0:00 today we're talking about storytelling
0:01 if you want your content to perform
0:03 better you need to learn how to tell
0:04 better stories so in this video I'm
0:06 going to walk through my six favorite
0:08 storytelling techniques that will
0:10 massively improve your content after
0:12 watching this I guarantee you will think
0:14 differently about the way you write
0:15 scripts and make videos by the way I'm
0:17 Callaway I've pulled over a billion
0:19 views on short form video I've got
0:20 500,000 followers and I think about this
0:22 stuff all the time all right let's dive
0:24 in tip number one is what I call the
0:25 dance all great stories are like a dance
0:28 between context and conflict you give a
0:31 little context the characters on a
0:32 mission they're doing something and then
0:34 oh oh no here comes a conflict you give
0:36 a little bit more context the characters
0:37 have solved that first conflict they're
0:39 on their way and then oh oh no another
0:41 conflict this dance is how you keep the
0:43 viewer locked in it could be a feature
0:45 film or a short form video the dance is
0:47 always there now why does this work
0:49 conflicts create open Loops in the brain
0:52 and then context helps close those Loops
0:54 the best explanation I've ever seen for
0:56 how to tactically implement this dance
0:58 idea is from Matt Stone and Trey Parker
1:00 they're the ones who created South Park
1:02 they were giving a talk at NYU watch
1:03 this we found out this really simple
1:05 rule that maybe you guys have all heard
1:07 before but it took us a long time to
1:09 learn it but we can take these beats
1:12 which are basically the Beats of your
1:13 outline and if the words and then belong
1:18 between those beats you're basically you
1:21 got you got something pretty boring what
1:23 should happen between every beat that
1:25 you've written down is either the word
1:27 therefore or but right so so what I'm
1:31 saying is that you come up with an idea
1:32 and it's like okay this happens right
1:35 and then this happens no no no it should
1:37 be this happens and therefore this
1:40 happens but this happens therefore this
1:43 happens and that as soon as we are able
1:45 to and literally sometimes we'll we'll
1:47 write it out to make sure we're doing it
1:49 U we'll we'll have our beats and we'll
1:51 say okay this happened but then this
1:53 happens and that affects this and that
1:55 does to that and that's why you get a
1:57 show that feels like okay this to that
1:58 to this to that but this here's the
2:00 complication to that so tactically it's
2:03 as simple as using the words but and
2:05 therefore consistently throughout your
2:07 script that will create those open
2:09 conflict Loops if you're using the words
2:11 and then it'll feel like you're piling
2:13 on detail after detail after detail and
2:15 the viewer will lose interest now let's
2:17 quickly take a look at one of my best
2:18 performing videos you'll notice there
2:19 are four but then conflict Loops in the
2:23 first 30 seconds watch this something
2:25 crazy is happening with Stanley Cups you
2:27 ever seen one of these Stanley Cups
2:29 Stanley Cups Stanley Cup racking up 6.7
2:31 billion views this 40 o Stanley quencher
2:33 has become the Louis Vuitton of drink
2:35 wear it's a status symbol new releases
2:37 are selling out in seconds people are
2:39 flipping them for hundreds on eBay
2:41 Stanley the company 10x its Revenue in 4
2:44 years off this single product but the
2:46 real question is how' they do it how did
2:48 Stanley Cups go from a construction
2:49 worker's thermos to the dream Christmas
2:51 gift I got a
2:53 Stanley it's a wild story so in 2019
2:56 Stanley was actually about to
2:57 discontinue the cup but this group of
2:59 mom block loggers the buy guide knew
3:01 they were making a huge mistake so they
3:03 cut a special affiliate deal with
3:04 Stanley to bulk order 5,000 cups with a
3:07 Twist Stanley had to make them pastel
3:09 colors those 5,000 cups sold out in 5
3:12 days and completely Chang their
3:13 philosophy on design but it gets even
3:15 better a few months ago Stanley had the
3:17 burning car moment so I'm consistently
3:19 setting up these head fakes to keep the
3:20 storyline moving use this but then
3:22 framework next time you're Ting a script
3:23 I guarantee it'll uplevel that video all
3:25 right tip number two is rhythm I talk
3:27 about this a lot but there's this
3:28 natural subconscious pacing and Rhythm
3:31 that is soothing to the brain you can
3:33 hear in my delivery I'm pretty decent
3:34 with this like natural EB and flow the
3:37 rhythm of the syllables when I talk is
3:39 soothing to listen to now I used to be a
3:41 rapper and I was a drummer Growing Up So
3:43 this pacing and rhythm is kind of
3:44 embedded in me which I think is why I'm
3:47 naturally good at talking in this way
3:49 but I do have this tactical way that can
3:51 improve anyone else at Rhythm take a
3:53 look at this image which was written by
3:54 the legendary author Gary Provost now
3:57 listen as I read this this sentence has
3:59 five words here are five more words
4:01 five-word sentences are fine but several
