Techniques for African storytelling in video production

What’s the best movie you’ve ever seen? Whatever your answer, you have more likely selected that movie because of the story it told, and how that affected you, not because of the camera angles or the CGI.

Storytelling is the bedrock of human communication. Stories are how generations throughout history have preserved their culture and handed it to the next generation. This is especially true in Africa. In this article, we’ll discuss techniques for African storytelling, and how to respect the nuances and hidden meanings in African stories.

Cultural sensitivity in storytelling.

In telling African stories, it is important to take note of the individual sensitivities of the cultural background against which the story is set. This is because it is easy to introduce (or eliminate) an element that offends the culture and ultimately causes a bad backlash. An example of cultural insensitivity is this campaign by Coca-Cola, and this one by H&M in South Africa.

So what storytelling techniques work well in African stories? Let’s discuss a few of them.

The Hero’s Journey

In the hero’s journey, the hero leaves home or a comfortable place and sets out on a journey, facing internal and external conflict and a great trial. He comes back home after overcoming that great trial, with a reward or newfound wisdom, which then benefits the community.

This kind of technique plays well in the African context, as most stories feature a protagonist who has to face a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, after which he is rewarded in some way.

Allegory or Symbolism

Symbolism is a strong part of African culture. While crafting a video script, it’s important to introduce elements, visual or otherwise, whose presence, transformation or interaction represent a deeper meaning.

Visual elements

Video content affords the storyteller an array of tools with which to further emphasise the tone of the message, the mood, or the general setting. Take advantage of visual elements like brightness, colour treatment, imagery, etc to drive home the point.

As a brand or a marketing team planning your next brand video or campaign, the story needs to tick all the right boxes. You need a technique that frames the customer perfectly in relation to the brand or product, a message that stays with the audience. One way to do both is to script the perfect story, one that pays attention to cultural sensibilities and even pays homage to the culture through symbolism and other elements. The winning story will achieve all these and resonate with the target audience. Video content like this is pure gold, and in some cases can be evergreen, which means you can resurface it every season, and re-engage your audience and tap into that human angle.

If you need a partner in Africa with the experience and expertise to build deeper connections and brand loyalty with your customers through video production, that partner is Pulse. Having worked with some of the continent’s biggest brands, and built the largest digital audience in Sub-Saharan Africa, Pulse keeps its finger on the pulse of the communities it serves and is in touch with contemporary culture. Its position at the nexus of things in the digital world means that it can deliver video projects that exceed expectations and win over huge chunks of the target.

To start a conversation, send an email to [email protected].

Pulse Influencer Awards 2023 ceremonies achieve record attendance, deliver over 2.7 million votes.

Lagos, Nigeria – The Pulse Influencer Awards 2023 have ended in colourful ceremonies across Pulse’s markets in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire. More than one thousand influencers, celebrities and media/entertainment industry leaders attended the ceremonies, which mark the end of the Pulse Influencer Awards 2023 season. Now in its third year, the awards this year not only surpassed previous outings in audience engagement (pageviews, shares and reach), but also in industry attendance. This year, we recorded over 2.73 million votes from audience members in participating countries. We also saw more brand partnerships and sponsorships for the awards this year including brands like MTN, Ayoba, Indomie, Captain Jack, Whitley Neil, Jameson, Gino and more.

The Pulse Influencer Awards were created with the objective of providing a platform to recognize, highlight and collaborate with influencers and creators in Africa who are excelling in their niches and building engaged, expanding communities. Influencers represent an increasingly important vertical for digital distribution and an opportunity for brands to connect with the right audience. In previous years, the awards have achieved this objective, and this year, even more so, with more influencer attendance, a substantial leap in vote, engagement and reach metrics.

Katharina Link, CEO at Pulse said “At Pulse, the success of our 2023 Influencer Awards highlights the rich creativity across Africa. Every year, we aim to celebrate and elevate digital talents who inspire, entertain, and reflect our vibrant cultures. This year’s record engagement has been truly inspiring. The awards represent an important part of our work in initiating collaborations in digital media in Africa, and our aim of building a melting pot for creativity, digital media and content distribution. This year definitely represents a milestone achievement toward that aim. While we celebrate today’s achievements, we’re also looking ahead, always aiming higher.”

Speaking on the awards this year, Kanyinsola Aroyewun, Director of Marketing and Content Growth at Pulse said: “Each year, the Pulse Influencer Awards grow bigger. We discover new creators through the nomination phase, and we feel the strength of the nominees’ communities during the voting phase. I am elated to report that this third edition of the awards has been concluded with our numbers showing that this was the biggest and best edition yet. We saw significantly higher turnouts in all our markets from the influencer and celebrity communities, and a positive audience feedback that was stronger overall.”

Some winners from the markets are Blacko who emerged the Music influencer of the year in Ghana, Bella Okagbue who won the awards in both the Fashion and Lifestyle categories in Nigeria, Holy Dave, winner of the Food Influencer of the Year in Kenya. In Senegal, Malaw Pikine won the TikTok Influencer of the Year, in Côte d’Ivoire, the awards for Business Influencer of the Year went to Dabali Express and in Uganda, Ceci Ka Mummy clinched the new category Next Gen Influencer of the Year.

The statistics from this year’s awards indicate that it was a bigger awards season than previous years by far. Pulse looks forward to a bigger success with the Pulse Influencer Awards in the coming years.

Pulse

Pulse is Africa’s leading innovative media company.

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