Telling great stories in video requires good execution on many fronts. Museum professionals—some filmmakers in the their own right—discuss various aspects and considerations for making the most in the medium. Denver-based consultant Sarah Wambold (currently at Clyfford Still Museum, and formerly at MCA Chicago) focuses on pre-production considerations, scripting, and interview techniques. Andrew Mandinach from the Balboa Park Online Collaborative focuses on production, b-roll, and visual storytelling. Andy Underwood-Bultmann from the Walker Art Center discusses post-production, editing for story, and expanding modes for storytelling. Sarah Waldorf from The Getty discusses strategizing and aligning video content for distribution with social media platforms, including using GIFS and micro-videos. Each speaker presents on best practices as well as aspects and learnings from his or her own work. For the MCN 2015 conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1. Storytelling in Video:
Aspects of an Engaging Production
Sarah Waldorf
@SarahMWaldorf
The Getty
Andrew Mandinach
@mndnch
Balboa Park Online Collaborative
Answer these four questions on the notecard in front of you.
1) Your name
2) Where do you work?
3) One question you want answered today
4) Your level of experience
Sarah Wambold
@sarahwambold
Clyfford Still Museum
Andy Underwood-
Bultmann
Walker Art Center

20. Defining Video:
What is it? Where do you put it?

21. ● General online video information (it’
s interesting, I promise)
● Audience-first production overview
● Sharable doesn’t mean bad
● Takeaways to help build a story

22. So you want to make a video?

23. Or...maybe you were tasked to make one.

24. I’ve never heard anybody say,
“Gee, I’m so bored. Let me google
my favorite local museum’s
YouTube channel and see what
they have to offer.”

25. What does “video” even mean?
Short clip - Deer Running Animated GIF - Textile Curtain

26. ● 1 billion people use YouTube
● 6 billion hours of video is watched
every month
● 300 hours of new video is uploaded
to YouTube every minute.
● 323 days worth of YouTube videos
are viewed on Facebook every
minute.
● 81.9% of teens (14-17) use YouTube
● 72% of U.S. Millennials use YouTube
● 58% of U.S. Gen X
More stats
YouTube Watch Statistics
YouTube Demographics

27. The “ABC of Digital Storytelling”
Matt Locke of StoryThings / Let’s Get Real 4
“We are moving from an era of
distribution to an era of circulation.
Viral is the wrong metaphor -
circulation is driven by user’s
social needs, not your project.
You cannot control circulation,
but you can amplify it.”

28. What is the story? Who is it for?
Meet people where
they are.
And know what they
want when they get
there.
Matt Locke of StoryThings / Let’s Get
Real 4

29. Where is video online?

30. Pretty much everywhere.

31. Multiplatform Video Strategy white paper by Social@Ogilvy and Tubular Labs

33. Facebook drives quick views and engagement
YouTube drives continued views and engagement

34. Are you really ready to build your YouTube Channel?
from Emily Robbins’ presentation “Museums and YouTube: Tips for Creating an Awesome Channel

35. YouTube
YouTube is also a search engine,
so useful terms that people want
to find is an opportunity for
content. Also:
● Branded series
● A hosted “show”
● A strict upload schedule
● Evergreen material
● Longer videos

36. Facebook
Facebook favors natively uploaded
videos, but if your video hasn’t done
well in the first 24 hours it’s lost in the
algorithm.
● Works without audio (Auto-plays
in silence)
● Less than a minute
● Makes sense as a stand alone
piece?
● What would somebody
comment?
● Action moment
1 minute, 1 tiny book

37. GIF/Looping Clip
GIFs can be used in many contexts.
People use them to express their
states of mind in a more precise way
than text or video can do.
● Preserving a fleeting moment in
time
● Create looping, forever-playing
stories
● Shows how an object works or
moves
● Playful, funny
● No captions/no credits
● Users take our content and wear
them as costume. More on gifs
from a presentation at AAUP.

38. GIF/Looping Clip
GIFs can be used in many contexts.
People use them to express their
states of mind in a more precise way
than text or video can do.
● Preserving a fleeting moment in
time
● Shows how an object works or
moves
● Playful, funny
● No captions/no credits
● Users take our content and wear
them as costume. More on gifs
from a presentation at AAUP.
Volvelle love on Tumblr

39. GIF/Looping Clip
GIFs can be used in many contexts.
People use them to express their
states of mind in a more precise way
than text or video can do.
● Preserving a fleeting moment in
time
● Shows how an object works or
moves
● Playful, funny
● No captions/no credits
● Users take our content and wear
them as costume. More on gifs
from a presentation at AAUP.

40. GIF/Looping Clip
GIFs can be used in many contexts.
People use them to express their
states of mind in a more precise way
than text or video can do.
● Preserving a fleeting moment in
time
● Shows how an object works or
moves
● Playful, funny
● No captions/no credits
● Users take our content and wear
them as costume. More on gifs
from a presentation at AAUP.
“True!”

41. How will you share one story
across your existing platforms?

42. What are you going for?
What’s the goal?
1) Sharable?
2) Spark comments?
3) Go behind-the-scenes?
4) Is it part of a series?
5) What will a viewer get out of
it? Social capital? Will they
look smarter to friends?

