"You’re never going to kill storytelling, because it’s built in the human plan. We come with it.” - Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale
As a species, humans are storytellers and live to engage through storytelling - even as we sleep, our own subconscious and boundless imaginations are creating stories through dreams.
From the dawn of our existence, our ancient ancestors manufactured tools and makeshift artistry to scratch stories into cave walls, leaving us fascinated and astounded by what they represented or what they were trying to convey.
As the centuries and natural evolution unfolded, we told stories and preserved our legacies onto the faces of ceramics, pots, tapestries, cathedral facades and décor; a story would be told or capture a moment in history; the renaissance came along and changed everything with beautiful and dynamic art and architecture - all of which, would tell a story and further the evolution of artistic expression, visual representation, creating a time capsule for centuries to come, raising the game for future generations of story-tellers and artists.
Humans are storytellers, it’s one of the greatest aspects of being a member of this complicated species.
We can’t help ourselves - each and every one of us has a burning desire to tell a story to another human being, we feel trapped and suffocated if we can’t get a good story off our chests. Some people may find gossip and secrets irresistible, we’re inspired by life-changing stories through viral videos on social media, we binge entire seasons on Netflix and Amazon, we curl up with our favourite books, take trips to the cinema with friends and family, read bedtime stories to our children, our kids may even read a story to their stuffed animals and pets, we tell our loved ones about our day at work, exchange stories over coffee during a friendly catch-up.
We are all storytellers.
Now here we are, at the end of 2019 - technology has put immediate access to information and content, literally, into our hands; we now post ‘STORIES’ on Instagram and Facebook, we upload video content to share with friends over social media, or even share a simple status - we’re all constantly telling each other stories.
It’s everywhere we look.
Our trip to Blockbuster has become an instant streaming service to the device of our choice and those streaming services keep on growing.
Advertising has gone from manipulative ‘buy our product’ to meaningful stories, beautiful tales, hilarious bitesize sitcoms, exhilarating and inspiring visual spectacle, which audiences can’t help but spread far and wide to share in those same feelings that it gave to them.
We are at an all-time high of cultural invigoration and technological indulgence.
And a lot of businesses and decision-makers out there are taking it all for granted…
Many of us have been at the mercy of a brutally boring conference where PowerPoint presentations are lulling us to sleep with statistics and information overload - which, may have their own share of value.
But let’s transform those stats and facts, concentrate them into a human example and take the audience on a journey on how this tried and true method has been a life-changing revelation for a business or an individual. Capitalise on human empathy and double-down on the perfect momentum and flow of that story, by the end of it, you’ve got an engaged audience who have followed you to the call-to-action.
But, Paper Sky doesn’t deal in conferences (not anymore, at least) but we’re stepping deeper into the world of advertising, music videos, documentaries, short films, online and digital content - after an evolutionary year through 2019.
The success that this production company has achieved, has been down to the simple fact that we love to tell stories and never try to force a message onto an audience, nor do we pander or preach; we simply understand what the client wants to tell their audience and we make that connection through a naturally creative process and remaining true to the humanity of the story.
As 2020 approaches, we’re excited about what the next step is in story-telling through the ever-changing digital landscape and how audiences are connecting to great content.