I don’t watch much regular television. However, I do watch the playoffs series of a few major sports. There are often too many annoying ads about greedy insurance companies, oversized pickups, and other products which I don’t care about. Loud music, over-the-top special effects, and teeth-grating voice-overs often cause me to mute the ads until regular programming resumes. But recently, I noticed a different type of ad which made me rethink the mute button strategy. There are ads out there with more show and less tell—ads employing the art of visual storytelling without voice-over.
The Art of Visual Storytelling
When I worked as a legal trial consultant, I traveled across the country working with different lawyers, most of them brilliant legal scholars. It’s too bad most were horrible storytellers.
If there was a picture on the projection screen, they had to tell the jury what it was. If it was a PowerPoint slideshow, many of them felt compelled to read every word on each slide. My seat in the courtroom let me watch the agony up close. Some jurors, and some judges, drifted in and out of reality, some fell asleep, while others passed the time playing imaginary games with their fingers. All the while the long-winded oration went on and on and on. I’m not sure what you call it, but it involved too much telling and not enough showing.
Visual storytelling is something that can be accomplished through using several mediums—photos, illustrations, video, animations, music, sound effects, on-screen text, and so on. What visual storytelling does not include is words. Which brings me back to my original point: ads that have ditched voiceover for the art of digital storytelling.
I scoured YouTube to see if I could find a few examples to show you what I’m talking about.
Case Study: Max’is Creations | The Mug with a Hoop
I like this ad because it comes across more like a social media post than a television advert. And that’s part of its appeal. It’s also short (only 18 seconds), has a nice music track, and some animated on-screen text. But the star of the commercial is the product itself—the mug with a hoop.
Case Study: Skyborne Inc. | The Trigger Plus+ Wallet
I like this ad because there is no voiceover. There’s also no music. There are only a couple of instances of on-screen text. This 30-second spot is filled with nice animations and minimal sound effects. The visual story is you need to get rid of your old traditional wallet and get a Trigger Plus+ from Skyborne. End of story.
Case Study: GoFiltr Products | Make Alkaline Water with GoFiltr Infusers
Again, another ad without voiceover or hyped-up pushy product pitchperson. Did I mention how much I like not hearing anybody talking? This 30-second spot features nice stop motion animation and has a groovy looping soundtrack. The focus of the ad is the alkaline water infuser. Story told without one word spoken. Bliss.
Some of My Conceptual Designs
You don’t need fancy effects or a creative studio to get an effective visual storytelling product. Thinking about the video content I produce for myself and my clients, almost none of it has any voiceover or complex motion graphics. In most cases, I’ve found you don’t need those elements to tell a compelling short-form story.
Below are a couple of conceptual examples I created to show the realm of what’s possible.
Create Your Own Visual Stories
Even if you don’t have professional editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro, there are free video editors out there. It’s less about the tools and more about the creative process of learning to craft and tell visual stories. Focus on showing instead of telling. Browse my portfolio and look at some of the videos and social media content I’ve created to give you some inspiration. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll amaze yourself and others too.
Share This Story!
Related Posts
I don’t watch much regular television. However, I do watch the playoffs series of a few major sports. There are often too many annoying ads about greedy insurance companies, oversized pickups, and other products which I don’t care about. Loud music, over-the-top special effects, and teeth-grating voice-overs often cause me to mute the ads until regular programming resumes. But recently, I noticed a different type of ad which made me rethink the mute button strategy. There are ads out there with more show and less tell—ads employing the art of visual storytelling without voice-over.
The Art of Visual Storytelling
When I worked as a legal trial consultant, I traveled across the country working with different lawyers, most of them brilliant legal scholars. It’s too bad most were horrible storytellers.
If there was a picture on the projection screen, they had to tell the jury what it was. If it was a PowerPoint slideshow, many of them felt compelled to read every word on each slide. My seat in the courtroom let me watch the agony up close. Some jurors, and some judges, drifted in and out of reality, some fell asleep, while others passed the time playing imaginary games with their fingers. All the while the long-winded oration went on and on and on. I’m not sure what you call it, but it involved too much telling and not enough showing.
Visual storytelling is something that can be accomplished through using several mediums—photos, illustrations, video, animations, music, sound effects, on-screen text, and so on. What visual storytelling does not include is words. Which brings me back to my original point: ads that have ditched voiceover for the art of digital storytelling.
I scoured YouTube to see if I could find a few examples to show you what I’m talking about.
Case Study: Max’is Creations | The Mug with a Hoop
I like this ad because it comes across more like a social media post than a television advert. And that’s part of its appeal. It’s also short (only 18 seconds), has a nice music track, and some animated on-screen text. But the star of the commercial is the product itself—the mug with a hoop.
Case Study: Skyborne Inc. | The Trigger Plus+ Wallet
I like this ad because there is no voiceover. There’s also no music. There are only a couple of instances of on-screen text. This 30-second spot is filled with nice animations and minimal sound effects. The visual story is you need to get rid of your old traditional wallet and get a Trigger Plus+ from Skyborne. End of story.
Case Study: GoFiltr Products | Make Alkaline Water with GoFiltr Infusers
Again, another ad without voiceover or hyped-up pushy product pitchperson. Did I mention how much I like not hearing anybody talking? This 30-second spot features nice stop motion animation and has a groovy looping soundtrack. The focus of the ad is the alkaline water infuser. Story told without one word spoken. Bliss.
Some of My Conceptual Designs
You don’t need fancy effects or a creative studio to get an effective visual storytelling product. Thinking about the video content I produce for myself and my clients, almost none of it has any voiceover or complex motion graphics. In most cases, I’ve found you don’t need those elements to tell a compelling short-form story.
Below are a couple of conceptual examples I created to show the realm of what’s possible.
Create Your Own Visual Stories
Even if you don’t have professional editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro, there are free video editors out there. It’s less about the tools and more about the creative process of learning to craft and tell visual stories. Focus on showing instead of telling. Browse my portfolio and look at some of the videos and social media content I’ve created to give you some inspiration. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll amaze yourself and others too.
