Kio Stark

This course is about how to tell stories with your projects. Like a classic linear story, we’ll start at the beginning with the question of how good stories are told. We’ll learn about classical storytelling techniques and conventions from a variety of cultures, genres, and media. Next we’ll explore what various tech and media can and can’t do in the context of story. We’ll end the semester throwing linearity out the window to create cohesive, rigorous narrative experiences with clear audience/viewer entry and exit, that engage with the tropes and conventions of non-linear storytelling. The class will include some original writing, but students who don’t think of themselves as writers are highly encouraged to join as well as students who do. We’ll learn about narrative tools like plot, character, form, subtext, symbolism, POV and lots of other delights that will enable you to create stories and adaptations for your assignments.

Students Do:

During class time, students will participate in discussion, small group work, reflective in-class writing, and presentations. We will also have guest speakers and project workshops with guest critics. Weekly homework assignments will consist of reading, watching, listening, and potentially attending events outside of class time to support conversations and activities during class. Student projects will involve group work/play with projects riffing on assigned existing stories and narratives. For example, a specific canonical story, poem, myth, parable, or film plot may be used as a narrative jumping off point for these assignments. Some of these projects may involve some light narrative writing.

Structure:

This is a 14 week class.

Unit 1: Narrative structures. In this unit we dig into what it means to tell a story. Some of our major themes include:

• What are the most commonly used story structures in media such as the novel, graphic novel, film, TV, and theater—and what expectations do they set up for the audience?

• What are the techniques, tropes, and conventions of both western and nonwestern storytelling traditions?

• What are some approaches that are in dialogue with or rebel against these traditions?

• How do we understand and manipulate the audience’s narrative expectations?

• What makes a story ‘work’ / how do we define a good or successful story?

Unit 2: Using tech to tell a story, or not In this unit we will do something that in other contexts is a terrible idea—we will start with the technology. We’ll explore briefly what counts as technology and why and how we make the choice to use it or not.

• What might we do with sensors, motion, projection, AR/VR, paper, film, light, voice etc in the context of the storytelling knowledge we’ve gained in Unit 1?

• What unique storytelling conventions might be available to us as makers?

• What kinds of objects, interfaces, situations, and places can be experienced as narrative?

Unit 3: Non-linear storytelling In this unit we will play with situations in which the creators deliver the narrative in a non-linear form.

• How do we use the viewer’s relationship/familiarity with conventions of linear storytelling to engage them in a non-linear narrative?

• What are the storytelling conventions we see used in media beyond the page, big screen, and stage, where non-linearity is a common feature, and what can we learn from them? For example, AR/VR, video games, social media, site specific and immersive performance, and museum design.

• How could we make a story that works in more than one direction? • How do we play with the audience’s expectations?

• How do we create seamless and innovative user journeys through narrative experiences

Connection:

Taught previously at ITP including this class (Fall 2020)