the storytime reel.
Take inspiration from Sarah Mansfield’s viral storytime reel to share a tale your community will recognise and remember.
what is it:
Victorian Greens MP Sarah Mansfield is reading The Very Hungry Data Centre - a spin on the popular children’s classic - The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
why does it work:
Stories are more memorable than a list of facts.
The message that data centres are insatiable and eat up lots of resources matches perfectly with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
The book is creative, not perfect.
It’s clear a lot of work has gone into creating and printing the book concept. This physical proof of effort stands out in a sea of b-roll and yap videos, and captures audience attention.
The fact the books is clearly homemade and slapped together doubles this effect. It appears more authentic and made for social media.The reel has been edited for interest.
Instead of just reading the story, the graphics and text have been edited into the reel. This allows viewers to properly see the effort that has gone into crafting the new book, as well as highlighting the key facts of the political message. The changing scenes between Sarah reading the story and the content on the screen keeps the viewer engaged.
The story has also been repackaged for social media. It’s shorter than the source material, there is the interjections by the librarian and a quite effective aside which shows what data centres sound like - without straying too far from the original story concept.
what could be better:
The opening line about being in her favourite data centre - a library. It’s a cute line, but as a hook it’s weak, considering how good the rest of the reel is. She could cut that line (or save it for another piece of content) and get straight into story time.
how to remix this reel:
Pick the right story to fit your message.
This is probably the trickiest part. Both have to fit together well without the story or your message needing too much adaption.
Children’s picture books are the ideal source material. Particularly ones that have a distinctive illustration style, memorable phrases, a list of items, or repetition.
Some books to consider:
Where is the Green Sheep? For highlighting an undelivered election promise.
Diary of a Wombat. Great for an attack reel on a lazy opponent.
We’re Going On a Bear Hunt. Use it to highlight all the steps you have to journey through to get something done.
Adapt the story - but keep it recognisable.
Think about the essential elements that make that story work.
It could be a repeated line or question (but where is the green sheep?!) or the look of style of the book.
As well as a recognisable story, the Very Hungry Caterpillar has a distinct font, illustration style and the use of white space. All of those design choices are very apparent in Mansfield’s Very Hungry Data Centre.
While someone very talented has done a great job on Mansfield’s book and graphics, your version doesn’t have to be too elaborate or perfect to make your point.
Edit the graphics or text into your reel.
Keep storytime interesting and make the most of the effort you put into creating a book by using your graphics or text in the reel. You can simply import the images into your video editor as an overlay - or try animating different elements to take the story off the page and into the reel.
The usual rules about something moving every couple of seconds still apply.
