"My only aim starting out was that the ones who watch my work should feel like sharing it." - Sujoy Sawant, a storytelling creator, who is all about crafting visually appealing videos with captivating frames.
Much can be said about the world of social media. Something that was always, and still is mostly associated with how viral content can be, there is a lot that has changed over the years. We are now presented with a plethora of stories that aim at more than just being a piece of video that people can consume and forget. It is more about sharing the very human portions of our lives. As consumers of this mindless content hub that just lets us escape our own struggles for a bit, we wouldn’t say that jumping on a trend or watching the same content in different fonts is bad. In fact, it is exactly what we need to survive our already bothersome lives. However, we must also recognize the few thoughtful Reels that focus on sharing stories that resonate deeply with our inner selves.
Often categorized as 'storytelling creators', these artists have found a way to share their short stories with the world through Instagram. Sujoy Sawant, an engineer-turned-content creator, is one of them. He ditched his engineering degree to pursue his love for filmmaking and found his creative outlet in short video platforms like Instagram Reels to create stories that always fascinated him. As someone who has been following its content, storytelling feels like a natural fit for him. His videos reflect his deep love for filmmaking as he beautifully captures the little moments of our lives that are often overshadowed by stress and distractions.
Also Read: Steering the content space as storytelling creators Ft. Ayush Khanvilkar and Megha Chakraborty
When you ask him about this storytelling journey, Sujoy highlights how storytelling as a concept was never new. He poetically describes it as something that has been around for ages like a river that cuts through mountains finding new paths to meet the ocean. "Be it theater films, big-screen films, or social media content, storytelling is everywhere. But what is storytelling? It's a language of communication. To convey your story, thoughts, and emotions to the audience."
Finding his style of content
As something that has always existed, he knew how to adapt to the evolved form on social media. "When it comes to Reels, I personally gave it a fresh thought and figured Reels are an amalgamation of the time of old film Reels (which had a fixed length so you couldn't shoot a lot) and they had a fixed screen resolution which was mainly squarish." He decided to view his stories in vertical frames since he was used to the age-old form of viewing them horizontally. "I started dwelling into compositions that look appealing vertically and my core inspiration was comic books and magazines. Although you won't find a direct application of them the principles are the same."
Ways to make videos personal
While it won't feel like something that requires a lot of effort, knowing how to get the right placement, font, colour and size which will emphasize the video is something that one understands with time. A lot of what also makes Sujoy's videos more visually appealing is his ability to blend text into the frames; this is something he worked on to make his videos truly personal.
"Once I had figured out my visual frame, all that was left for me was to figure out the text. I was sick of people who used AI-generated text which didn't feel authentic to me. That is why I decided to incorporate text as part of the story and found interesting ways to place them." He treated Instagram as his theatre of opportunity to showcase the kinds of films he always loved to the thousands who follow him.
Visual language in storytelling
What is modern-day storytelling, if not about the visuals and frames we keep scrolling past day in and out? As people who are constantly showered with videos, we often deal with this sensory overload by watching them on mute. This also reinstates the fact that despite the sensory overdose, we cannot give up on visual pleasure. As a creator who heavily only relies on visuals, Sujoy feels that telling a story visually is equally if not tougher than writing one. According to him, visual language is all about stills and movement where one leads the audience in a frame, to make them focus on something but surprise them in the next frame. "I believe it takes one to enjoy the visual medium and fall in love with how the staging of a scene or frame looks like. How the colors resemble what you want to say as that also evokes emotion.
And how you use the camera and movement of it to express and make the audience feel what you want them to." Composition, perspective, colours, and movement of the camera and subjects in the frame are certain things that he tries to focus on in his videos. According to him, the way a frame looks and feels is the core study when one talks about visual storytelling. He calls it writing with images.
There's just one thing he wants to achieve with his content - to express. As someone who has managed to grip his audience with thoughtful stories, we can't wait to see what more he has in store for us all. If you're looking for something that tugs at your heart, do check out Sujoy's page.
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