The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [69]
The power of storytelling in advertising is not limited to movie companies. I recently saw a very clever ad for clothing that looked like a movie trailer. Tell a story that intrigues the imagination and you stand a better chance of people actually watching your commercial.
Here’s a 60-second TV spot for my upcoming feature film, Emily’s Song. See if this TV spot makes you want to watch the movie. Try to visualize it as you read. This is an example of where TV is so much more powerful than print. Try to imagine these characters, great music, and gripping drama. (The actors mentioned are not attached to this film at this time and are only given as examples to enhance the script.)
SCENE OPENS and we’re seeing a father (Tom Hanks) and daughter (Dakota Fanning) sitting at a piano. They sparkle—a loving and perfect father-daughter relationship. The father teaches his beautiful daughter the title song (“Emily’s Song”). They laugh and sing. (That’s 12 seconds of a 60-second spot.)
ANNOUNCER: Emily Evers had the perfect childhood, surrounded in love and her father’s love of music. But then tragedy strucks.
SCENE: The father is being mugged. We see the knife flash to his throat and then him lying in a pool of blood on the ground. (6 seconds)
ANNOUNCER: Leaving Emily alone.
SCENE: Her house is now empty. A social worker takes her away as she cries. (3 seconds)
ANNOUNCER: Emily lives a lonely life—the only keepsake of her childhood, her music.
SCENE: Enter the adult Emily now, depicted by Kirsten Dunst, singing and playing piano for quarters on Venice Beach. (6 seconds)
SCENE: Three quick flashes of her being rejected by music executives showing that she struggles. But then…(9 seconds)
ANNOUNCER: Emily Evers touches the world with her music.
SCENE: Emily Evers on stage blowing the audience away, fans screaming her name, cameras flashing from every direction. We get that she has become a huge star. (6 seconds)
SCENE: She is with a friend. She is crying, a tortured soul. Her friend is trying to comfort her, but doesn’t know how. (4 seconds)
ANNOUNCER: The tragedy of her youth still haunts her. But in her darkest moment…
SCENE: Emily is hiding from paparazzi in a piano bar and suddenly hears the melody line from “Emily’s Song” playing in a darkened corner. She turns and goes to the piano to find her father, who is just as stunned to see her. Now grown up, in shock, Emily mutters, “Daddy?” as she is stunned to see him—alive. (10 seconds)
SCENES: The screen grows dark and comes up on four more lightning-quick flashes of rock star moments and other drama, including Emily about to jump to her death. The last image is Emily (rock star) and her screaming fans. (4 seconds)
END SPOT
That’s a total of 60 seconds. A minimovie. Wrap some great music around that, do some slick editing, and you’ve got a movie with what I call commercial appeal. A minimovie like that isn’t going to appeal to every one, but it does show a lot in 60 seconds and it has a good hook that makes you want to learn more. We’ve also shown a rags-to-riches story along with a powerful father-daughter story. And if it’s done right, you’re going to get chills when she finds her father still alive.
Mind you, this isn’t the whole story. Not even close. And we can’t possibly tell the whole story in 60 seconds. But what this is, in just 60 seconds, is a minimovie that elicits emotions and intrigues the imagination. It’s a miracle what you can do with