storytelling

Right before going for spring break, each of us got the brief and a sound record for our first project- a collaboration with Children Society UK.

Our guest Rachel Reay briefly spoke about society, it’s vision and works with kids and young people at the beginning of the presentation. And then we went moe throughout the technical assignment.

We got the information about how long should it be, that the mood, what is the audience of the film, that colours are prefered, the official typography.

For instance, all audios provided are records of real young people who either working or found help from The CS. So, it is crucial that any editings to the soundtracks must be discussed with the client first. Even though some of the tracks are susceptible and personal shares, we should stay on, or at least finish the film on the positive, optimistic note and should keep a balance between negative experience and positive tones. And we cannot share our tracks at any points.

So, this project is, in fact, an animated documentary. We will use animation techniques to make a film that will help young people and children to represent their experiences through a sense of the safe distance of reality.

When I heard my audio for the first time, it hits me in a good way, because it was precisely my experience. So I knew what this person is talking about, I went through it. And remarkably, images and associations started to pop up in my head, and I draw the first storyboard, quick thumbnails, to snatch up this idea.

And this is exactly that I wrote before in the post about storytelling: ‘The first method is to write a story you already know. Because you feel it in a particular way. … it is always good if the story will be initially from personal experiences.’ Even though it is not my narrative, however, I had the same encounter, that why it was easy to approach to developing a story.

What we can find behind every animation, live-action film, or documentary? It is a story.

People tell stories all the time, with historical pieces of evidence from the very beginning. Especially now with all that technical progress, internet and devices, we are telling stories all the time. Some express themselves by writing poems, novels, some, just simple short stories. A lot of people share their stories through sequences of drawings, for instance, in the form of comics. People take photos every day and share them with some descriptions, it is also a way of telling a story. And of course, there are movies and cartoons.

All these ways of storytelling have something in common- they connect people via their emotions. As such, it is interesting how to write a story in a way everybody will be into it?

The first method is to write a story that you already know. Because you feel about it in a particular way, so you can get your audience to have that same feeling as you have. You can retell that tale in a way it will sparkle the viewers.

To get the reaction out of people, it is always good if the story will be initially from personal experiences. It will be like a touchstone of the story. This is very important to the storyteller since it makes the story honest.

Although it is a good idea to share your feelings, or at the same time, you can tell us some of your new experiences in life. Either if you have learned something that you think is really fun to share, because it is your personal experience and only can come from you. Since there are no two people who have lived life the same way, hence, they don’t have the same insights as you.

There are many ways to tell a story. It could be a simple sequence of events or a narrative which will unfold through the time. And they can have unique quality in them. For instance, the description can grab your viewer or listener emotionally. Or it could take them somewhere else, to the different, even fictional places.

The narrative always begins with some world and characters. It could be either real, present time, or futuristic, or even figurative. We can think about what kind of universe is around, what kind of environment, what time is it. All these questions invite our imagination into the story we are about to explore.

So, questions really help us to build the story. The more ‘what if?’ and ‘who is?’ questions, we will ask the more ideas we will construct for the story.

Interestingly, sometimes the character comes first, and then a world builds around him. Even two characters might have different stories, but the surrounding, all objects and settings could be the same. However, if we have the world first, we are going to work on characters in a different way- what kind of characters can live there, or who are they, what they are going to be? In the end, either way, the world and characters always meet at one point.

Moreover, one of the essential parts of story-making is research. In the beginning, you just identify what the main stage and character, and what draws you to it. And then you got more solid idea you can start to delve deeper, investigate more on a subject, and explore the story’s universe and inhabitants.

Additionally, it is necessary to mention that you is you, and the things that may affect you not necessarily will speak to somebody else. So, you will need to find out the way to express your thoughts and concept to touch their emotions and minds, so they will be interested in what happens in your story and will follow your characters.

Tag: storytelling

The Children’s Society Project