Storytelling

This blog post will discuss one of the processes that I have undertaken for my film review, in this case it is "Storytelling". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun "storytelling" is defined as "The action or activity of telling stories, or a particular story; an instance of this." (2015). 

There is much more to storytelling than this simple definition as there are many processes that precede telling the story. One such process is the creation of a story, which can be either fictional or a recount of real-life events. Both need creativity when creating them as, for fictional stories, you need to base your story from various things the creator has seen, and for real-life events the storyteller needs to find the right words to tell the story. Then there is the method of telling the story, which can range from direct accounts from other people from simply talking with a storyteller or listening from electronic sources such as radios, television, and films, or even written works such as novels, comics, and magazines.

Present in most stories are three main features; a setting, characters, and a plot (McADAMS, 1993, cited by CHAITIN, 2003). A setting is the location of where the story takes place, and without the setting the reader will be unable to visualise what the story should look like and may need locational context for what happens in the story. The second thing a story needs are is a character or more, which helps the audience to focus on someone and to act as a focus point for the storyteller. Thirdly and most importantly a story needs a plot, which is a reason for the existence of a story that can be told in many different ways.

Storytelling is important in my project because I am telling part of the film's own story to the reader to help them understand the context of what I am discussing in the film. A film have these three basic features present in it, and to a degree, my own review. My review partly recounts the plot of the movie as it discusses the characters in the setting of both a real-life and rom-com New York. Storytelling is a widespread art, an art that can be found everywhere, some people may gloss over them, and some take the time to listen and appreciate what is being told to them.

References

CHAITIN, J. (2003) Narratives and Story-telling. [Online] Beyond Intractability. Available from: https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/narratives [Accessed 26/05/20]

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY (2015) Storytelling, n. [Online] Oxford English Dictionary. Available from: http://www.oed.com [Accessed 26/05/20].