create: with the end in mind.
Many have called my creative process unconventional! Why? Because I always begin with the end in mind.
Whether it be short or long form video, a picture or an article, I always ask myself the following 3 questions:
what story do I want to tell
what type of emotion do I want to elicit from my audience
is it timeless
The Story.
I start by narrowing down the (digital) format which will be used to share the story.
For this article I will focus on video.
If it’s video I determine the length. Short form ( which happens to be my expertise) - For reference, anything under 10 minutes is considered short form. Anything over 10 mins is considered long form.
After the length has been established, I gather my client’s goals, message and target audience.
Once that’s done I create a “storyboard” which is essentially a scene by scene breakdown.
2. The Audience
Based on the story, I choose the music or the audio for the video. Audio can either make, or break your content, choose wisely. It’s been proven that music influences human behavior, that said the right song can elicit the right emotion. I always choose my song based on the story I want to tell.
3. Timelessness
The average cost for a 30 second tv commercial can start at 10k. There’s also commercial airtime costs, and those prices vary based on whether it’s local tv, national tv or streaming. For those reasons, creating timeless content is imperative for a number of reasons, but mainly because you want to be able to repurpose your content, or in the event that you are creating for a brand, timeless content allows them to reuse it, which means you can collect royalties for their usage of your content. Always think long term.
In closing , one of my favorite quotes:
“ To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”
-Stephen Covey - author of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
Here’s to always keeping the end in mind.
Creatively Yours,
Charlotte