Sourcing Story Threads
Listening
A big part of being a good storyteller is also being a good listener to other people’s stories. Before we delve into listening to some of the stories in your own project, let’s practice by listening, observing and analysing some existing, compelling ecological restoration (ER) films.
Listen to 2 or more of the below videos, or video’s from the UN’s Decade of Ecological Restoration Documentary Series “RESTORE: FILMS FROM THE FRONTIERS OF HOPE” and answer the following questions for each.
- What emotions do you come across as the story unfolds?
- What were the key points in their timelines? What were they trying to achieve? And what were the results?
- What were the decisions that were made as things unfolded? What if they had been different?
Share in the Padlet below which film you found most compelling and based on which story features. Read through other responses to understand how different audiences will find different aspects of films more compelling than others.
In the activity above you should have identified of the story features that stood out for you, but now let’s focus on your stories.
When you are developing your story it’s often important to carefully consider which threads you might want to focus on or follow. How do you go about choosing which people (characters) to feature in your story, and which parts of your story? A good place to start is to go with aspects that tweak your own interests. In order to identify what stands out, you may need to listen carefully across the different stories of your project and tune into compelling aspects.
Let’s ask the same questions we did of the films in Activity 4, but this time, let’s ask these questions of the people and stories of your ER project.
- What emotions do you come across as you listen to (or reflect on) one of the stories of your ER project?
- What were the key points in your characters or collaborator’s timelines? What were they trying to achieve? And what were the results?
- What were the decisions that were made as things unfolded? What if they had been different?