Film Courage: In creating an immersive story why
do you focus on audience before you focus on the characters in the world?
Margaret Kerrison, Immersive Storyteller, Narrative Director and Writer: When we
think about immersive storytelling we always go back to the idea of
the person (the audience member) who's coming into committing their time
and energy into the space how do we create an experience for them that is truly immersive
and in any other type of storytelling it is about another person's story it's another
character going on their own journey having this adventure but an immersive storytelling the hero
the protagonist is your audience member is your visitor they're the ones who want to commit this
time to going on a journey that is for them that is unique to them that's personal to them perhaps
and so when we think about creating an immersive storytelling world or experience
it is a multi-dimensional video game come to life this player if you will is going into this
experience and into this world to do something to experience something and so we create a story and
a narrative and a world around them and they are the the first person perspective of looking around
a space an environment and a world we see it through their eyes and so when I think about
any type of experience that I build I always think that I am guest zero I want to create
a world and a story where I am the visitor that is experiencing this for the first time and how
do I really put myself in their shoes and see things through their eyes and experience things
through the way that they would experience it because when we have the first guest the first
visitor who comes in they should be aligned with the experience that I and the team have
created in order to create something that is truly truly compelling and engaging and we want
to surprise people and we want to make sure that we engage with them in a way that really
opens up their minds shakes them up or makes them think about and see the world in a different way
whatever your goal is in your experience you really really have to consider
what they're experiencing through their eyes and through their perspective in order to feel that
this is an an experience that is emotionally engaging and meaningful and I think that
it's so important to think about it from their perspective because they are the hero of your
story they are the protagonist so how do you create a journey and an adventure an experience
that is about them so it's a very, very daunting task because maybe one person's perspective or
experience of a place can be different from another person who experiences the same thing
and that's completely fine because no two human beings are alike but how do you create a world
a story a place that really makes them feel something that perhaps transforms them because
that's something as storytellers and creators we want to do is we want to transform people we
want to change them in a positive way in in a way that opens up their minds broaden their horizons
allows them to explore and play and engage and discover in ways that they never thought
they would maybe there are even experiences that makes them feel more like themselves
than they would normally feel in their ordinary lives we hear about people who
have an avatar that's of a different gender or plays a role that they don't normally play in
their real lives and in perhaps in this experience they can truly feel more themselves than they've
ever been and so the the role of the storyteller so important to be able to allow for that platform
that for that world to exist for people to truly feel like they belong that they connect that they
can understand the world around them in a way that feels very meaningful and purposeful to them
how does the storyteller know where their audience is that's a really good question I think that
sometimes you don't always know I think that if you are working on a particular story
that's popular knowledge or of pop culture who your fandom is your target audience is
but if you're working on a story for a museum or a larger general audience I think that
as much as possible you want to be inclusive of everyone and I think that you really want
to maybe research in terms of like the market that you're in who's most likely going to attend
your experience but also knowing your age group as well is this an experience for children is this an
experience for teenagers is this an experience for adults or for everyone and it's extremely
challenging to try to please everyone but you want to make sure depending on your experience you want
to make sure that it is inclusive of everyone so that they feel like they can belong in your story
World and if it isn't appropriate for a younger audience or for a particular group of people
then that's something that you need to communicate beforehand that's something that you want to make
sure that your audience's expectations of the experience is what they think it is so I think
that it really depends on who you're trying to reach out to and whether or not that truly is your
audience sometimes can be surprising sometimes it doesn't necessarily what you expect to be your
maybe your the majority of your audience members might it might not turn out to be that way and
you're going to be more appealing for the younger audience or whoever it is right like I think that
it just it depends on your experience for sure and the audience will surprise you sometimes you
think they're going to love one thing and it turns out they actually hate it or they love something
that you never even considered yeah and and a lot of the times in in this industry you make changes
you adapt right if something doesn't work out if something isn't built to the expectation of the
audience how can you improve upon it and how how can you change it how can you make some amends
so that it is something that they were hoping to experience something that is more compelling
and I think when you think about designing your experience you want to keep in mind that there
could that you should be flexible in that you should think about how if you needed to make a
change it's not going to be so time consuming or costly to your project can you find ways in which
it can be classic and evergreen are there ways that it could be a an easy way for you to switch
out a character or an element of a story whatever it is so that it always feels relevant and current
and something that is always me that feels new to people so it really yeah it really depends I
think on the subject matter and also how you what you're trying to accomplish in the first place
like really understanding what the goal of that experience is and yeah knowing who your audience
is who are streakers strollers and students oh okay so this is a a term that was coined a few
decades ago by a museum educator and especially in the museum industry there's the the streakers
the strollers the students are also sometimes called the streakers the strollers the scholars
street if you think about going to a museum the streakers are the ones who just kind of
want to walk through all of the galleries all of the rooms and just get a glimpse of everything
quickly and the strollers are the ones who they'll take time to meander through all the galleries
maybe stop at a particular painting or a piece of art and really enjoy it before they move on to the
next object and the scholars or the students are the ones who want to absorb everything about that
particular piece of work or every single piece of work in the museum so as a museum designer or an
experienced creator you want to think about all of those different levels of engagement if you will
and how do you create an experience that is appealing to all of them there could be I see
examples in museums where they have like just a short description or a title of a painting and
the artist and if you want to read further you can there's more information and if you want to dive
even deeper maybe you'll listen to a podcast or the audio tour or you go on one of the tours with
one of the guides right so having that different options for your visitors to engage with whatever
level that feels comfortable to them that makes them feel like they got their but their value
for coming to visit your experience is a really great way to think about how you want to create
an experience that will appeal to all those levels of participants and there's other ways that people
think about it it's in a fictional world it's levels of fandom and some people like to think
about it as like what's it's the the waiters the swimmers and the divers is also another way that
people talk about how deeply they want to immerse themselves in a story a world or a topic and so
it's it's really good to keep that in the back of your mind when you're creating a place because if
it is an experience that's designed for young children let's say then maybe it is more about
the very the the streakers or the waiters right they they just want to get a sense of everything
just a little bit of here and there and they're not going to be reading every single plaque on
the wall or anything like that they're going to move on to the other thing but if you're
creating an experience that perhaps is historical or biographical then you want to make sure that
you are being a hundred percent accurate and fair and responsible in sharing that story with the
world so it's an extremely big responsibility as a creator and a storyteller to think about
all those different levels of engagement and how they can participate in your story and your world.