The article 10 Simple Rules of Visual Storytelling, by Ernesto Olivares, lays down the fundamentals of visual storytelling with 10 broad rules:
- 1.) Show, don’t tell.
- 2.) Context is everything.
- 3.) Show people.
- 4.) Be personal, be true.
- 5.) Show conflict.
- 6.) Reveal hidden things.
- 7.) Focus.
- 8.) Keep moving.
- 9.) Don’t be obvious.
- 10.) Teach something.
Each of these rules are simple, yet highly effective for telling an engaging and memorable story. To give clarity to each of the rules, Olivares included references to popular movie titles that effectively utilized each rule and were able to stand out from the rest. A notable excerpt from the article was on the topic of sharing your true experience.
Share your true story and you’ll be setting yourself apart from all the other brands out there. They can’t share that same story, because they are not you.
Ernesto Olivares
The storytelling example that was given to support this statement was, Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. A movie about a true story which took place during the Holocaust. Spielberg’s earlier works were mainly science fiction and had not won any awards. However after Schindler’s List, Spielberg had started to become a recognized director.
I really enjoyed reading through the article and exploring why I enjoy some of my favorite movies. These rules could be compared to a formula for creating an entertaining story. I am sure that you don’t have to follow all of these rules to have a great story, but it at least guides the creative process in the right direction!
I think we read similar articles talking about “rules of storytelling” — and I like your’s a lot more. This list of tips reminds us about a few more really important things when telling stories, like “reveal hidden things” and “don’t be obvious”. These may not be things we think about when we tell a story, so this was a nice little nudge to remind us!
LikeLike
Hi there, I liked your article reaction. I liked how you listed out the ten main points that are important to storytelling. I would suggest that you go a little more in depth about each one instead of being vague describing all of them. Maybe make it a lot more interesting and describe how if any of these you use yourself when you tell stories.
LikeLike
Really good response! You are the first article I read with quotes like that and I am impressed with how well structured everything looks. The rules are also a great place to start for story telling, and a nice 10 point list makes them easy to digest. My only criticism is that you could have written a little more on the response, but it has enough to get the points across, so well done overall!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is good advice for storytelling, I also greatly resonate with him using schindler’s list as an example. It was a very well told story, especially as it follows the rules listed above. Good luck with the rest of the semester.
LikeLike
This is good advice for storytelling, I also greatly resonate with him using schindler’s list as an example. It was a very well told story, especially as it follows the rules listed above. Good luck with the rest of the semester.
LikeLike
Looks like a good and straight to the point article. These tips for storytelling are all important, and without them a lot of stories just wouldn’t make sense. My only advice is to maybe go a bit more in depth with your examples. Also nice use of the quote!
LikeLike
I’ve also read this article, and I thought the inclusion of specific examples from companies like Pixar or others were very helpful! They seem like helpful starting points to keep in mind.
LikeLike
Were their any rules you think you implemented in your first project? If so did you consciously try to follow these rules or did it occur naturally?
LikeLike
It was pretty natural for my first project. I made sure to not to use as much text and rely more on visuals to enhance the story!
LikeLike