Understanding the Importance of Storytelling

As someone who loves to write, it has always been important to me to understand storytelling. A story cannot be effective without it. Storytelling is something that I want to thoroughly understand as a designer. It is vital when creating a piece of art to form a story and form a universe in which that piece of art resides. That is the work of a great storyteller.

Telling stories is something that is so widely done and through so many different mediums. Stories are everywhere: in films, podcasts, novels, comics, music and art/illustration. That’s what makes a great storyteller so great. He or she can turn his or her work into something that has meaning beyond what might be first understood.

I don’t think I, personally, have come to really understand the importance of storytelling until recently. And, even at that, I still want to keep diving into the world of ways a story could be told and learn about every single one to really understand storytelling at its core. The three mediums that have really opened my eyes up on this topic are film, podcasts, and comics.

Film

Film is something that dominates the world of storytelling. A whole bunch of exceptional movies with incredible stories are made all year round. Many of my friends love the art of film and want to pursue it as a career. What sets storytelling in film apart from all the rest is that it can made to feel so real. The smart use of a camera and strong VFX can create a world that would otherwise be unimaginable. But, it goes far beyond that. Effective storytelling can create movies that are ageless. For the art of storytelling in film, I would recommend watching two YouTubers known as Every Frame a Painting and The Nerdwriter. Both study film to a level that is truly eye-opening. We, the viewers, do not realize the amount of thought that is put into every frame of a film. Every frame is deliberately put together to evoke something from the viewer. It is meant to make them feel something, and if it does, that is how you know you have created a film that is truly effective.

As someone that watches movies from the Indian cinema also, I have also begun to understand storytelling for different masses. Movies from the Indian cinema are crafted differently to suit those from that mass. The method of storytelling does not necessarily change. Indian cinema has also crafted some very good films that look beyond what is always thought of Indian movies. They aren’t all the cheesy, hopelessly-romantic musicals everyone imagines. Crafting a film is still crafting a film, and it is the storytelling that can make a movie from any culture outstanding. Just take, for example, the Oscar-winning, Life is Beautiful. Despite the film being created with the use of multiple languages including Italian and German, the film’s unique perspective and exceptional storytelling make it unforgettable.

Podcasts

Podcasts have risen in popularity highly over the last decade as a very strong means of storytelling and entertainment. Storytelling here might seem limited due to the lack of visuals, but sound should never be underestimated. Sound is important everywhere, including film. It can create a sense of environment, mood and tone. All of which are essential to making a great story. Podcasts are undoubtedly a revolution in the way sound is used to tell stories. Storytelling through sound has generally been locked down to radio and music, but with major podcasts getting more than a few hundred thousand views, it is clear a major shift is coming.

The podcast I like to think of first when I imagine great storytelling is Serial. Serial is the podcast that most identify as the podcast that changed the game. Its high production quality and great story has made it the largest podcast of this generation, getting a few million downloads per episode. The tagline of this podcast is “One Story Told Week by Week”. This is truly what makes Serial the podcast it is. Its storytelling each week is very gripping from the amazingly crafted introduction to the questions it leaves in the minds of its listeners by the end of each episode. I really recommend it for anyone looking for something to do or to just understand what potential podcasts hold for the future of storytelling.

There are also a few companies trying to make storytelling in the world of podcasts better. The best example I can think of for this is Gimlet Media. I found out about Gimlet Media through their podcast known as Startup, a podcast about starting up your own business. In the first season, they talked about how they started up this network of podcasts. Alex, co-owner and co-host of Startup, talks about his company’s unfair advantage in the small mini-series of Startup after Season Two. He says his company’s unfair advantage is the way they make podcasts. This whole episode is so important to understand why his company is great at storytelling through podcasts. They way they work and edit their material makes it very strong by the time it gets to our ears.

Comics

Comics are the odd-ball or the most unexpected out of these three mediums of storytelling. My interest for comics began with my growing interest for Batman. I had played the Arkham games and watched a few movies but never truly dived any deeper. When I finally did, a lot of which I learned was interesting. Storytelling in comics may seem similar to creating a book. This is true for the bare bones of the story. Comics are a mix of illustration, quotations and narration. This is whats makes them uniquely interesting. The creators have the liberty to create that particular story in a different manner by changing up one of those simple elements. Quotes are very important to the storytelling as narration is very limited in comics. Something a character says may be very important when trying to explain the story being told. Amazingly enough, and something that I haven’t even fully understood myself, is that the illustration of a comic is so important to the storytelling. It is very unlikely that a good comic would be poorly drawn in terms of technical skills. It’s the art style that gives the reader an idea of the world the comic they’re reading takes place.

Something that I love about comic book storytelling is continuity. Continuity, for those who are not familiar with comics, is the world that the stories take place and how they are connected. Batman has many stories but their world and connections are is what is known as continuity. There are many times where the continuity has been refreshed to give a fresh look such as the New 52 run of DC Comics. Continuity allows a storyteller to form a world that his comic takes place in. He has the liberty to use previous events and make events that shape the world to tell the best story possible.

Conclusion

Storytelling is evolving on a daily basis because older mediums are dying out and being replaced by new ones. The media will continue to story tell because we, as humans, love to be told stories that intrigue us. This art of storytelling takes years to perfect, but in a world where creative fields are needed more and more, storytelling has become vital. It does not really matter where you want to work anymore; a good storyteller is appreciated in any industry. That is why it is important to understand how different mediums of storytelling work because, in the end, storytelling is the same at its core and you can make your stories better with an understanding of how to do it through many different mediums.