Why do stories matter?

“Oh Granny, what big eyes you’ve got!”

“I’ll huff, and i’ll puff, and i’ll puff, and i’ll blow your house in!”

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of them all?”

When was the last time you read or heard about the story of Red Riding Hood, Three little pigs, or Snow White and the seven dwarves? Mine was back in kindergarten, back when i played with Legos, had trouble spelling my name, and i was learning to read… or write? Hell, i cant even remember. Yet the mention of these quotes intuitively brought me back to these fairy tales resoundingly, which for some reason i am still able to remember the book from head to toe. Why is that so? I sought to find out.

On 31 January 2020, Friday, and my fellow SIT Hospitality Business students and I were hosted by Mr Azhar Abdul-Salam, Course Manager and Senior Lecturer for the Diploma in Mass Media Management, for Nanyang Polytechnic. With experience ranging from Mediacorp to ESPN, my follow classmates and I listened intently as he shared with us story-telling structures and the process behind video productions.

Mr Azhar touched on storytelling techniques and humoured us with his bubbly anecdotes. He further demonstrated these with video examples. With a large emphasis on storytelling, i learned more on what makes a story good.

With the short video titled Petronas’ ‘Tan Hong Ming’, not even 2 minutes long, he exemplified how to create a good story. A simple short interview with 2 young children, to tackle the problem of racial discrimination in todays society, has really put into perspective what storytelling means. It did not matter that the video production was imperfect, nor did it matter that there was neither a script, nor expensive editing. What mattered was that it was a genuine, empathetic story.

Next, he showed us the story of Google’s ad titled ‘Reunion’, a powerful video touching on the forsaken friendship of 2 childhood friends fractured due to the Pakistan-Indian Border. A heartfelt advertisement, Google truly exemplifies how to incorporate features of their product while telling a captivating story, which has definitely left a mark on me. “A good story helps the audience connect to the characters in the video”, Mr Azhar demonstrated perfectly on why stories matter.

A good story is one that fascinates and draws in the audience. A good story brings out emotions of the audience. A good story is not inhibited by duration or time – it is timeless.

And perhaps, that is why I’ll always be able to remember the next line: “”No, no, by the hair on my chinny chin chin.”

And that is why stories, matter.