whole goal when I'm stringing
those together is to make sure the full
story makes sense. Now, what do I mean
by make sense? If there are details in a
given loop that are required for someone
to understand a later loop, those
details have to come earlier, obviously.
So that's why most stories are explained
top down with the broadest context first
and the narrowest last. The broad
context serves as a bedrock that you can
use to explain more specific points
later. So that's step four is me
organizing. So just to go through step
one, look at all the points. Step two,
figure out what's most interesting, aka
the second half of my loop. Step three,
figure out what context facts do I need
to add so that when I do reveal those
interesting pieces, they make sense. And
step four, how do I organize those
different loops? So the holistic story
also makes sense. So let's take a look
at one of my short form videos where I
ran this exact same process. This one is
called the future of home design. It's
featuring this software called Zuru
where it's almost like a video game drag
and drop software with people can use to
design their house. This video got a
million views on each Instagram and Tik
Tok certified banger. And the process I
used was literally word for word what
I've explained here. So let's go through
it. This is the future of home design.
It's called Zuru. and their AI software
makes building your dream house feel
like you're playing a video game. It's
pretty wild. Now, on the platform, you
can literally drag and drop any
component you'd want in your home.
Walls, doors, windows, archways, high
ceilings, staircases, whatever you want.
Everything is completely customizable,
and it feels like a video game because
they literally built the entire platform
on top of the same game engine as
Fortnite. But here's really why this is
so powerful and unique. Because the
software is built with AI, all of your
design choices are automatically
pressure tested for real building codes.
The structural support, compliance,
energy efficiency, weather patterns,
it's all automatically checked and
incorporated while you're designing. And
the plumbing, the light switches, the
electrical, it's all done for you in a
single click. This means literally
anyone, even a 5-year-old, could design
a real home that could actually be built
safely anywhere in the world. But the
thing is, the design alone is only half
the story. Because on Zuru, once you
design the home you want, you can just
press print and their robot factory will
build and assemble the entire thing for
you. And this was the part that really
blew my mind. For every home or
building, Zuru creates a digital twin of
every single component and then feeds it
into their fully autonomous factory. And
by fully automating the manufacturing,
they're bringing the cost of home
building down significantly. People are
going to be able to build homes for 75%
cheaper than normal. And get this, Zuru
bought up a bunch of the Malibu
beachfront property that was on sale
from the wildfires. And so their next
project is to use this technology to
rebuild the California coast. Okay, like
I said, step one, research the story and
try to figure out all the possible facts
you could reference. I'm not going to
list those here. There's a lot. I'll
link below if you want to watch the
source video that I watched. It's like a
15-minute video. There's a collection of
things. There's a lot of facts, right?
So, that's step one is to just look at
all the facts. Step two, extract out
what the most interesting facts would
be. aka what would drive the most shock
if a viewer heard it and they were able
to contextually relate. So, these are
the four facts that I pulled out that I
thought were most interesting. The first
one is that this software makes
designing a home feel like a video game.
The second one is that this software is
so simple, literally a 5-year-old could
design a full house that could actually
be built. I thought that was super
interesting. The third one is that this
software was built on the same video
game engine as Fortnite. I thought that
was pretty interesting. And the fourth
one, the way this software actually does
their manufacturing to build the houses
make these houses 75% cheaper than all
other building methods. So all four of
those are really interesting facts,
right? And if told to the right viewer,
that would really peique their interest,
exceed their expectations, and make them
keep watching. So think of those as the
second halves of my four story loops.
Now I've got like what the reveal should
be. So now I have to figure out what
context facts do I say so that when I
reveal those pieces, they make sense to
the viewer. Okay, so we've got four
different loops. I'm going to break down
each one of those loops in detail, the
exact context that I included and why I
included it. Okay, so for loop one, the
payoff or reveal is that this home
design software makes designing a home
feel like a video game. So the context I
wrote that came before that in the
script was this. This is the future of
home design. It's called Zuru. Now, why
did I write that sentence before the big
payoff that this was a home design
software that made designing a home feel
like a video game? In this case, in
order for that reveal to make sense, I
had to first set up context that
something futuristic in the home design
category was coming next. And so, that's
why I said the future of home design.
