Monthly Archives: September 2015

Unleash the Storyteller

 

People love stories.  The juicier the better.  You’ve seen tabloid headlines like these:
Sex scandal topples Health Guru’s Empire
Corruption traced to Highest Levels
Giant creature roams sewers of Paris
We filmmakers can learn from these sleazy tabloids.
How?
Well, often we’re asked to make films that are boring, data-driven scripts, i.e. “XY Corp finds increased efficiency on production line outperforms competitors.”   Many companies are telling their “stories” on YouTube but they’re boring, not “juicy”.
So, what’s the secret to getting people to watch our films?
We don’t have to use the sleazy tactics of the tabloids to fix a boring corporate script.  We just need to find a hook, and a pretty wrapper for the message. For example, the XY Corp story above we could massage into a more enticing approach”
“The Secret to perfectly grilled salmon”
The rewritten script would show a corporate picnic with the Pres and his workers grilling salmon together. During the video we mention that XP Corp is doing so well that they have barbecues for the employees and their families.  There are scenes of the Pres and his employees yukking it up.
The RESULT?  We got the message across.
What’s the Secret to Getting People to Watch Your Film?
  1. Bait the HOOK with something interesting to catch viewers. (Everybody wants to know how to grill salmon without drying it out).
  2. Put the message in a pretty WRAPPER – beautiful shots of buttery salmon, the sizzling grill, the smoke, the camaraderie around the table and great music.
  3. Weave the MESSAGE casually into the video (XY Corp is doing great, the president’s great and the employees are happy.  We might even throw in an interview or two of employees commenting on how nice it is to work for a well-run company.)
SUMMARY: If we want our videos to be watched, they need to be interesting (Bait the HOOK with something the audience is interested in), have aesthetically sexy images and sounds (the WRAPPER) so we have a film that captures and holds the audience’s attention while we deliver the MESSAGE.
This is our specialty.
We’ve built an award-winning career making corporate stories interesting.  And for the last five years, in the CineBootCamps, we’ve been teaching filmmakers what we’ve learned.
The old saying:
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”
 
I would paraphrase that to say,
“The way to the audience’s mind is through their heart.”
 
Turn that boring blog of data into something interesting to the heart,
with a well-baited HOOK and a WRAPPER that will get viewership.  
EXAMPLE ONE – Ocean Spray
We promoted Ocean Spray by telling the story of cranberry harvest on an Oregon farm that’s about to become a century farm (in the same family for 100 years.)  We wrapped Ocean Spray in an interesting story.  As we tell that story, we’re raising the awareness of the audience and their affinity for Ocean Spray and cranberries.  Next time they’re in the store we’ve increased the likelihood they’ll reach for Ocean Spray.  We’re selling Ocean Spray without selling it.
Check out HARVEST – a film featuring Ocean Spray.
(This CineBootCamps film premiered at Canon’s Hollywood Center.)
HARVEST (for Ocean Spray)
HARVEST (Ocean Spray)
EXAMPLE TWO – kindle
THE WOMAN ON THE TRAIN shows the poetry of Pablo Neruda comforting a woman on the subway.  Again, in telling this woman’s story with its romantic fantasy, we role of kindle in the lives of millions.  We’re selling kindle in NEW way, i.e. selling it without selling it.
THE WOMAN ON THE TRAIN (featuring kindle)
THE WOMAN ON THE TRAIN (featuring kindle)
__________________
ABOUT FLETCH – The Founder of CineBootCamps
Fletch & Cathleen block out her first shot.
Fletch has won two Emmys, a Gold Plaque at Chicago Film Festival, a Gold Medal from the National Academy of Western Art, his documentary, GOOGLE ME the MOVIE, was featured on OPRAH.  
For the last five years Fletch has helped
over 400 filmmakers tell their stories better.
  • Human Interest Stories
  • “Soft Sell” Corporate Profiles
  • “Social Responsibilty” videos
_________________________
CineBootCamp Successes
“I learned more in two days than in two months of film school.” (CineBootCamps Grad) 
                                                             
“Fletch handled a two-year-old problem I had in the first five minutes. (CineBootCamps Grad)
 
You learn by doing. So we use “Active Learning” techniques, endorsed by UC Berkeley and Columbia University as the most effective learning techniques.  So you’ll do hands-on drills not listen to boring lectures.  
We’re the highest-rated, hands-on filmmaking bootcamp in the world per student survey. This is because:
    • We specialize in private one-on-one training.
    • Your questions come first not last.
    • We tailor the training to your interests.  
    • We use “Active Learning techniques.
Joe practices focusing the Zeiss cp.2 lens
Fletch demonstrates better use of existing light.
SUMMARY:
Your in-house filmmakers can learn to shoot better, more engaging, more impactful videos in days, not weeks in our CineBootCamps.  
You’ll learn from a master filmmaker who’s boiled down the essentials of award-winning storytelling into Active Learning Drills so you become a better storyteller faster than any training available.  The workshop covers story development, camera operation, lighting, audio, and composition.
 

PACKAGES AVAILABLE
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register now  
 
Please visit our home page.

 

(A portion of the CineBootCamps profits goes to Narconon - a non-profit, educational program to keep kids off drugs and to rehabilitate those who have drug addictions.)