How Does Video Storytelling Help Create The Best Explainer Videos?

The amount of new information in the world grows exponentially every day, and in the flow of that noise, long text and standard static presentations have lost their reputation as high-quality marketing tools for telling a brand's story. The cutting-edge solution is mashing up storytelling and video, which has taken root in marketers' imagination.

Although it is generally accepted to associate storytelling with written social media posts, the skill of packaging thoughts creatively and delivering them to your audience is a lifesaver for every niche. For example, professional CV writers stress the importance of an attached video to the written part. So if the art of creating a story still feels foreign, this guide is for you.

Storytelling is now a commonly used term in the business world, but it traces back to the ancient mastery of delivering information through stories, tales, and sagas. The greatest speakers of those times, Plato, Socrates, and Cicero pursued a single goal: leave a lasting impression on the audience and trigger emotions that provoke action.

For marketers, that mechanism (gaining audience trust through narrative) is pure gold. As might be expected, the art of gripping narrative has evolved with the times. Today, that means storytelling with the video prefix.

A major driver of this shift has been video marketing. Once a fringe tactic, it is now the dominant content format for brand promotion online. The explainer video is just one tool in the rich video marketing toolkit, but research consistently shows that video content has dramatically higher conversion potential than text-only content like blog posts.

An explainer video is an informative short film, usually under 5 minutes, describing what the company does or how the product works. It is not an ordinary tutorial; it is a persuasive marketing message. It draws attention to the viewer's pain points and explains how the offered product can solve them. Sometimes these are animated videos. Sometimes a simple form where a person speaks directly to camera works just as well.

A good explainer video is:

• Short
• Easy to understand and easy to remember
• Personal and inspiring
• Consistent with the brand's identity
• Clear about why the business exists
• Suitable for the target audience
• Produced to the highest quality the budget allows

A good explainer video tells a good story. On one level, it is an explanation. On another, it is the beginning of the viewer's journey to your brand. After watching it, the viewer should be interested, engaged, and emotionally connected to the content. There is no room for indifference.

Screen recorders, animated videos, or live videos: which is best for explainer videos?

Some teams assume that creating even a short business video is prohibitively expensive. This is usually based on a bad experience rather than today's reality. There are now several explainer video formats, and some can be produced with affordable hardware and an explainer video maker for free.

Screen recorded explainer videos

Most internet users have encountered this kind of explainer video, whether during tutorials or online classes. In marketing, it is a powerful tool. There is nothing simpler than sitting at your desk and capturing the screen. You can add a voiceover or layer in minimal animation, which lets viewers watch in silent mode without missing the point.

Although not the most cinematic way to tell a product story, screen-recorded videos are perfect for showing functionality. Many companies use these as promo videos to provide a visual demonstration of how the product improves a workflow. If flawless functionality is the keystone to your product's sales pitch, this format will fit perfectly.

Animation explainer videos

This broad category includes 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics, hand-drawn art, kinetic typography, and puppet animation. Videos are composed of moving graphics, music, typography, and voiceovers. Animated explainers give a brand a friendly, vivid face. They can make serious topics (like compliance) or dry topics (like finance) easier to grasp.

Hand-drawn and typographic animation also breaks complex themes into engaging moments. The trade-off: animated explainer videos typically have the highest production cost, even at the simple end of the spectrum. There are drag-and-drop tools where videos are created by moving elements around the canvas, but in those cases you need to realistically assess the output quality. Professional animation costs a lot for a reason. That is where videos with real people come in.

Explainer videos with real people

One of the biggest advantages of this format is that the budget scales with the goal. If you want something resembling a TV commercial, expect a long list of equipment, a large crew, and a substantial budget. But do not underestimate the effect a founder can produce by speaking honestly to camera.

The most common variant of this format has the business owner in the title role, explaining the essence of the product or service directly to camera. These videos introduce the audience to the people behind the brand. They are a strong way to create a first impression if your company is new or about to launch.