So, as the viewer, when you hear this,
this is the future of home design, you
start predicting what you think the
future of home design might mean. That's
that context kicking into the
prediction. Now, when I closed that loop
and revealed the future of home design
is like a video game, that either
exceeded your expectations or was
unexpected based on what you came up
with. Either way, you're now really
intrigued. And so, that's all I had to
do for the first loop. You see how I
started with the end, I wanted to say it
was like a video game. But in order to
get that to be on target with your
brain, I had to first say, "This is the
future of home design to prime you
directionally so that when I gave you a
futuristic scenario, you understood what
that meant." All right, let's keep
going. Now, the second loop, the reveal,
again, the second half of the second
loop was anyone, even a 5-year-old,
could fully design a home that could be
built automatically. Now, the context
that I had to include before I gave that
payoff in the second loop was this.
Because the software is built with AI,
all the different design choices are
automatically tested against real
building codes. The structural support,
compliance, weather patterns, energy
efficiency, it's all automatically
tested and applied. and the plumbing,
the light switches, the electrical, it's
all added to your home design in a
single click. All of that, those three
sentences were context required before I
can make the claim that a 5-year-old
could design their house and actually
have it be built. Inherently, I knew
that 5-year-old thing was really
interesting. But in order for me to say
that, and you actually believe it's
viable, I had to add enough context
before so that you knew, well, the
things the 5-year-old wouldn't know
about home building were taken care of
automatically. That's why I added all
that context before. All right, loop
number three. The reveal I wanted for
the back half of loop number three was
that this software was actually built on
the exact same game engine as Fortnite.
Again, I thought that was a really
interesting cool tidbit and takeaway
that would exceed the viewers's
expectation. But like the others, I
needed some context before that so that
when I said that, it could prove to be
true. And so before that, I said and
showed on the platform you can literally
drag and drop any component you want in
your home. walls, doors, windows,
ceilings, archways, staircases, it's all
customizable. Now, again, the only way
to make that claim that this was built
on the same thing as Fortnite possible
is by showing and saying video game like
behavior so that you could see it and
then my claim would stick. Again, it
requires the context so that the reveal
connects in a clarity perspective. All
right, in the last loop number four, the
thing that I wanted the reveal for the
second half was that people are going to
be able to build their homes for 75%
cheaper of any other method. And again,
in order to make that claim seem viable,
that's a big claim. In order to make
that seem viable, I had to add a ton of
context right before. And the context I
added was this. Once you design your
home, you can literally just press print
and a robot factory will build it for
you completely automatically. For every
home, Zuru creates a digital twin where
they first print a 1/4 replica to test
and make sure it's structurally sound
before ultimately sending it to their
fully autonomous factory to build the
full thing. Now, again, in this case, I
knew that claim of 75% cheaper would
exceed the expectations of anyone
watching, but I had to first qualify it
with the right context, or else it
wouldn't map in their head. Okay, so
hopefully this makes sense seeing it in
action. All content, especially short
form and YouTube videos, all map back to
these loops. That's basically contextual
promise and then reveal judging back
against that promise. Is it clear and
possible, viable or not? If those
details are too disconnected, people
won't believe the reveal or claim you
make. Okay. Now, the fourth step in the
overall process for how I do this, the
last step, this is pretty easy, is
figuring out how to sequence those
loops. What I just went through, I have
four different loops that we now need to
sequence together in order to make a
cohesive story. Typically, the hook loop
or the first loop needs to be the
broadest possible thing that doesn't
require any previous context because you
can't start a story that requires
previous understanding or it's not going
to flow. So, that means loop number one,
the one I went through, has to go first.
From here, you have three choices. You
could either go with next, the
5-year-old being able to design the
house, the platform being the same video
game platform as Fortnite, or the
manufacturing process being 75% cheaper.