4:03 together become monotonous listen to
4:04 what is happening this writing is
4:06 getting boring the sound of it drones
4:08 it's like a stuck record the ear demands
4:10 some variety now listen I vary the
4:12 sentence length and I create music music
4:15 the writing sings it has a pleasant
4:17 Rhythm a lilt a Harmony I use short
4:19 sentences and I use sentences of medium
4:21 length and sometimes when I'm certain
4:23 the reader is rested I will engage him
4:25 with a sentence of considerable length a
4:26 sentence that burns with energy and
4:28 builds with all the impotence of a
4:30 crescendo the roll of the drums the
4:31 crash of the symbols sounds that say
4:33 listen to this it is important so write
4:35 with a combination of short medium and
4:37 long sentences create a sound that
4:39 pleases the reader's ear don't just
4:41 write words write music you see how when
4:44 all the sentences in the same row are
4:45 about the same length it creates this
4:47 monotonous predictability subconsciously
4:49 people get turned off by this this is
4:51 what makes them churn to the next video
4:53 what you want is to use a variety of
4:55 sentences and syllable combinations to
4:57 create this unpredictable Rhythm now if
4:59 you look at my script document I write
5:01 every sentence on a separate line if you
5:03 look straight down it'll look like a
5:05 jagged edge and that confirms that I'm
5:07 using different length sentences next
5:09 time you're writing a script try to look
5:10 for this if you see your document and
5:12 all the sentences seem to end at around
5:14 the same point you don't have enough
5:15 diversity and it will feel like this
5:17 monotonous plotting all right lesson
5:19 three is tone the most successful
5:21 creators in every discipline are the
5:22 ones with the most conversational Tone
5:24 It really feels like you're right in the
5:26 room with them Emma Chamberlain ascended
5:27 to stardom so quickly because she was
5:29 naturally amazing at this Casey iats
5:32 another one that's really good at this
5:34 when you watch his videos and you listen
5:35 to him talk it feels like he's right in
5:37 the room with you now the person I
5:38 learned from most about this was Steve
5:40 Jobs if you watch his original keynote
5:42 from the first iPhone launch in 2008 he
5:44 is amazing at creating this
5:46 conversational room like you and him are
5:48 just golf buddies shooting the now
5:50 this is very intentional and took years
5:52 of practice for him to hone in he's also
5:54 very gifted at it by doing this Emma
5:56 Casey Steve and others are able to break
5:58 down that conscious barrier of personal
6:01 identity when you watch instead of you
6:03 questioning to yourself am I getting
6:05 sold to you get out of your own mind and
6:07 just feel like you're in a conversation
6:09 like you would have to answer a question
6:10 that they ask you directly in a way you
6:12 forget where you are and that's the
6:14 magic of this now I'm still working on
6:15 this myself I've only been making
6:17 content for like 18 months but if you go
6:18 back to my first 50 videos it really
6:20 does feel like I'm talking at you
6:22 instead of with you the best tactical
6:24 way to get better than this other than
6:26 just 100 reps is to write and film your
6:29 videos as if you're talking to one close
6:31 friend if you have to just print out a
6:33 picture of them and tape it on the
6:34 bottom of your camera lens so you're
6:36 literally looking at them as you record
6:38 and when you write your scripts make it
6:39 so like you're typing a text or
6:41 recording an audio note directly to them
6:43 over time you'll get better at this
6:45 conversational nature but it will feel
6:46 like you're having a one-on-one
6:47 conversation that's how you break down
6:49 this barrier tone is one of those things
6:50 that inevitably you will get better over
6:52 time the more you film The more you
6:53 forget that the camera is just a camera
6:55 all right tip number four is Direction
6:58 this may seem counterintuitive but the
6:59 best place to start when you're writing
7:00 a story is the end figure out what the
7:02 end is going to be and then work
7:04 backwards from there I like to call the
7:06 last line of my script the last dab
7:08 because I want it to be so memorable
7:09 that if that's all someone heard they'd
7:12 be willing to share it with a friend in
7:13 short form video especially the video is
7:15 designed to Loop so the last line is
7:17 actually a setup for the first lines as
7:19 it replays I think of this a lot like
7:21 baseball the nine hitter is supposed to
7:23 set the table for the top of the order
7:25 it's the exact same thing with the last
7:27 line or two of your video when you're
7:28 thinking about how to write the script
7:29 script focus on where you want to take
7:31 the viewer what do you want to leave
7:32 them with what do you want the last
7:33 thing they hear to be then you can work
7:35 backwards from there and build up that
7:37 dance in the middle when I think about
7:38 someone that does this super well it's
7:39 Christopher Nolan think about his films
7:41 tenant Inception Interstellar these are
