Tag: FTWWTTBS

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #12 | Video Store Chat, Blind Drawing Tutorial & Web Story

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

Own one of the last remaining video stores in France, invite film-makers and actors in for a look around, strategically place films in-and-around the journey to spark conversation and story, film and share. Very simple and clever. Hats off to Konbini Video Club (who have a lot more fine actors / directors in their store doing the same walk and talk experiences). A fine example of situating the story in and around an array of the medium.

The cartoonist for the New Yorker (Zoe Si) taking a comedian, writer and voice artist through drawing one of her creations in this split screen journey. It’s a fun exploration of the creative process, starting with a brief, through to inking, ink wash, and caption, whilst neither of those involved can see what the other is doing (until the obvious end and reveal).

A written story about the rise and fall of Yahoo Pipes (loved playing with this platform back in the MediaSnackers days and showing clients of the possibility of mashing up web sources to create RSS feeds ). Have a scroll through this visual essay and see the story unfold.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #11 | Time, Chess And Carbon Dioxide

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

Illustrating the 13.8 billion year time scale of our existence on a dry lakebed in the Mojave desert attenuated by wonderful graphics. Abstract notions like time need to be made real through metaphor and this video does a wonderful job at telling our cosmic story through the ages (and how little humanity has contributed to it).

What a fun video where someone is explaining chess whilst unaware that the person they are teaching is already a grandmaster. An imagination and enthusiastic verbal journey which shows how colliding people of differing literacies forces the teacher to create new narratives for understanding. So much fun.

From the clever folks at NASA Scientific Visualization Studio comes this year long illustration of carbon moving in the atmosphere during 2021. What an arresting way to show the acrid flow and provoke a reaction to the toxic human-made filth we are polluting our planet with. Full explanation and other examples here.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #10 | AI, MJ On Fire & Tiny Stories

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

Much like ‘The Scared Is Scared’ featured in last FTWWTTBS post, creating a visual from a recorded audio is a simple model. This time the above is crafted with the help of AI to generate the images which is often bizarre but never boring.

What a delight: the personality behind the art only on top of crafting plus the topic itself. The intricate details of the making is only matched by the exquisite tonal approach to the narration and story, right through to the song-and-dance outro. A half-an-hour which will delight, make you laugh out loud, chuckle and frown.

LOVING this 365 days creative project from Twitter account @smllwrlds, minimilistic science-fiction offerings to spark the imagination. Showing us how much can said in with little space and few words. The above are just a selection from this intriguing project.

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #8 | Freestyling, Revealing Code, And Getting Moist

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

Nineteen minutes of pure improvisation between beatboxer/looper/producer Beardyman and the freestyle rapper Harry Mack. With random words from the audience as a starting point in which to weave and overlay off-the-cuff stories with impressive lyrical and musical aplomb.

Revealing the development and process behind the thinking, testing and final solution of showing a coding workflow. What is revealed is the depth of thinking behind the production side of presenting technical aspects of computer work whilst retaining the human element of guidance. A job well done Outlier.

Wonderfully spoken, the enticing letters between literary lovers of ilk given voice by tremendous beings in this Letters Live piece. Steamy and erotic. Recitals are hard to do as the tread the line between verbatim reading out loud and nuanced emotive expression which is needed to bring the writers intentions alive. A perfect example of the latter in play here.

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #6 | Painting, Hearings & Sampling

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

This ninety minute video is both short stories of experience from a specific art school whilst also creating a hyper-realistic portion of an oil painting. It’s an odd but compelling and complimentary way . Scott’s candor and humility is evident as he navigates the boundaries of truth and compassion to those he’s sharing stories about, as well as his insane talent as he casually build out a portion of his painting.

Full of emotion and measured sentiment, situated in a political arena and specific to a cause, this is immense. It’s a poignantly delivered demonstration of how to both ask for something (health coverage for the first responders of the 9/11 attack) in a way which also illustrates the incredulous system for health care in the US (the bill did finally get passed for the workers to access to the coverage they needed).

A visual illustration of how the electronic duo Daft Punk snips samples from other songs to make up their own tunes. Offered without narration, this is another example of how showing rather than telling works so much better. It will also make you smile at how some of those well known tunes came into being. Clever stuff from Tracklib, an online record store for sampling.

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #5 | Macbeth, Climate Change & Poetry

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

For some reason the YouTube video won’t embed so please click the above image to view.

