'I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.'
                          - Walt Disney

Films are the most effective ways to communicate a message, whether that message be for the purpose of education, advertisement, or entertainment. Which leads many to decide that film will be the medium through which to push society in a more positive direction. 

This is all well and good, and I think that films (particularly documentaries) can open our eyes to truths we have never considered, causing us to make changes for the better in our own lives. But we see many films with obviously good intentions fail to have any positive impact whatsoever. And it's not the audiences fault when that happens. It's the film's.

Filmmaker Mark Bone, director of award winning documentaries such as 58 HOURS and Rescate, posed a central question to prospective filmmakers: Is your film about a topic or a story? A film about a story with a central character who goes on a journey, can effectively communicate a message. A film about a topic, on the other hand, achieves nothing because the audience is given no reason to emotionally invest.

A lot of films today are made with a topic in mind first, and then try to find a character or story to neatly fit into that 'morale of the story' box. And these films are never received well, because they are heavy handed, preachy, and the messages communicated don't feel natural or earnt. They feel unrealistically convenient and 'neat'. 

As a filmmaker, in one sense you have to allow your story to take you in places you might not have intended. Take for example a short documentary about bees that I am preparing for submission to a film competition this month. The topic the holders of the competition want covered is the impact that pollinators and healthy soil have on the ecosystem. I am introducing a story by making my film a short documentary centred on the president of the local beekeeping association. And prior to filming with him, I had an idea in mind of where I wanted the film to go. In the course of filming however, the central character of the film told his story and completely shifted the emphasis of the film to something I had not intended. And it's amazing. I could coach my docu subject until he would say what I had originally intended, but him telling his own story in a real, authentic manner is so much better than him trying to tell the story I originally wanted him to tell. 

Now, when the star of my documentary starts talking about how important bees are to our ecosystem, we've given people a reason to connect to that message because we've given them a reason to connect to him as a character. Without that human connection, anything informational he might share would fall on deaf ears.

In conclusion, We need to allow our films to tell their own stories. And to make the telling of that story the central focus. If delivering a message becomes the central focus, the film loses it's ability to effectively communicate any message at all. 

It might seem paradoxical, but by choosing to entertain over educate, you've given your film the best chance to deliver a life-changing message.

Growing up, my father worked as a house painter. He was relatively successful, having his own business and employing staff.

One of the obstacles that he (and all professional house painters) faced however, was the average person's willingness to just paint their own homes. Of all the trades, painting is the one most likely to be attempted by an amateur. That makes sense right? It's relatively low risk (high-set exteriors notwithstanding), the consequences for making a mistake are relatively mild, and the work itself is not so intimidating to discourage amateur attempts.

This reality of the trade is one of the obstacles to success for the professional house painter. And I bring this up because since the advent of a company called Canva, designers find themselves in a somewhat similar situation.

In 2013 a digital startup named Canva was born, and between then and the present day it has revolutionised the way that organisations approach solving their graphic design dilemmas. Offering free and paid versions, Canva has equipped organisations, businesses and individuals with the tools they need to achieve acceptable design. Through supplied templates and easy access to high quality stock images, anyone using Canva can create a visually pleasing design. And Canva's value proposition has been extremely attractive, with their app gaining millions of users all over the globe.

So where does that leave professional designers? Are we now in the same boat as house painters? Struggling against a tide of potential obsolescence? When someone can easily use Canva, why would they pay more to employ a designer?

At this point it is worth examining what exactly good design achieves for an organisation/company. Good design isn't implemented for its own sake, good design enables companies to gain an advantage over their competitors. When a company has poorly designed marketing materials, or has a spelling mistake somewhere in their advertising, that reflects poorly on the company. It stops me from taking them seriously. 

The goal of good design in a marketing/advertisement context isn't aesthetic beauty, it is financial success in the chosen industry, and aesthetically beautiful design is merely the means by which to achieve that goal. An organisation with transcendent design will be the one to reap the benefits of that design. 

Perhaps paradoxically, it is Canva's success (in the form of it's ubiquity) that has minimised how truly effective it can be in helping it's users to achieve market success. Let me explain. Canva has successfully 'raised the floor' on the quality of design work, meaning that we are much less likely to see truly awful design coming from organisations that use Canva. But because so many organisations are using Canva, none of those companies end up getting a leg up on any of the others. Canva on it's own is not enough for companies to reap the rewards of good design. Companies should instead aim for the 'ceiling' when it comes to the quality of their design work, and that is where designers come in.

Professional designers have the skills, knowledge and experience to surpass what the average person can do using Canva. And it is that 'extra', that takes an organisation's design from the floor to the ceiling, that will reap the most benefits for the organisation.

Canva won't help your business stand out from amongst its competitors, only a designer can do that. And unlike the person who decides to paint their own home, knowing it will only be seen by the home's own occupants and the occasional guest, your organisation's marketing and advertising are designed to be seen by as many people as possible. Anyone who wants their business to truly reap the benefits of design cannot afford not to hire a professional designer.

For more info, or to get in touch with me about a potential project, feel free to contact me via the contact page.