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We arrived at this format by analyzing how the best storytellers spin their yarns, the Hollywood moviemakers. Your standard Hollywood movie contains forty scenes, three acts, and runs approximately 120 minutes; yes, some movies run only ninety minutes, and others run as much as three hours, but 120 minutes is the optimum.
If you accept the premise that commercial Web videos are all about telling your story, then perhaps the best solution is to take the standard, three act, one hundred and twenty minute movie, and scale it down to a three act, one hundred and twenty second movie.
A Web Marketing Campaign
Our recent thought-piece the "18 Web-Marketing Concepts That Make A Difference" was introduced by six entertaining videos comprising 'The Lost Brad Tapes,' that loosely follow the 120 Second, 3 Act Web-Presentation Solution.
Act One: The Setup
Your first act is the setup:
(1) A proper setup needs to introduce your hero (every story, even commercials, need a hero);
(2) It must contain an Inciting Incident that triggers action on the part of the hero, and;
(3) It must also create an object of desire and define the nature of success.
By incorporating these elements in your first act, you attract viewer interest, hold viewer attention, create viewer expectation, and provide vicarious, virtual-viewer participation through the actions of the surrogate hero.
In the case of The Lost Brad Tapes, the inciting incident is our hero, Brad's, failure to find the answer to the question, "How do you become a website success?" Our hero searches the world and endures countless hardships just to find 'The Man' with 'The Answer.'
And who in business hasn't searched high and low for some expert who could provide a simple solution to a complex problem.
Act one also establishes the object of desire, the knowledge needed to become a website success, and it defines the nature of success, finding the answer.
Act Two: The Conflict
Act two is about establishing conflict and building tension by creating an obstacle that provides the motivational impetus to act to resolve the problem.
With each successive chapter (video) of The Lost Brad Tapes, our hero runs into a roadblock in the guise of a supposed authority who has other things on his mind, and who is ultimately of no help, but who builds the dramatic tension that holds the viewer's interest. Will our boy Brad, find the answer and will he share it with you, the viewer?
Act Three: The Payoff
Act three provides the resolution: the object of desire is secured and the need is gratified. The audience is satisfied with the knowledge gained and the investment in time.
Act three of the Lost Brad videos presents an attractive host who interrupts the video and talks directly to the audience, providing a teaser of one of the '18 Web-Marketing Concepts That Make A Difference,' and points the viewer to the complete article with the entire list of eighteen things to think about along with a complete explanation of each.
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