Film Courage: How do you define story?
Margaret Kerrison, Immersive Storyteller and Writer: A story transports me to a different
place to a different world to a world and a life and meeting new characters that immersed me in an
entirely new experience. I think about some of the early storytellers in my life like my grandmother
who was a oral storyteller and she would tell us stories when we were kids about her life and
how she met her husband stories of our youth when we were children so I like to think of story as
there are stories that are nostalgic with a beginning middle and an end
but when I think about stories in general they're really a really great format medium
no matter what kind of medium it is a place to be transported into a world and characters that
you might not know it's a way for you to walk in someone else's shoes to have empathy
for another character and to see someone else's life through their eyes
I think that that's extremely important for us as human beings and living in the society
that we live in today to be able to hear other people's stories through their own voices
through their unique perspectives to really appreciate understand empathize with
how they see the world so I don't know that's a roundabout answer but story transports you
what is immersive storytelling immersive storytelling there's many
various definitions for this but in my mind it's using tools and techniques to immerse
a guest a participant an audience member into an immersive world where they use all of their senses
in order to immerse themselves in a particular world or story and when I think about immersive
storytelling some of the most successful ones out there they are the ones that really think about
not just the visual or the audio storytelling but in what you touch and taste and feel
and and really have that interaction between different perhaps different people or different
elements or objects that maybe you can pick up that you can explore and discover and to really
feel like you're immersed in a world or an environment that you may not necessarily
be familiar with but you have that suspension of disbelief to allow the storyteller the creator to
take you there to really immerse you in that place to play to have permission to engage and
immerse yourself in something that you wouldn't normally in your regular lives so to be immersed
in that story and feeling like you're a part of it feeling like that you're an important part of it
is extremely important I think too that you're not just a spectator that you are an engaged active
participant in that story so there are different kinds of immersive storytelling ones where you do
come into a space and it's extremely visual and there's music and all of that but you walk around
like you're perhaps a ghost or you don't have any effect to the environment but then there's the
more extreme types of immersive storytelling where you are an active participant you can be a hero to
that story and you can really take part in shaping the outcome of that story too so there's different
levels of participation levels of engagement of what you can do in an immersive storytelling world
does every place have a story I think so I believe that every place has a story this room that we're
in has a story this house this town this city it's a question of who's telling the story right
I think that if you asked the person who lived in this house 50 years ago versus 100
years ago versus a thousand years ago right everyone has a different story to tell but
yes 100 every place has a story and every person has a story too and I find that one of the most
fascinating things to think about is if you have that chance to tell the story of yourself
or the place that you're in what's the story that you want to share with the world Margaret
what's your reaction to someone saying entering a story is not just an escape I think that it's
story is it is definitely a way for us to understand and make sense of the world around us
it's a way for us as children when we first heard stories and to understand how what's right and
wrong the the good guys the bad guys the heroes the villains all of these things what's acceptable
what's not what's the what's the right choice to make what's not I think that for anyone who hears
or tells a story they come they tell that story through their personal and unique perspective
and what you pass down from generation to generation is what you hope will live on
in terms of how you make sense of the world and also how you're not alone when you hear
a story you realize that there's someone else whether you're reading a book watching a movie
experiencing a world you realize there's someone else in the world who understands
exactly how I feel and how I live my life and how I what I dream of and what I hope
to do and what I hope to be one day because a lot of the stories that we hear or experience
the ones that really really get into our hearts and our souls are perhaps
a way to fulfill a deep-seated desire and a wish that's something we always think about when we
create any type of stories what is what is the audience's wish fulfillment what's their fantasy
and let's really get into the heart of what people not only want and desire but what they
need and what they're lacking in their lives so telling a story does create that understanding
and that making sense of the world and finding the the commonalities between us and that's something
that is really exciting to me like some of the best stories I’ve heard or read or experienced
may not have anything to do with a a person that I’m or a culture or a race or a lifestyle or
occupation that I’m familiar with but because there's so many common universal truths to their
story it touches us it makes us understand it makes us really connect with someone that could be
from living in the other side of the world but as a woman, as a mother, as a sister, as a daughter,
as a human being, being able to feel that and understand that and make sense of that
that's really magical to have that story really be felt
with every person that experiences that story that's really that's really the the goal of
every storyteller isn't it to be able to touch everyone's lives in a way that's very meaningful
how is immersive storytelling different from novel writing or screenwriting yeah
immersive storytelling is extremely different from more traditional forms of storytelling like
novels and screenwriting I think because the role of the writer the storyteller is really part of a
greater team this is some this is not a solitary craft and I love to read books and I love to watch
movies and it's similar with film production too I would hope that the writer works with the director
and with the actors and all of this but I think the role of the writer and the storyteller in
immersive storytelling is extremely important in that they are the story champion and the
guardian of that story craft throughout the from the beginning of the project to the end because
you have to find ways to be able to embrace and celebrate that story in various disciplines
you talk to the landscape designer to the architect to the audio engineer to the
to the graphic designer in terms of being able to tell one story one story world
let's say and it's not experienced in just one medium there might be some media components
in an immersive story world there might be some graphic elements that you're reading
and listening to but as a whole it's a very holistic type of storytelling because you are
immersing all of your audience members senses so that every single detail of the first moment
a guest an audience member walks into your experience until the moment they walk out
every single detail every single thing they touch and feel and hear and taste is all a part of that
greater story so how do you tell a story or share a story or have your audience member partake in
that story in such a way where they feel like they're the hero and the active and an active
important part of that story and that's very different from reading a novel or watching a movie
where the reader or the audience member does not take part they're viewers or observers or readers
they don't have a place in the story whereas in immersive storytelling the
audience member the guest is a part of that story and they are immersed
in this world where perhaps they can take action and do and see it and
take action to have consequences in terms of how the story plays out
so they become one of the characters to the story and that's really a big difference
to any other formats of storytelling how do people respond when you explain that your job is to
create an immersive story that you're an immersive storyteller they usually question it they're
a lot of them ask what is an immersive storyteller why do you need a writer to write immersive
stories what do you do exactly I think a lot of people wonder and question but they're usually
very fascinated with what that means and I think that it's definitely a growing ever evolving
industry and craft so there's never there will never be and I hope they there never will be
a definition to describe what this immersive storyteller and writer does in this in any
project because it should evolve I don't think there should be one format or medium to be able to
tell an immersive a really great immersive story I think that the creators who really push in terms
of like how you would share an immersive story with the world thinking about how they can just
break the barriers and really think about how you can tell a story without characters that you meet
live actors how can you tell a story in an environment where there isn't anyone in the room
that's what we do a lot when we design attractions for theme parks is when you
think about the queue you don't meet anyone but yet you get a strong sense of place you get a
strong sense of the character who may inhabit this place or previously inhabited the place
or the person you're about to meet right you get a you get this very strong sense of place making is
what we call it in the industry so there's people often question that and I start off by saying well
my experience and my what I studied in film school was to be a writer and screenwriter and I kind of
build it up from there so I write for theme park attractions and rides and shows and
museum experiences and really trying to make this very holistic type of storytelling world
where you can experience a story and a place in very unique and one-of-a-kind ways ways
and at the end of the at for every project our goal is always to surprise and delight guests
and audience members and visitors so that they can see the world differently to think about
new ways and new approaches to living their own lives based on what they've just experienced
to really hold a mirror to yourself and to reflect on what you've experienced
and to reflect on how you can change your life for the better how you can really bring positivity
and unity to your own life and to the world.