The Art of Project Titles: 5 Tips for your Next Project

Hi! I’m Audrey Kiss, a Program Manager at TELUS STORYHIVE. As you may know, the STORYHIVE team supports the production of hundreds of locally reflective projects each year, including video series, live streams, short documentaries and more. 

Through this experience of helping content creators, we’ve identified key elements that are crucial to the success of every project. To get your desired audience hooked right away, it all starts with a project title. Read below for 5 tips!  

We scroll through lists of TV shows and movies now more than ever in the pursuit of something to watch. With the overwhelming amount of options at our fingertips, the fight for our attention has never been fiercer. There’s nothing like a long rambling title that gives everything away at first glance or a title so obscure that you decide it’s not worth your time as you scroll through hundreds of hours worth of content. So how do you, as a content creator, make sure your content catches the right audience?

When you’re the one creating the content it can be difficult to look outside of your project bubble and take on the view of your potential audience. Titles are often the first aspect of your project that people see and can be the reason a potential viewer decides to make that initial click to learn more about your show, film or podcast. I like to think of a title as the teaser: it provides a feeling (excitement, suspense, romance, etc.), and the synopsis as the trailer, giving context as to who and what this is about.

1. Don’t be overly generic

If you think your title could be a good fit for a dozen other projects, it’s probably not the best option for yours. What makes your show or film the right fit for a viewer? A really easy example of this is “Housewives”. We’ve seen many shows that use the word— from Desperate Housewives to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and all of its counterparts. If each of these shows had just been named “Housewives” it would be difficult to discern what kind of show you were about to watch. “Desperate” alludes to some kind of drama, where “The Real” very clearly implies a reality show.

2. Don’t be vague, be specific

You don’t have to give away every aspect of your project in the title but you do want to provide a sense of what the show or film is about. If your film is about sports you probably want to find a title that feels energetic. A great place to start is by thinking about the key words associated with your project. If you’re making a show about hockey, then you probably want to consider using the word “hockey” in your title or perhaps another more specific word (is your show focusing on goalies or one specific team?). This doesn’t mean you have to include every single descriptive word in your title, but starting with the general topic and branching from your core word can be a great brainstorming strategy. Keeping with our hockey example, if your target audience is hockey fans there are plenty of terms they’ll recognize that double as great show and movie titles—like faceoff, golden goal, hat-trick and more.

3. Humour can be a great tool

If your project has an element of humour it can be great to showcase this in your title. This comes with the implied that if your show does not have any elements of humour it’s probably best not to use any in your title. This holds true for other genres as well, if you’re creating a documentary it’s likely to be more serious so you probably want to use a more serious and descriptive title.

4. But be careful about being too witty

You may think you’re being clever with that innuendo or pun but it’s important not to lose sight of what your viewer needs to know when trying to pick a show. For example, if I’m an avid bird watcher looking for a new show and I come across two potential series, one is titled Early Bird Special and the other is called Avian Adventure I’m probably going to click on the second. While Early Bird Special is fun, it also has a few meanings and the first thing that comes to mind isn’t really bird related.

5. Short and sweet

I saved this for last because it’s my favourite rule and I don’t want you to forget it. Some of the most iconic show and movie titles are single words such as Inception or Bridgerton and that makes them easy to remember and doesn’t give away the entire premise of the content. If you don’t shorten your title, your audience will, especially in the age of social media. Long titles quickly become known by abbreviated versions and acronyms, think Orange is the New Black (OITNB), or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (It’s Always Sunny).

A common attribute of overly long titles and an easy way to know when you’ve probably gone too far is the colon. Unless you’re creating a film saga, think Lord of the Rings, this is likely unnecessary and those words that come after your colon are probably just the base of your synopsis. You don’t have to give it all away in your title and fit every key word you can think of. Most platforms have some kind of character limit that means even if you can fit all of your wildest dreams into the title box, once it reaches the viewer most of what you’ve written won’t be visible.

Crafting the perfect title for your project is an art that requires a blend of creativity, specificity and strategic thinking. The title of your project becomes the first point of entry into the world you’ve created, setting the tone and establishing expectations for what’s to come when your viewer decides to hit play. Your title may not be the make or break of your show, but it is the beginning of a viewer's journey and you get to decide what that looks like.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your next project!