You have your pick between those three
loops. So, which one do you go with
next? Well, in this case, if I wanted to
use the 5-year-old piece, I would have
to first explain how easy the platform
was so that it would make sense. That
means we need to go with the video game
platform piece before the 5-year-old
designing it. If we first establish that
this is built on the same platform as a
video game and that it is drag and drop,
then it will make sense when we say,
"Oh, it's so easy a 5-year-old could use
it." Those don't work the other way. So,
that means loop number three has to come
next. First loop one and then loop
three. Now, we've got two loops left.
We've got the 5-year-old thing or the
manufacturing. If you think about
holistically in the story, the
5-year-old thing has to do with
designing the house. Manufacturing has
to do with making it. If you think in
order of building houses, first you
design and then you make it. So
logically, the story should flow loop
one, loop three, loop two, which is the
5-year-old thing, and then finally at
the end, the manufacturing piece. And
this was word for word the exact order
that I structured this video in. That
order got 2 million views. Now, I know
that when people watch these videos, the
hardest part is trying to take the
example that I give and translate it
into an example that makes sense for
you. If you make short form tech, I
literally just gave you the answer. But
if you do anything else, I know and
empathize that it can be difficult to
listen to the framework and extract it.
So, what I want to do is go through a
completely different example, completely
different sphere, and show you how that
applies to this story loops framework as
well. All right, let's take the opening
scene from The Dark Knight by
Christopher Nolan. If you haven't seen
this movie or this scene, it's the
Joker, the Batman villain, and his gang
of clowns robbing the bank, which sets
up the entire rest of the movie. The
first piece is Christopher Nolan, the
director, had to figure out what his
total super set of puzzle pieces were
that he could use as interesting reveal
points in the loops. Now, because this
is a madeup movie, those things could
literally be anything. He's not
researching. He's kind of coming up with
these narrative arcs, and that's where
the creative element in the storytelling
really comes in. What are those
interesting reveals or interesting head
fakes that you want to use? If you're
writing a movie or a book, these could
literally be anything. If you're making
an educational piece of content, usually
the set is a little bit more discreet,
so it's easier to find all your options.
So, that's step one is to list the
possibilities. Now, step two is to come
up with what you think are most
interesting. Now, after watching the
intro of Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan
used three reveals or three loop back
halves that I want to feature. The first
one is the Joker and his team robbing a
bank. The second one is the reveal that
the bank is actually a mob run bank.
It's not a normal bank, it's a mob run
bank. And the third, the real big one,
the macro one, is that the Joker is a
criminal mastermind. So Christopher
Nolan basically said, as we come off the
intro, if the viewer is aware of these
three things and they believe they make
sense based on the context we've set up,
we will have won the intro and they will
be intrigued to continue watching. And
really those first two points, the fact
they're robbing a bank and the fact that
it's a mob bank, both kind of fuel the
third macro point, which is the Joker is
a criminal mastermind. But just for sake
of argument, keep with me. Okay, so
that's step two in the process. Pick the
interesting reveals. Okay, so what does
Christopher Nolan do now? Now he has to
figure out what context does he show and
say before those reveals so that when
the viewer gets the aha reveal moment,
it makes sense and exceeds their
expectations. So, for the first loop,
the fact that he's revealing the Joker
and his team are robbing a bank. This is
all the context that he shares leading
up to that moment. He starts off the
scene with the Joker holding the clown
mask. And then he gets into a car and he
sees the clowns and they're cocking the
guns getting ready. Then he cuts to the
scene where the two guys are ziplining
across also wearing clown masks. At this
point, you don't know they're robbing a
bank. You just know they're going to do
some job and you're guessing. The brain
is predicting what it thinks they're
doing. He doesn't actually reveal that
they're robbing a bank until 52 seconds
in. So, this is the first kind of micro
loop. All that context visually in the
movie is meant to try to get the viewer
guessing as to what they're doing.
You're asking questions. Why are they
wearing clown masks? What job are they
doing? Will they be successful? That's
the first kind of micro loop in the
movie. Now, the second loop is him
subtly revealing that the bank they're
robbing is not actually a normal bank.
