The best videos have an engaging story. Just because you’re making a vlog of your day doesn’t mean you can’t craft it into a story that captivates your audience like the latest blockbuster hit or bestseller. That’s why it’s not surprising at all to find narrative techniques used in video content, especially on social media.
In this article, we’ll talk about what narrative techniques are and how you can use them in your videos to create engaging stories, along with examples of videos that use those storytelling techniques.
What are narrative techniques?
Narrative techniques are different methods that storytellers or writers use to tell stories and create meaning within their work. Techniques can range from pacing, setting, point of view, imagery, foreshadowing, plot structure, tone, narration style, and more. Combining different techniques helps create compelling narratives that evoke specific responses from the audience.
Using narrative techniques with video
You see narrative techniques used all the time with movies and TV shows, so it’s not a huge stretch to use them in video content online as well. No matter what kind of content you create, there’s tons of ways that you can leverage specific storytelling techniques to enhance your videos and draw in viewers. Especially when you combine them with visual storytelling methods.
While not every narrative technique might make sense for every video, we’ll cover some tried-and-true methods along with examples of videos that use those techniques. Let’s dive in.
1. The cliffhanger
A common piece of advice from content creators is to give your audience a reason to keep coming back for more. Creating cliffhangers in your videos is a perfect way to do this.
Cliffhangers are a technique where at the end of a chapter, episode, or video, a sudden twist or revelation is revealed or a key plot point is left unresolved. This leaves the audience in a state of anticipation.
Think of the last time you were watching a TV show, promising yourself that you’ll go to bed after the next episode. Then the next episode ends in a suspenseful twist, leaving you wanting more as the credits roll. You can’t possibly go to sleep without knowing what happens next, right?
Examples of cliffhangers in videos
You can use this same technique with your own videos to keep people watching. Reesa Teesa’s viral 50-part video series titled “Who TF Did I Marry?” is an excellent example of this. By splitting her story up into so many parts, viewers were left wanting more as she introduced more sudden twists and unexpected developments in the story of her marriage.
You’ll often see cliffhangers used in before/after videos from DIY or home renovation content creators. By breaking up the project into multiple parts, such as having one video where the room is gutting the room, one is where you’re mocking up what the room will look like, the next is buying supplies, etc. you can give your audience a steady stream of content. But they’ll keep coming back to see the final reveal and end result. This Short from LexiDIY is a great example.
Another example is this Short from Artistic Antics LLC that splits up their process of creating soap into two parts. The first part shows the process of making the soap, explaining the scents, colors, and theme for it. But it leaves off without showing how the final product looks once the soap is cut. That’s uploaded as a second part, to entice viewers to come back to see how it turned out.
2. The flashback or flashforward
Next up is the flashback or flashforward, a narrative technique where you give the audience a glimpse into past or future events outside of the current sequence of events. This is a great method to add depth or context to the story you’re telling in your video. You can also use it to give your audience a peek behind the scenes of a video.
For example, if you vlog an event and mention that the journey to get to the event was super stressful, cut in clips of your trip to the event. Or if you reference something that happened in one of your older videos, cut in a clip from that older video to give context to what you’re talking about.
Examples of flashbacks/flashforwards in videos
This video from Gold Shaw Farm uses a flashback to do exactly that. In it, Morgan is telling the story of how his pigs are gone from his farm. But to give the audience more context, he adds in clips of before the pigs left and explains how one of them disappeared without a trace.
He uses these flashbacks to tell a more complete and compelling version of his story that makes sense to both regular and new viewers who may not have seen his previous videos.
Brittany Broski does this in her videos to create a cohesive, engaging story. In this vlog that documents her trip to Ireland, she starts with a flashforward that shows the crowd at her show, then brings you back to her vlogging her experience while she cuts in clips of the events she mentions as flashbacks.
3. Stream of consciousness
Another narrative technique is stream of consciousness, where you write or speak exactly how your thoughts flow. As opposed to writing a script that you edit afterwards, you say what you’re thinking without worrying about how fragmented or nonsensical it might come out. It’s similar to a person’s interior monologue but the final product is a raw, unedited form that defies logic.
You can see stream of consciousness in videos where someone is just narrating their video as they film, or doing an unedited, unscripted voiceover. With videos, unless you see the person on-camera and can tell that they didn’t make any edits, it can be hard to tell which ones are truly stream of consciousness.
Examples of stream of consciousness in videos
This Short from Olivia Lutfallah is a great example of stream of consciousness being used as a way to give the viewer a glimpse of what it’s like inside the mind of someone with ADHD. In it, you hear the inner thoughts of someone with ADHD for two minutes as they go through their life. The overlapping thoughts and the constant subject switching does an excellent job of showing what a realistic stream of consciousness is like for someone with this neurodevelopmental disorder.
4. Story within a story
Also known as a frame story or embedded narrative, this narrative technique is as it’s named–when someone within a story becomes a narrator of a second story. In media, there’s usually a key parallel between the two stories, either between the characters or plot.
Using this technique with video can be as simple as doing a vlog of your day and tell a story of something that happened in the past during it. The Princess Bride is a famous example of this technique, where a Grandpa reads a bedtime story to his sick grandson.
Examples of story within a story in videos
This fan-made video of The Adventure Zone, a popular comedy and adventure actual play podcast, captures the inherent story within a story structure of playing Dungeons and Dragons. It starts by showing the people playing the game who are gathered around a table, but switches between the players and the characters/campaign they’re playing in D&D.
The first story is one of a group of people playing D&D together, but the second story is the one that they’re creating together with their D&D characters.
5. Narrative hook
The final narrative technique is one that most creators are familiar with–a narrative hook. This is the opening line, scene, or dialogue that grabs the audience’s attention and gets them to continue reading or watching.
Hooks are popular techniques with online videos, since you only have a few seconds to convince viewers to keep watching. This, along with the rise of short-form videos, changed the landscape of video storytelling. Many popular content creators and YouTubers use exciting, interesting, or emotional scenes as their hooks for their videos, but the sky is really the limit.
Examples of narrative hooks in videos
We created a video that shows five different examples of effective hook techniques used by content creators in their videos. In it, Kyle Miller breaks down what the hooks are, how they work, and why they’re so effective.
Create more engaging videos with Storyblocks
These are just five examples of different narrative techniques that can be used with your videos. Finding ways to use them in your own content is a great way to engage a wider audience, keep them watching for longer, and keep them coming back for more. Next time you find yourself completely sucked into a video, make a note of what narrative techniques are being used to make it so captivating.
You can learn even more about storytelling techniques and how to use them effectively with video in our free course, Anatomy of a Story. Combining these methods with a Storyblocks subscription is the best way to set your videos up for success. With access to over 2 million high-quality stock assets, you can leverage our library to bring your stories to life with b-roll, sound effects, and more. Explore our plan options and sign up to start downloading instantly.