7:43 extremely complicated plot lines that
7:46 inevitably he had to work out the end
7:48 before he could build up the conflict in
7:50 the middle now you're probably not
7:51 shooting feature films but this same
7:52 logic can be applied to all types of
7:54 content usually when I'm writing scripts
7:56 I'll write the first and last line I'll
7:58 go in between create a bunch of space
8:00 and then I'll fill it in that's a good
8:01 tactical way to try to get better at
8:02 this all right tip number five is a
8:04 concept that I call story lenses and
8:06 it's a way to get better at producing
8:08 unique content for social media in
8:10 today's day and age finding a cool topic
8:12 is not enough unless you're super niched
8:14 down there's likely dozens of other
8:15 people that are talking about that same
8:17 topic so how do you differentiate a
8:18 story lens is your unique angle or spin
8:21 on a particular story imagine a beam of
8:23 light the beam of light's coming across
8:25 the screen the naked beam everyone looks
8:26 at and sees the same thing it's like
8:28 this white beam of light but as as soon
8:29 as you put a lens or a prism in front of
8:32 the light what people see will look
8:33 differently than the main beam think of
8:35 that prism or that lens as your story
8:38 lens it's your unique fingerprint and
8:40 how you uniquely tell the story about
8:42 that topic let's take an example when
8:44 Taylor Swift went to the Super Bowl the
8:46 most common lenses would have been to
8:47 talk about what she's wearing or when
8:49 she's getting there or what her facial
8:51 reaction is to something a lot of people
8:53 covered those exact same stories a less
8:55 common lens would be to talk about a
8:56 prediction for what you think might
8:58 happen less people would have have that
8:59 but an even less common lens would be to
9:01 talk about the business impact that she
9:03 was driving on the NFL for being at the
9:05 game and that's the lens that I chose to
9:07 take because I thought I could be a
9:08 category of one that's why I ultimately
9:10 made this video and it pulled a million
9:12 views it was different my story lens was
9:14 something unique that people hadn't seen
9:15 before all right the last tip number six
9:17 is the hook now I left this for last
9:19 because everybody always talks about the
9:21 hook first and it makes sense it is very
9:23 important if people churn on the hook
9:24 the rest of what I talked about doesn't
9:25 really matter so I've got two ways to
9:27 level up your hooks the first is that
9:28 your first line should be as Punchy and
9:31 as indicative of the plot as possible if
9:33 the video is about your best Garden
9:35 techniques the hook should be some
9:36 derivative of these are the best Garden
9:38 techniques for x or I've got these
9:40 Garden techniques or this thing is a
9:42 garden technique that you should study
9:43 you shouldn't start your hook with some
9:45 open opaque line like wait till you see
9:47 this or you're never going to believe
9:48 this because if the first line doesn't
9:49 immediately grab the viewer in short
9:51 form video You're Dead the second point
9:53 on hooks that's extremely powerful and
9:55 something I overlooked for a long time
9:56 is that visual hooks are 10 times more
9:59 more effective than Audio Only hooks
10:01 what does this mean when you're on the
10:02 screen and you're saying something but
10:04 the only thing the viewer can see is
10:05 your mouth moving and maybe the captions
10:07 dancing that's going to be way less
10:09 effective than if you put a visual on
10:11 the screen for them to look and react to
10:13 because people's eyes perceive faster
10:15 than their ears can hear so you want to
10:17 complement what you're saying with a
10:19 visual on the screen this is a visual
10:20 hook somebody that's really good at this
10:22 is my friend Kevin from epic gardening
10:24 if you watch his videos he immediately
10:26 shows a visual that confirms what what
10:29 he's talking about like this one about
10:30 strawberries before I hear anything he
10:32 says I see a strawberry on the screen
10:34 it's Vivid red immediately I know this
10:36 video is going to be about strawberries
10:37 if I like strawberries I'm going to
10:38 stick around to see what he's saying now
10:40 I've started testing this and I've
10:41 noticed the visual hook aspect has been
10:43 super helpful at retaining viewers so in
10:46 summary when you're thinking about your
10:47 hook get to the point and show while you
10:49 tell all right that's it for this one if
10:50 you like this video and got value from
10:52 it I host a free community for people
10:53 that are trying to level up their
10:55 content creators entrepreneurs marketers
10:57 it's called Wavey world I've got all
10:58 types of vide like this how to pick
11:00 content topics editing tips how to
11:02 create formats and series if you need
11:04 content to help improve your business or
11:06 build your personal brand you should be
11:07 in there it's completely free in the
11:08 meantime keep me posted on what you
11:10 thought of this video and we'll see you
11:11 guys on the next one peace
Chrome Extension