It’s that time of year. The long, light evenings, flowers in bloom and hopes all pinned on Andy Murray at Wimbledon.
It’s also that time for the summer Hollywood blockbuster. Coming shortly to a big screen complex near you is the long awaited sequel to that 90’s classic movie Independence Day – this one imaginatively titled Independence Day – The Resurgence.
The original film hit cinemas exactly 20 years ago; IMDB précis the plot as ‘The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind’s best weapon is the will to survive.’ Obviously, as there is now a second film, it’s not really a plot spoiler to say man did triumph over the nasty-looking extraterrestrials, sent them packing with their scaly tails between their legs and rebuilt all the cities around the world.
As the strapline for the movie reads the earth has had ’20 years to prepare’, so have the filmmakers. The trailer shows better graphics, sharper images and more amazing CGI. The entire film may even show better acting from some of the original cast. But none of this will matter unless there is an improved storyline.
As seen with other summer blockbusters, such as Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen or Pearl Harbor, all the special effects in the world can’t save a poor plot. The author Philip Pullman said: “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” According to psychologists, telling stories is how humans make sense of life, how we engage our right brain and trigger feelings of empathy and even how we make order out of life’s chaos.
It sounds incongruous that story telling should be high on the list of what makes a corporate video – after all, surely this type of film would be in the ‘best factual programme’ category. But the fundamentals that make good story telling apply even more here; the audience wants to see authenticity from the contributors, feel engaged with the message and ultimately, sense they can participate.
The best corporate videos showcase your company or your product in a way that can’t fail to keep the audience absorbed. A company may manufacturer plain, ordinary widgets, but via the video, the passion behind that business should shine through in a compelling way.
So when you watch Jeff Goldblum reprise his role as chief-kicker-of-aliens-butts this summer, if you’re left wanting to join up and fight to save planet earth, then the storytelling has done its job. If you’d rather go back to cheering on Andy Murray, then Resurgence will feel more like Disappearance.