Final Portfolio- Cinematic Storytelling
Introduction:
This story is about one night in Boulder when I drank too much and lost my friends at a party. I had no idea where I was when I left, and started walking in what I thought was the right direction. I ended up getting extremely lost and finding a Comcast crew working who I ended up begging for a ride home. It was ironic, because this was when I first signed up for Comcast and I was constantly on hold with them on the phone in frustration. To make this story come full circle, I start off getting annoyed on the phone by the Comcast company. Later in the story, the Comcast guys end up helping me out and saving me.
Story:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Bodh-K_DB-yEEi14Fg4EwSrTSPv4k9F7nHzhQ6_i1Y/edit?usp=sharing
Commentary:
At first I was reluctant to choose this story, since I was embarrassed that I drank too much and got so lost. However, as we learned through class and Shimmering Images, sometimes the stories you don't want to tell end up being the best stories. I thought this story would work well for a movie because of how the beginning relates to the end in a surprising way that the audience wouldn't expect. This ironic ending reminds me of a lot of movies I've seen.
Working with the screenplay format was different than the other forms of storytelling because you are forced to think about everything else in the scene that's going on. There were parts of this method that worked for me and parts that i found more difficult, but once I got used to it, I found this way of writing stories really fun! I liked how I could speed up certain scenes and add background music so that the audience could see what happened without me having to explain or write it out. Thinking about my story like a movie helped me tell an embarrassing story because I could speed up these parts with music and not have to go into full-fledged detail about them.
One of the harder parts about the screenplay was drawing out the storyboard. I didn't realize how much work goes into making a movie and deciding which camera angles you want to use. There is a lot of thought that goes into this. Even though my scenes were pretty short, I had a pretty significant storyboard due to all the camera transitions. I have much more respect for movie writers and the hard work that goes into creating a storyboard.
Again, for future storytellers, I would suggest to take the book "Crafting Short Screenplays that Connect" to class with them while trying out this method for a variety of stories. You may change your mind about which story you want to use once you become more familiar with the art of crafting screenplays. I changed my story idea for this format multiple times. I wouldn't have been able to become as comfortable with writing screenplays without our book. Johnson gives sound advice on screenplays, and the way she inserts them into the text made me want to jump in and try it out myself.
Storyteller Bio:
I am Jessica Fullam, a 21 year old student at CU Boulder. I am majoring in Communication and receiving a certificate in Technology Arts & Media. After graduating in May, I'm hoping to travel and live abroad for as long as possible (especially in New Zealand, fingers crossed!) I'll have many more stories to tell, and now with multiple ways and resources to do so.