Use your personal story or brand mission to gain trust and create a real connection with viewers. The production cost is dramatically lower than animation, and the sincerity comes through. For globally distributed audiences, the AI subtitle generator produces subtitles in 35+ languages in one click, and AI video dubbing translates the recording into 100+ languages without re-recording. One founder, one camera, hundreds of language markets.

The core problem with most underperforming explainer videos is in their construction. Video production has three steps:

• Diagnosing the message
• Crafting the narrative
• Visualisation

Step one is basic awareness of the brand's core message: what do you want viewers to take away about your product? Step three is technically straightforward; there are at least three options for visualising the message. The hardest step is the narrative. The story has to absorb the target audience, prompt reflection, build confidence, and ultimately convince potential customers to act.

Video is the most emotionally intense and easily consumed content format, but it is nothing without a strong story behind it. Crafting the video story deserves the most attention. So where does the magic of stories come from? The answer lies in neuroscience.

Neuroscience professor Uri Hasson and his team at Princeton University have researched what happens in the brain when someone listens to or tells a story. They found that when two people engage in storytelling, both show the same response patterns across multiple brain structures, a phenomenon known as "neural coupling".

Storytelling is not a passive process. When successful, it puts the listener and the narrator on the same wavelength. If the story is the heart of every video, the plot is the engine of every story. Let's look at how to craft one.

A great video story requires several components: heroes, conflicts, and the world they inhabit.

Start with an idea

The starting point for any story is the central idea. A strong idea is the glue that pulls all parts of the narrative together. It is the core message the audience walks away with. The idea should be short but comprehensive: a thesis that sticks in people's heads long after the video ends. A few iconic examples from films and books:

True love is immortal in "Titanic"

A friend in need is a friend indeed in "Friends"

You become responsible forever for what you have tamed in "The Little Prince"

Strong ideas are not always positive or life-affirming. For example, the long-running series "House M.D." was built on the idea that all people lie.

Know your audience

The secret to an appealing story is deep familiarity with your viewers. The best stories in the world are universal and captivate people across age groups, cultures, and contexts. Keep a working list of questions about your audience's core interests, dreams, and plans. Use the answers to build a clear picture of the typical viewer (a persona).

Disney and Pixar use this approach in their productions. They tell stories built on values shared by the vast majority of people, which makes them resonant in every language.

Create a character

Storytelling cannot exist without a character. The character is the driving force, the figure through which the audience moves deeper into the story. Two effective ways to build an offbeat character: imagine being stuck with the character in an elevator, or mentally interview them.

A good protagonist resembles a real human, with both strengths and flaws, and an appearance that is easy to recognise. For example, Captain Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean" was initially conceived as a minor character. Johnny Depp built the role around features and habits inspired by The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, and Jack Sparrow ended up stealing the entire film.

Understand the needs of the hero

The hero's desires and motivations shape the character and the story. Motivation is the fuel that moves the hero forward. The question "What does the hero want?" will push the narrative in the right direction. Try it on well-known characters first:

What does Jack Sparrow want? To get the Black Pearl back.

What does Peter Pan want? To never grow up.

What does James Bond want? To defeat the villains.

Create the universe

Once the idea, the hero, and the hero's motivation are in place, build the reality the action unfolds in. The world is the full environment of the hero, including the rules and constraints that guide the story. To set a rapid pace, ask yourself "What if?" questions and lean into the unusual answers that surface.

Structure is the summary of what happens to the character in the world. We all use structure when we retell the events of a book or a film. Structure brings order to the narrative and turns the story into a complete piece. When discussing plot structure, you will most often encounter the three-part structure.

The three-part structure: beginning, middle, end. The first part introduces the story and the setting. The core events happen in the second part. The third part presents the results and conclusions of the events that came before. Pixar's storytelling team recommends an expanded version of the three-part structure:

Once upon a time, ...

Every day ...

Until one day ...

As a result, ...

