Let’s start at the beginning
Merlí : Sapere Aude | Opening Titles from The Others on Vimeo.
You might have a great idea.
You might feel the urge to start drawing because you feel it deep inside and it is about to explode.
But if you do not work on that idea bit by bit, if you simply start creating impulsively, defining techniques and graphics, choosing colors and building walls without preparing a solid base, you will likely get lost at some point in the process. You will lose the sense of it, it won’t meet the initial objective, and the story will fall apart.
Going back is a complicated process because you have lost momentum and perspective, and the story starts to feel overwhelming. Not to mention that if it is a commission, time is already running out.
So, my first piece of advice is this. If you want to persuade your audience and convey a message, do not skip the foundations.
Before telling a good story, you need to know what you are going to talk about, make decisions, and, finally, create the story.
3 phases in the storytelling process
1. Research
To create a good story, you always have to research and analyze. Firstly, to truly understand what you are going to tell and not just stay on the surface. Also, because it is an ideal tool to start generating your first ideas.
2. Decide on the story strategy
With the data you gathered during research, start making decisions: what you want or need to talk about (theme), what you want to convey (message), what you want to provoke in the audience (emotion), and how you are going to explain it to them (tone).
3. Build the story
The research and the decisions you have made are fundamental, as they will be the focus of your story and will guide you in building it. In this phase, keep the following mainly in mind:
- Plot: How does it start, what happens, and how does it end?
- Atmosphere: How can you reinforce the concept with the setting, the background, the effects, the colors, etc.?
- Characters: What kind of person, shape, animal, or object drives the story? What happens to them? How do they evolve? Is there more than one?
- Conflict: If your protagonist has a conflict, you will give them a special power to connect with the audience.
One more tip. Creating a small structure to know where to place each action helps a lot in controlling the rhythm.
Creativity without limits
The great thing about Motion Graphics is that there are no limits to the imagination.
Anything can happen and anything can be a character.
A story must move people, contain a message, and be easy to tell and understand. The audience must empathize with it. Otherwise, it has not fulfilled its purpose.
