Creative Storytelling in Digital Media and Movie Making

Has anyone read Daniel Pink’s, A Whole New Mind? It’s a great book that I find is regularly referenced during conversations around education reform.

In his book, Pink demonstrates the importance of storytelling as the advanced world transitions from the information age to one of conception.

But what is a story? The Internet is packed with differing variations. Daniel Pink highlights that all stories have a beginning, middle and end, while sharing a common theme involving a character that embarks on a journey. Pink emphasis the power of narrative when attempting to engage an audience in the content of a story. For those interested in exploring this concept a little further I recommend TheWrap.com as a good starting point.

Given this we can conclude that creative storytelling is the communication of a narrative in a unique way that instantly captivates and engages an audience in the content.

Recently, I stumbled upon a new chip brand at the supermarket (click on the photo). Why did I purchase it? I was enticed by a short story on the back of the packet. Daniel Pink was completely right! It isn’t just wine producers that are using short stories to entice new customers to buy their brands. Storytelling is everywhere and anywhere. We use storytelling in presentations, to recall events, to demonstrate knowledge, to provide information, to sell goods, and obviously to entertain our children (including students). It is an important skill to develop for the 21st Century, and advances in digital technology have now made many domains easily accessible when delivering our narrative.

Take a look at a recent television commercial for British Airways.

I love this commercial, or more importantly love the story. I appreciate how the visual elements compliment a narration that instantly captivates me in the history of aviation. The use of sound stirs emotion and I feel proud knowing that I have flown BA.

How does this translate to a student project? Well it is important to recognize that Movie Making is the communication of a story that uses a variety of domains to deliver a narrative. More importantly creative storytelling is a universal skill that can be applied to a variety of subjects.

Assuming students have identified an idea for a project, the next phase is to develop a narrative (story) that will be used to package the content. After this phase is complete students can transition into discussions on what domain to use for the delivery of their story, and how best to use it.

Recently I led a movie making workshop designed to nurture creative storytelling. Students were split into small groups and presented with a one-page script that contained two characters called Toni and Sam (Download Script). The script provides an event (or content) through six lines of dialogue, but not a story! Instead students need to develop the story in order to apply meaning to the pauses and dialogue in the scene. What document is Toni signing? Does Toni want to sign the document? Why does he draw attention to a pen at the end of the scene? As an extension students are challenged to determine how to visually communicate the story using an iPod touch. This allows students to apply an understanding of camera techniques while also generating a variety of stories from one single sequence of dialogue. For those interested I have identified a few free apps that can be used for storytelling projects.

Creative storytelling is a skill I feel all students can achieve. My suggestion is to start simple and have students tell stories they already know. Interviewing is a great way to discover stories. Have students work in partners and conduct a preliminary interview in order or to identify a story worth telling. After this each student can record a second interview centered on the story using Audacity or GarageBand. A simple edit, with the inclusion of a soundtrack, could lead to the production of an audio podcast.

While I was at an Apple event we were encouraged to think of our story. What made us unique, different and engaging? I’m still trying to find my story, or rather my journey, but given this article I now realize this is only the beginning of a creative storytelling process that must include thought in how I develop and deliver my narrative.

For those interested here is a link to a TED talk by Daniel Pink. When you are watching listen out for his narration and the stories he uses to engage his audience.