Deconstructing other peoples work is a way of extending the relevance of the piece. Revealing complexity through performative understanding in this case, reveals all the nuances of written text which is intended to be acted, by the actor themself (in this case Sir Ian McKellen). Even though the above is specific to a well known soliloquy / scene / text from Shakespeare it can stand as an example and be applied to any element of any sector / industry. A master, holding class (BONUS: watch till end to see the lesson put into action).

This in-browser investigative news story integrates graphics and motion in a wonderfully creative way, the outcome of which enables takes the viewer / reader on a visual feast of a journey through the narrative. Again, you can imagine this as an example which could be ported to other uses like an annual report of a company, an investors pitch online, an organisations future strategic commitments etc.

What a wonderfully produced, simple and effective 14 minute exploration of such a broad topic: How Poetry Works. In their delivery, Paul Tran ignites the watchers interest with simple technology use, mastery of language and superb emotional projection. Using just one poem, we’re introduced to the elements, structure and strategies (some obvious, some hidden) a poet can draw upon to convey meaning (ANOTHER BONUS: watch till end to see the lesson put into action).

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #4 | Amadeus, All The Jedi & Leadership

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

An augmentation of a scene from the film, Amadeus, wonderfully revealing the musical literacies of two artists working on what will become Confutatis. By adding these new visual aspects to an already existing work it reveals the hidden brilliance of the story and the characters impact. Bravo!

A further example of when new layers add more impact to an existing story narrative (the above is extended from the previous version). Another demonstration of how you can amplify an existing storyline with references of previous lore which serves the fandom deeply. Goosebumps.

As slightly different but with the same approach to augmenting a scene with additional content is the above. Speaking over a peculiar short piece of shaky footage from a musical festival, Derek Sivers adds a compendium of leadership insights in such a short space of time. So simple yet so effective.

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #3 | Eulogies, One-Buttock-Playing & Peacemaking

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

Touching. Funny. Poignant. Eulogies are an odd but if you think about it, obvious platforms for stories. I mean if there’s ever a second best time to express emotion and insights for loved ones it’s when others are gathered to pay that respect. David Grohl’s weaves a lovely journey of one mans little impact of his friend Lemmy Kilmister.

*first best time is now.

A classic. High energy and sigh-inducing. A teacher in flow. Illustrating everything he says with the aligned energy and practical demonstrations whilst also literally connecting to the audience with no consideration for usual etiquette. Sublime and an example I come back to often to show exuberant oratory.

It’s really hard to write text to sound flowing and spontaneous. It’s harder still to read a script with the energy and intonation of natural speech. This is a perfect example of both. A highly charged topic delivered with grace and sincerity, humanised through individual experience and gravitas. A peace-making call to arms in a troubled time.

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #2 | Wood Block Carving, Intimation & Family Secrets

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

Even if you don’t carve Japanese wood blocks for printing, this is a delightful experience. Softly delivered with barrels of enthusiastic knowledge regarding one persons learning journey. A 30mins piece-to-camera with very little deviation (I only counted one cut), no script, just chapters of a thread regarding a teacher and their impact on an eager student with a wonderful piece towards the end of the manifest artistry alluded to throughout the video.

One of my favourite shorts. Dripping in suggestive narratives and tenderly framed, the sparse dialogue focuses attention whilst the actions conveys the emotional depth of the situation. Subtle and monumental all in one.

An example of how oratory can be performative. Complimented by musical overtones plus amplified through a slick and calculated delivery, an illustration of the power of humanising lived and generational experiences.

All offered up to inspire, teach and make you smile / think.

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Image credit.
Published

For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories #1 | Death, Poetry & Puppets

A few chosen narrative examples, to uncover forms, inspire the soul and stir the creative spirits.

The closing talk of the 2015 event flaws me every time (was lucky to experience it in real-time at TEDActive). A challenging topic delivered with poise and flowing humility, weaved around a set of lived experience and humanising adventures of those at the end of their life. A gentle approach with surprisingly uplifting insights.

A stunning mash-up of words from Rilke, real-life footage and animation, over-layed with wonderful sound design to form a mix which entices and arrests. A revealing vignette of our current climate state with also a poetic call to action for involvement along with creating a poignant sense of hope. Marvelous.

Captivating. Hilarious. An emotional ride of a story. Delivered with an array of pacing and continued narrative arcs. Even though our storyteller is a puppet, recognise and track range of feelings which heightens the rhetorical journey. What an end as well where we’re all challenged by our roles as story-listeners to consider some big questions of validity, superb!

What did you learn from the above offerings?

Check out all the ‘For Those Who Want To Tell Better Stories’ posts.

Published