It's a mob bank. And this one doesn't
fully close until after the intro later
in the movie, but it's worth still
discussing. Anyways, in this case,
Nolan's dropping some subtle contextual
hints that you really wouldn't notice
unless you were really looking for them.
This is meant to be one of those, ah,
like light bulb, I didn't notice that
the first time I watched it, kind of
reveals. So, when they're first trying
to hack the phones on the roof, one of
the clowns goes, "Oh, that's weird. The
outgoing call wasn't to 911. It was to a
private number." It's almost like a
throwaway line, but that's adding
context to the reveal that this is
actually a mob run bank. The other thing
he does is he gives the bank manager a
shotgun, which is very atypical for a
bank manager. And then finally, the more
clear one is when the bank manager comes
out and says, "You have no idea who
you're robbing. You have no idea who
you're messing with." Again, all three
of these are meant to be context clues
that lead you to have the epiphany, "Oh,
this is actually a mob run bank. The
Joker really is crazy." Now, the third
loop, as I mentioned before, really is
the big one. And this reveal is that he
wants the viewer to come away with the
fact that the Joker is a criminal
mastermind. He's unique. He's atypical.
He's a psychopath. And to do this, he
adds a ton of context during the robbery
that leads you down this path. For one,
he shows the clown accompllices shooting
each other as they complete the jobs.
Again, that's atypical for a robbery.
Number two, he shows the Joker
strategically using the bus to run over
the guy that has the weapon pointed at
him, which is like clever and shows this
like sophistication and criminal
mastery. Third, when the Joker leans
down to talk to the bank manager, he
pulls his mask off to reveal real face
paint and real scars. Again, leading to
this idea that like this guy is wild. He
does his own jobs. He's a crazy person.
Fourth, the grenade that the Joker puts
in the bank manager's mouth is connected
via a string to his suit, which also
shows this guy's crazy. Who would do
that? And then when the grenade finally
pulls, it's not explosive. It's a smoke
grenade. Again, shown that he is
manipulating people mentally. Again, the
point of all that context is so that it
leads the viewer to the reveal that the
Joker is a psychopath mastermind. And
that all happens over time in the intro
as those context clues are revealed. All
this was in the first 5 minutes of the
movie. You could say it's only one loop,
but really it's three loops in the first
5 minutes. By the end of the 2 and 1
half hour movie, there are dozens and
dozens of microl loops that have all
stacked together to map the full arc of
the movie. And this is how great
storytelling works. You start with the
interesting reveal points and you work
backwards to figure out what context do
I need to show so that when a viewer
gets to that reveal, it exceeds their
expectations or they have an aha moment.
All right guys, that is all I've got for
this video. As a recap, the base
building blocks of storytelling, really
the only framework that matters are
loops. Each loop is just a context
opener and a reveal closer. If you want
to improve your storytelling, you first
have to understand what the actually
interesting reveal facts are and then
work backwards to figure out what
context you need to add so that when a
viewer gets there, the reveal makes
sense. The most common mistake I see
with storytelling is that the context
provided is disconnected or unclear when
related to the interesting fact. So you
say something, reveal something else,
but the connection isn't clear. When
that happens, the viewer doesn't have
the epiphany moment. If you think about
stories in these terms, through story
loops, I guarantee your storytelling
will 10x immediately. As always guys,
I'm really trying to push the envelope
with respect to content strategy and
storytelling. You can hear in my voice,
my voice is completely gone. I've been
working all day on this video. If you're
trying to grow faster on social media
and YouTube and you want to use advanced
strategies that are not obvious to the
average person, this channel will be the
best one you could watch. And if you're
a business owner, make sure you join
Wavy World. I have a link in the
description. It's a completely free
community for entrepreneurs. We have 65
free trainings, 38,000 other
entrepreneurs, all working together to
improve their content on social media
and YouTube. If you're looking for a
cohort or a peer group to get feedback
from, and you also want to learn the
advanced stuff that I'm teaching, it's
completely free. There's a link in the
description for you if you want to join.
All right, guys. We will see you on the
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