43. These can help determine length,
and how you can slice and dice
content that you get on the shoot.
1) Pull audio for podcast?
2) Pull 30 second juicy action for
Facebook?
3) Is there a behind-the-scenes snap story?
4) “Special behind-the-scenes” or
interviews for members e-blast?
5) Blog post?
The where can help shape the what.

44. At the core, the story
is the same.
Strategize your
circulation model
before the shoot.
(NOT AFTER!!!)
Story Wheel
Center: Key story
Outer ring: What will you post
Inner ring: What do you need
to get at the shoot to post what
you’ve written in the outer
ring.

45. Center: Key story
Outer ring: What will
you post
Inner ring: What do
you need to get at the
shoot to post what you’
ve written in the outer
ring.

46. Manet’s arrival on YouTube

47. Twitter
Instagram
Tumblr

48. The Interview

49. Interview types
Celebrity style. The interviewer appears on camera and is (almost) as
important as the interviewee.
Interviewee off-camera. Interviewee speaks to producer who’s positioned
just off camera, and whose audio is typically removed.
Confessional style. Interviewee speaking directly into the camera.
Roving interview. Subject is on the move, looking at and responding to
something in our collective field of view.

50. Celebrity Style Interview
● More conversational in tone;
more forgiving regarding
incomplete thoughts.
● Must have good interviewer.
● Consider three camera
angles.
But ...
● Three times the footage to
learn, cut, and store.
Artist Documentation Program: Terry Winters
http://adp.menil.org/?page_id=880

52. Interviewee off-camera
● Interview by producer (could
be curator, educator, etc.)
● Can be tricky to get complete
thoughts, putting the
question in the form of their
answer.
● Can be shot with one camera,
but consider two camera
angles. Amalia Pica at MCA Chicago

53. Confessional style
● Intimate
● Subject should be confident,
charismatic, comfortable in
front of the camera.
● Can be shot with one camera,
but consider two camera
angles.
● Prep of subjects is key. They
might need to be rehearsed,
but not scripted.
Abby Wambach: 'Putting the crest
on every single time means something to me'

54. Roving interview
● Often times interview
subjects feel more relaxed in
this setting.
● It’s lively, immediate, and
intimate.
● Can be a logistical challenge
… lots of variables (sound,
light, angles, etc)
● Use a monopod / steadicam /
shoulder mount, if possible.
The Met: Art or Fiction? with Bill T. Jones

55. The questions
● Keep your questions short.
● Ask only one question at a time.
● Quotes and anecdotes are good to have handy.
● Follow up with “Give me a for instance,” when responses get too
abstract.
● Ask the same question more than once.
● Know the answer to the question before you ask it.

56. My spiel
● In brief terms, explain how the interview will work ...
“I’ll be giving you some prompts, and then I will be as quiet as possible so I don’t interfere
with your audio because we will edit out my questions... Feel free to look at me, not at the
camera.”
● … explain what you need from them …
“Because we’ll be cutting out my voice, I need you to put my questions in your answers. So
if I were to ask you your name, you would want to respond, ‘My name is [use his/her name
here].”
● … remind them that they are in control of the interview.
“If you are answering a question and you lose your train of thought or find yourself going in
a direction you hadn’t intended, feel free to stop yourself and start again.”

57. In the interview
● Be quiet! Avoid the urge to make it conversational, unless it’s meant to
be a conversation. Don’t cut your subjects off.
● Nod your head and smile … a lot.
● Listen. For complete sentences. For context. For meaning. For
accuracy. And ask a follow up question if something is incomplete or
unclear.
● If interviewees are tripping over theirs words, stop them and have
them start again. You can’t use the stuttering anyway, and they usually
respond well if they realize you are making sure they sound good.

58. Protips
1. Have Kleenex and water handy.
2. Ask curators how the show is
organized.
3. Ask artists about the conceptual
foundations for the work. Ask about
titles. Ask about process.
4. Don’t make assumptions. Either in
writing your questions or in asking
them.
5. If the interviewees get cagey, do what
you can to relax them.
6. Listen for context, setups, and
complete thoughts. If you don’t have
them, ask your question again.
7. Get everything transcribed verbatim.

59. 8. Don’t talk about YouTube.

60. Even better advice
“An interview is a party. And you’re the host of the party. And the interviewee will do what
you do. What you model is what they do too. It’s just human nature.
“So if you tell a lot of funny stories, they’ll tell funny stories back. If you tell personal stories,
they’ll tell personal stories back.”
—Ira Glass on Alec Baldwin’s Here’s the Thing (35:49)
https://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/414988
The Poynter Institute: The Art of the Interview
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/3344/the-art-of-the-interview/
LA Times NPR's Terry Gross: Asking the Smart Questions
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/15/entertainment/ca-19715

62. The Art of Sexy B-Roll & Re-thinking
How We Talk About Production

63. Every video is an extension of the
museum. How do you represent
yourself?

64. Every video is an extension of the
museum. How do you represent
yourself?

67. We all shoot differently but a good
(looking) story always permeates

68. Rethinking the paradigm

69. Rethinking the paradigm

70. “We’re all here because of the power
of stories that need to be told.”