This was the required textbook in DM10 for about 5 years. A very good book and needed an updated edition, the reason we no longer require it. Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further use.
In the most basic form, a story has these three elements. Write them down on three pieces of paper and begin to list events under each category. Story writing advice from Digital Creativity by Bruce Wands.
This diagram is a traditional approach to story structure. Many successful stories follow this. In Hollywood movies, in great novels, in DM10 stories. Can yours? If not maybe it should. Climax / Resolution Beginning End
The Hero s Journey is a very similar story structure. It is a story progression or pathway. Can you see how the two diagrams align? Following either of these diagrams for your story is a known method to engage and satisfy your audience. Your story can be stronger if you do. From Joseph Campbell s book The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Character Arc and Character Flaw Every good hero takes a journey of growth and discovery, but before they begin the journey, they have to have a need to take one. Here is a Wikipedia definition key words are highlighted. A character arc is the status of a character as it unfolds throughout a narrative. A character begins the narrative with certain viewpoints that change through events in the narrative, in part because they must adapt to changes throughout the storyline. In many narratives, the main characters or protagonists seem unable to resolve their problems because they lack the skills to overcome the forces of antagonism that confront them. This flaw is a driving element of the story's plot. In order to improve their predicaments, not only do they often learn new skills but also must arrive at a higher sense of self-awareness and capability. In turn, they can only achieve such awareness in contact with their environment and usually mentors and co-protagonists aid them. The new awareness changes who they are or are becoming. A character arc affects the protagonist in a narrative, though other characters can go through similar changes. The diagram shows this too. The arc is a natural progression from flawed individual to one who has grown through his experiences. Dumbo had his ears.
Character arcs are stories, needing a beginning, a middle, and an end. A character arc is about the growth of a character. Your character must go through a process of change throughout the story in order to keep the audience interested.
Meaning This is what the audience thinks about after the story has ended. A story becomes a story when it moves past the facts, past the details, to a sequence of events, in which some character is driven by a clear desire, acts to realize that desire, and discovers something in doing so. Can you find a way to weave these three basic elements into your story? desire, action, and realization Quote from Center for Digital Storytelling website.
What is visual writing? Visual writing means making words stand for images.
Consider the difference in the following: She was cold and lonely, like the night. The kind of night that makes a person shiver and hurry to find a warm place. The woman standing in the shadows puts on a sweater and quickly crosses the street towards a door lit by a porch light.
Every word is part of a picture, and every sentence is a picture. This is a visual writing definition and a great movie, also where the quote is from.
Describing one Medium through Another Visual writing is describing what the camera sees, what the audience sees. Whatever your vision is, whatever your idea is, whatever you want to see on the screen, you must describe it in a language that a team of technicians and visual image artists can understand. (This lesson is repeated in every DM class where students write a story for production with media.)