the elements of storytelling

8/3/2019 The Elements of Storytelling

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THE ELEMENTS OFSTORYTELLING


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The Six Elements of

Storytelling Character

Plot

Conflict

Resolution

Setting

Theme


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Character

The story is about characters

You cant tell a story without characters

Background tells the past of your characters Where they came from what events in their past are influencing their present actions

Character arcs make sure to have a map of howcharacter changes through the story

Beyond the written word with multimedia projects,youre not just telling a good story, youre showing it

Sound, photos that illustrate their back stories

Are they available for a film or audio interview?


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Plot

How you tell what happens (or whathappened) in a story

Its not simply what happened in a story, butthe arrangement of how the story ispresented

A good plot has a great beginning- hook


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Point of View

The perspective through which the story willbe told

The typical points of view are First person the story is told from the

perspective of the person experiencing the plot the events is limited to their own experiences

Third person omniscient the story is told fromthe perspective of someone who is aware ofeverything, even what your characters arethinking


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Plot

Third person limited perspective is one where animaginary character follows another character

Dividing your Projects Plot will help you break

you projects down into scenes Create an outline of your project

Once the outline is complete- create storyboards,comps and navigation

Nonlinear plots viewers should be able tochoose how they want to experience the story Navigation should be available for them to experience

different sections


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Conflict

Conflict is what makes a plot interesting

It drives your characters to action

Its the problem the characters are trying tosolve in a story


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Resolution

The resolution of your story is where you tellhow the issues panned out

The resolution should tie up all the loose endsand bring the conflict to a successful close


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Setting

It is simply where the story takes place

It is where multimedia can have a serious

impact You can establish setting through the design

of the project, audio, photographs, video andwords you include in your copy


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Typography

Choice of fonts can have a great impact andreadability

Focus on two types of fonts headline and body

fonts Headline fonts sized bigger than about 18

points

Serif fonts are more classical and traditional

Script faces are more personal

Body copy should be easy to read; dont make itso small


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Typography

Avoid serif body copy serif faces have thinfinishing strokes- harder to read especiallyon TV screens

Make sure you view your project in theenvironment in which it will be viewed


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Design

The design of your project also helpsestablish the setting

Use props throughout your design fonts,colors

Five rules of design Contrast

Alignment Proximity

Repitition

Subtraction


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Five Rules of Design

Contrast means making things clear

Alignment things should align to each other to establishthe flow of the viewers eye movement usually left, center, or right justified

Dont mix too many alignments Top left to the bottom right Bad alignment centering a long paragraph

Proximity things that belong together should be closetogether

A headline should be close to its body copy Series of thumbnails should be close together if youre

highlighting them as a group

Repetition using the same elements of design throughoutthe entire project

Subtraction removing unnecessary parts


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Audio and Voices

Narration take some time to auditiondifferent people for the role

Some people get nervous in front of amicrophone

Recording performances ask people torecord things more than once


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Music

Background music should be used toreinforce setting

Pick the appropriate audio


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Video

File size is a factor in most online projects

Video is much larger and takes longer to load

than any other media Keep your video short and relevant


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Theme

The point youre trying to get across bypresenting the story

The reason for the project : Why are youdoing the project?

It may involve moral imperative youre tryingto teach the viewer

It may simply the subject of your project


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The Three Acts

Act I A typical motion picture; lasts about 20 minutes

long

Introduces the main characters, establishes thesituation, begins to establish the setting

The most important part of a television show

It sets up the conflict he hero or main character

has to overcome Set up your projects so that they begin with

something interesting, and give them a reason toclick through the rest of your project


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The Three Acts

Act II

It is usually longer than the other acts

It is where the most of the action takes place themiddle of the story

It presents a series of obstacles that must beovercome


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The Three Acts

Act III

It brings the story to an end

It brings about the resolution to the conflict

It emphasizes the theme of the movie

the elements of storytelling

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