How To Make Terrible Short Form Content

Is your short form content on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube kind of… average?

There’s a common storytelling trap that I see creatives get caught in all the time. All the way from full service production companies to small, local content creators: Over-stating.

Do you ever find yourself wondering…

Why are my videos bad?

Video should be an immersive experience. Even if you nail everything else about your story, getting this wrong will completely break the simulation and rip your viewer back into reality, reminding them that this isn’t real.

In short, the mistake is saying too much, or over-communicating.

But don’t stress - literally everyone makes this mistake.

This article is pretty theoretical, so…

Buckle in.

In a good video or movie, every single thing you see serves a purpose. That doesn’t mean every symbol on the wall has a meaning, or that the positioning of characters always reflects the state of their relationship - though it often does.

But everything that’s included should advance the story. Even the quiet parts of movies where not a lot is happening - that calm is telling us something about the person or story we’re watching.

Likewise, there is equal story telling power in what is not included. That’s what I want to focus on right now.

The art of omission.

In real life, you don’t know everything that’s happening all the time. You’re seeing the world from your one perspective.

Film should be the same. That perspective doesn’t have to be one person’s only - it can jump around, it can be from the protagonist’s view, or a side character’s experience, etc. But often, one of the best ways to make the viewer feel like they’re in it, is by giving them the ability to interpret what’s happening in their own way, using their imagination.

Imagination requires absence of information.

The story needs to have blanks so that the viewer can fill them in. In other words - there must be room for interpretation.

Not only does this make the story feel more real, but it gives the viewer a sense of autonomy in consuming the story. It makes them feel intelligent and demands more of their active attention. You’re not revealing all the details, you’re leading them to figure out certain details on their own.

People don’t like being told what to think.

Even though you are literally telling them this story, using omission allows them to feel like that plot point or that plot twist was their idea.

As in all things - this requires balance. If you leave out too much, then your story ends up being exceptionally confusing, and you risk alienating a large part of your audience.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you don’t leave any room for interpretation - there’s no intrigue, no sense of curiosity and the story could be pretty boring.

So how do we actually apply this to creating short form content?

Simply put, the key is to stop over-stating. Here are three applicable rules.

Trust the format:

Film is multi-media. You’ve got motion, you’ve got the spoken word, you’ve got music, there’s text, colour, sound effects, space.

All these elements of film have their own voice and they can all say something. But sometimes if they’re all speaking at the same time the message gets lost or destroyed.

Trust your audience:

If a shot looks really good or it took a long time to get right, that isn’t reason enough to keep it in the video. It has to lead the story in the most effective or efficient direction.

This means cutting out unnecessary ‘in-between’ moments, and instead letting the audience fill in the blanks between actions A and C.

Essentially, the audience is smart. Trust them to figure it out.

Trust the CTA:

Too many Call to actions. Ultimately, you’re probably trying to sell something. People don’t like being sold to.

My marketing friends won’t like this, but:

Dial down the CTA.

Now, I want to preface this: this is dependant on the style of your video.

If your video style is a sales letter, people are watching it to learn more about your product - a surplus of Call To Actions may be appropriate.

But if this is a story-focussed video, again, the viewer wants to feel like this was their idea and their decision.

The whole video is to lead them to that conclusion, but if you come in at the end spamming ‘buy now’ buttons, text info, and voiceovers - it breaks their experience and puts them off.

Less is more.

Give them one clear CTA - show them the next step, lead them there with your story, and cut out the rest.

And that is the art of omission - how to say more with less. What do you think? Let us know down below.