Adam Penny, Founder of Connected Pictures & The Beautiful Truth, gets to the heart of what creative strategies make a showstopper brand level film.

There is a craft that goes into bringing all the elements of great storytelling to life. It’s not a eureka moment, where you wait for the universe to deliver a mystical intervention. It’s grittier than that. A well-crafted story uses a structure made popular by Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero With A Thousand Faces. It’s an approach or a way of setting a scene, developing characters and giving them something to overcome. It’s a structure that’s held true for age-old mythology right through to today’s Hollywood blockbusters. There is another element in that foundation or formula that can go unnoticed, but when it is given status in the process of creating a story, it separates mediocrity from greatness. This element is the act of uncovering human intention, urging us to discover something about ourselves, an opportunity for transcendence.

The films which come from brands that reach great creativity are the ones that authentically portray this journey of transcendence. It’s an occurrence that comes from within, and it touches on a deeply human story. “Whether that’s a need to connect with others, finding the greatness in you, overcoming certain obstacles,” says Penny “when those things resonate, they’ve got it right”.