And finally, …

And ever since, …

The moral of the story is …

Fill in those prompts with the hero's actions and you have a strong structure for video storytelling. The action will build exponentially, leading to a climax and a meaningful resolution. For a true story, a simpler journalistic structure (the five Ws) works well:

What happened?

Who did it?

When did it happen?

Where did it happen?

Why did it happen?

You can also use ready-made templates from journalist Christopher Booker, who identified seven plots that have migrated across great stories for centuries:

Overcoming the monster: Stories about fighting back against adversity, no matter how severe the difficulties. These plots teach perseverance. Used in "Avatar" and "Star Wars".

From rags to riches: Plots about the rise of great personalities or unexpected fortune. "Cinderella" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" are clean examples.

The quest: The hero goes on a quest, overcoming obstacles and temptations on the way to the goal. Frodo in "The Lord of the Rings" and most characters in "Game of Thrones" follow this structure.

Voyage and return: The hero ends up in a new world, faces challenges there, and finds their way back home. "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz" fit this plot perfectly.

Comedy: Light-hearted stories built on misunderstandings and confusion that resolve happily. Great for romantic stories and contained narratives. "The Big Bang Theory" and "Friends" are TV-era examples.

Tragedy: The protagonist's flaws lead them to a downfall, often despite their potential for greatness. Classical examples include Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and "Hamlet"; modern examples include "Breaking Bad".

Rebirth: The story of a negative character transformed into a positive one. A great example is the film "Despicable Me".

• Create the opening

The opening (or inciting incident) is the moment in the story that throws the character off balance and forces them to act. Often it is some unexpected, unwelcome event: a car breakdown on the day of a critical trip, or losing the house keys with the door already locked.

• Find the conflict

Ask any writer what storytelling is and they will start talking about conflict. Conflict is the main contradiction the hero faces, the thing that prevents them from reaching the desired goal. Three main types of conflict:

Character vs society: Stories about a clash of values and ideas between the hero and the surrounding world.

Character vs self: Internal conflicts where the hero struggles with apparently insoluble contradictions inside themselves.

Character vs nature: The basis of almost all films about disasters, the apocalypse, and space sagas.

• Create the obstacles

After the opening, give the characters work to do on the way to their goal. Obstacles reveal the protagonist's core features. An obstacle course is not always a huge genre lift; sometimes the story can be told in a couple of minutes. In Blur's music video, a milk carton searches for one of the band members, encountering various dangers, falling in love, and surviving a couple of tragedies along the way.

• Create the climax

All obstacles lead the hero to the climax, the major decision or event that changes everything. It might be the final battle, the realisation of true feelings, the cure for a curse, or the return home. The climax should be emotional and engaging because this is what the audience has been waiting for. It answers the question: "How does it all turn out?" In the Chanel No. 5 commercial film "Train de Nuit", Audrey Tautou's character spends the film trying to meet a stranger from the train. At the climax, he finds her.

• Land the ending

The end of the story does more than resolve conflicts and reach a logical conclusion. It also shows what lessons the characters learned in the process. The main rule of a strong ending: make it logical and grounded in the actions of the characters.

The stories built on personal experience are the ones that win the hearts of audiences. Many directors, screenwriters, and writers have found inspiration for their masterpieces in events from their own childhood, daily life, and the books and films they hold dear. The lesson: have the courage to experiment. Do not lock yourself into rigid formats from the past. Speak honestly and let your audience hear you.

Once you have the story, the production toolkit follows. Record with the Vmaker screen recorder, polish the recording with the AI video editor, turn long-form recordings into shareable short clips for social distribution, and add subtitles or dubbing to reach global audiences without re-recording.

Most essentially: if the story turns out to be interesting, the goal has been achieved.

Recommended Reads

• A Complete Guide on Product Videos: Definition, Types, and Tips
• Ultimate Tutorial Videos Guide with Tips and Free Template
• Ultimate How-to Video Guide with Examples, Tips, and Ideas
• How to Make a Video Presentation
• How to Make Tutorial Videos Using Vmaker