We had a very joyful workshop this morning. The story telling challenges allowed me to further develop my ideas from a narrative perspective. Story telling really is one of the most powerful tools in our bags. It allows for checking how water tight your ideas are. Issues in coherence and logic come very apparent once you attempt explaining your concept through a narrative style. What was especially refreshing for myself was the way Nicole guided the sessions. She really took an out of the box approach to the new remote format we are all forced into. This was a welcome diversion.
For exercise one we formed groups and answered two questions. What makes good story telling for you? What principles or methods do you use for good story telling.
Exercise 1
Nicole calls this exercise «The Beach». We where asked to individually dream ahead and put ourselves into our finished exhibition in July. I took notes of my answers to the questions.
How does it feel to see my work in the exhibition? It feels as if a magician took one on a journey. Alice style. People see things they have never ever seen in their lives. They should feel intrigued and curious. What do I see? I see all the things it could have been. How do visitors describe my work? They explain their experiences with a broad grin on their faces. Kinda like Totoro. I want them to struggle a bit to organise their impressions, it’s fine if they have to digest what they’ve experienced for a day or two. Then their conclusions should be snappy and accurate. I want visitors to be able to take something home from it. Make their own opinions about the topic. Which single image best symbolises my work? See image below. Which proverb, quote, aphorism best describes my work? I think Clarke’s third law kinda fits my aspirations. That might change, however. «Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.»
We where tasked to come up with a video displaying our vision in only nine frames. We had one hour time for this. We then viewed some of the videos and discussed what worked and what did not. The solutions where all very different. I liked the analogue, crafty videos best. Sometimes there where jumps or other continuity issues with the videos. We talked about possible solutions. It was nice to have Nicole's feedback, as someone who did not know our topics beforehand and then get feedback from the class who had the whole background of how we had developed our ideas.
Exercise 3