Stories

Immersive Experiences

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

Some happen by chance. But most happen by design!

This weekend, I watched a movie that I was completely immersed in.

As I emerged out of the movie hall, I was trying to figure out what made the movie tick for me. And why the long length didn’t bother me as much.

As I thought about the overall experience and my connection with the movie, I realised that I felt it was immersive because at no point did the storytelling slack.

Then, as I compared it with some of the best books I have read, it occurred to me that those also had a style of storytelling that felt as if I was transported into that world. And within that experience, it was as if I was living it.

In fact, most of such immersive experiences are designed in a manner that the storytelling draws the listener or audience in, hooking them into the narrative, making them as a part of the story.

Having started my experiments with writing over the last six years, I must admit that it is very hard to do. On my best days also, weaving the tale together to make it compelling is an extremely difficult task.

Naturally, there are very few of these experiences that immerse us completely. But the ones that do, leave us with a sense of wonder and concern. Wonder about how it all panned out and concern about the characters.

That’s why I feel that storytelling is about the characters and how their interconnections are explored and structured!

What I am sure of though, is that the immersion is an outcome of design. And the design is always in the hands of the creator…

Storytelling

~ Rishi ~ 2 Comments

The movie ended on a note that made me watch it again! Unusual, though not the first time for me…

Memento was probably the second or third movie, which I wanted to rewatch immediately. I watched it the second time with my wife, relishing the details and making sense of the amazing style of storytelling that the director has used in this movie.

As I thought about the narrative style and the effects the director, Christopher Nolan, had employed to make his story compelling, the writer in me naturally marveled at the way a linear story had been twisted to make it complex.

How sometimes a change of perspective gives a different spin to the narrative! Something which is seemingly confusing becomes clearer suddenly.

How we as an audience invest into absorbing a story when we find it compelling and stay with it till the very end because it continues to make sense.

This thought remained with me all day yesterday. And then, as I was reflecting, I realized how powerful storytelling can be…

It is something we all practice in our daily lives multiple times. The stories we tell in our workplace, the stories we tell at home, the stories we tell ourselves!

Sometimes we chose to tell straight forward stories. We like to state facts and touch upon them as they happened.

Sometimes we chose to narrate with added emotions, inferences, or opinions. We like to give the story our own spin, for what is a straight forward tell!

Sometimes we chose to approach the storytelling from a different perspective and try to induce empathy / sympathy in the audience. In the hope that we would be able to effect an outcome that we want.

We use one or the other approach depending on the situation. For the simple purpose that we want to pass on the message to the other person in the most effective way.

As long as it is done with the right intention. Intention which is generally accepted as right, not as per us. For our understanding could be colored or biased.

And as long it is genuine. For what is the fun in telling a story that’s not genuine, unless we want to continue building a web of stories to hide the lies in the first one…