For Video that’s Relatable, Tell Specific Stories
I am starting a video to show on my son’s bar mitzvah. The video will play at a brunch with approximately 200 people, but I worry that the main audience– the ones who will love the video and will be truly entertained– are only the closer family members.
So who is my audience? I can do a beautiful video of my son’s life that can be entertaining, inspiring and loved by 20 people, but how do I make it entertaining for 200 guests? Do I make two videos, one for each audience?
–Isaac
Great question, Isaac. And one that comes up at weddings, graduation parties, and first communions, since all gatherings today seem to have a mandatory video moment. Not a bad thing when the video is fun. An opportunity to duck over to the bar when it’s not.
You’re right to be sensitive to the target audience. “Who is this video for?” is the very first question you should always consider. The answer in this case is easy. As you probably are not planning to have enough bartenders to pour 190 bloody marys at the same time, you need to target everyone in the room. All 200 of them. Never show a video that 90% of the people in a room will hate.
This is not as difficult as it sounds. The key lies in telling specific stories about your son. The more specific the story, the more everyone in the room will love it. Sounds counter-intuitive, perhaps, but stay with me:
If you tell a specific story about your son’s special relationship with his Grandma who taught him to make chocolate chip cookies, we’ll all relate to it because we had a grandma too. If you show video of him telling the camera where babies come from on the eve of his sister’s birth when he was 5, we’ll all find it funny or touching because it will remind us of our kids. If you have that video of him nursing a baby hummingbird with his mom when he was 8, we’ll all get choked up when it flies away because we tried to help an animal once too.
These specific stories make us feel something from our own lives, our own experiences. That makes them as entertaining as any TV show or movie.
What don’t we want to see? Generalities. Interminable soft-focus montages from commercial party video firms that show baby picture after baby picture after baby picture will drive all 200 people to the bar.
Instead, focus on the specifics. You don’t have to have shot these stories back in the day. Why not interview your daughter, who can tell about the Thanksgiving the dog stole the turkey and your son chased him down the street to get it back? Use the photos and videos you do have, or edit other peoples’ recollections around her interview to support the tale. Great stories = great video, every time.
My final advice: keep it short. You may think you need a 10 minute video. You don’t. Even four minutes may be too long. You can always post the extended version on YouTube– with even more baby pictures– for the 20 relatives who want more.
