Why “Visual Storytelling”?
When I was working in television graphics, one of the most frustrating thing I experienced on a daily basis stemmed from the fact that the graphics the art department members were being asked to create often contained only snippets of text or one-word bullets which were completely out of context. The only way for the viewer to get context was to listen to the anchor track.
More frustrating to me was that the growing digital and social media team members were requesting the graphic elements from the show to release on facebook, twitter and instagram, but because of the way the graphics were being produced they were useless without audio. Doesn’t it make sense that if you’re going to ask for a graphic to help explain a concept in television news that it would be clear, concise and self-explanatory?
No matter how many times I had this conversation with producers and others, they just couldn’t seem to get the point. If you’re a deaf viewer, you’re being underserved by television news, whose very purpose is to inform the electorate with fact and hold our leaders accountable to the public.
They will argue that they pay good money for “captioning”. The issue with captioning is, it’s often behind what you’re viewing on live tv, and even if its not… it removes those who need it from the storytelling experience because you’re so busy reading the track word-for-word, you totally miss everything else. Why wouldn’t a producer want to give everyone the same experience?
In my first blog I talked about storytelling, but Mixperience takes storytelling one step further into “visual” storytelling. What is that?
It’s exactly what you think; the use of anything you can SEE to tell a story. It’s theater and acting, body language, immersive experiences, theme parks, dance, photography, painting, drawing, sculpting, architecture, interior design, art, graphic design, lighting design…etc.
I was explaining this to someone one day and I got a question that struck me. “Why don’t you want blind people to experience the same thing as those who can see? Aren’t stories for everyone?”
I was legitimately ashamed that I hadn’t thought of this perception before. I DO want blind people to experience the same stories. The fact is, It’s not that I was discounting the idea that the blind should experience the same storytelling, but I was actually more focused on the fact that the DEAF should get the same level of explanation that the blind do! Not just the deaf, but those who also choose to view content without audio on all forms of media, no matter the platform.
In 2019, Verizon Media released a study in which they found that 92% of consumers view social media and internet published digital videos without their audio on. People are turning to using these forms of media during quarantines because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
We must be telling our stories in the smartest ways possible, taking into account what’s best for the consumer, which should determine our best business practices. Our understanding of how consumers digest their content means we must create content to best fit that.
Visual Storytelling is the answer to this. Your story must be completely self sustaining in both audio AND visual senses. This is what Mixperience does.
