Whether you’re putting pen to paper, keystroke to monitor or video to TV screens… storytelling is storytelling. As a matter of fact, doing a lot of reading and writing is a great way to hone your visual storytelling.

That might sound a little weird to some, but in most cases a video actually starts with a script. Sometimes someone writes it, other times it’s piecing together sound bites to form a story. In either case, I always put the words on paper before I start editing video.

Words to visuals

There’s a magical thing that happens during that process. The visuals you shot and the words on the paper start to come together before the edit even begins.

I’m going to put that shot with this line, that sound bites flows perfectly into that video, and so it goes.

Reading inspiration

I was thinking a lot about that yesterday because one of my favorite authors passed away. Vince Flynn was a best-seller and a master of the thriller. If you’ve never read him and like a good spy novel, he was the man. Books like his inspired me to read… and read a lot. I love a good book… a good story. It’s no wonder why I chose this profession.

I’m sad I’ll never get another Vince Flynn novel. They’re the essence of a page-turner. I am however thankful for the work he gave us. Inspiring storytellers like myself, even if I tell corporate stories instead of tales of terrorism and the men and women protecting us.

Rest in peace Vince Flynn.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

This entry was posted by Tony Gnau and is filed under Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.