Film Courage: A well-told story should feel almost like a roller coaster ride?
Margaret Kerrison, Immersive Storyteller, Narrative Director and Writer: I believe
that. I think that a well-told story has ups and downs and it has twists and turns and it
surprises and delights you and terrifies you that a really well told story should have that variety
of emotions and that when you think about some of your favorite movies and books and
experiences they really take you on that journey from beginning middle and end they take you on
a journey where you truly let yourself go, you are present you suspend your disbelief and you
trust that the storyteller and creator is going to take you on this magical journey and it's
not just about the thrills and the screams and the excitement but it's about that anticipation
you think about a roller coaster from the moment that you're lining up to get on the
vehicle itself your heart art is beating you're excited talking to your family and your friends
you're trying to you're so pumped up and excited to go on this adventure and even when you climb
into the vehicle and you have your safety on you and everything going off of that ramp and
when you start chugging up the track it's you're not thinking about anything else you're thinking
about oh my gosh I'm just going to go on this really fast ride and there's nothing I can do
I'm out of control right I have to trust that this coaster is going to take me back safely to
where I started but for those few moments you really let yourself go and be present and just
enjoy the ride and I feel like well-told stories do that right you trust that you're going to be
taken to some extraordinary place to go on your hero's journey if you will and really depart on
this and embark on this adventure where you have this excitement and this anticipation
and you go on a thrilling twists and turns and ups and downs and all kinds of things that you
don't have control over and you're surprised by how not only you survive in the end that you had
a great time but it's this feeling of this this this release of control that is extremely perhaps
very exciting for a lot of people because all your life for the most part you have to really
think about what you're doing and planning and it's a checklist of things to do and accomplish
and all of these things and sometimes it just feels good to let someone else take control
for a little bit and take you on this really great journey and that's why a lot of people
come back to like theme parks and amusement parks and everything because it's a way for you to truly
let yourself play and Release Yourself from all these inhibitions and
engage in something that feels extraordinary that is not is out of the ordinary life that
you live and being able to transport yourself to this playful playground of sorts where you
can really go on an adventure is something that a well-told story does and the the beauty of it
is it's not thrill every minute there's Peaks and valleys too and yeah and there are a lot of Peaks
and valleys in Wilton stories I mean well-toed stories make you cry as much as you laugh right
they touch you they some stories can be extremely tragic but there's a glimmer of hope in the end
so all of these emotions of positive and negative emotions and neither they're not good or bad
they're just the scale of emotions the spectrum of emotions that we as human beings experience
and so when about going on a roller coaster it's really a metaphor to the the life of the Journey
of a well-tooled story in which there are these peaks and valleys and there are ups and downs
and all of them are okay it's okay to be sad it's okay to cry it's okay to feel to feel scared and
terrified because that is The Human Experience and that if you live your life wanting to experience
the peak all the time then you haven't truly lived you haven't experienced all that life has to offer
for you and that's why really great stories take you there and make you really reflect on
all the various emotions that you can experience in your life and how you can reflect upon it
in your own life with it with your own family and friends and how you can experience this
colorful spectrum that is life where does the creative process begin for an immersive story
the creative process begins with a lot of research that's something that everyone
should always do as a step one if you are going to tell a story especially a story that's not
yours to own that really understanding the subject matter talking to experts and having
the appropriate subject matter experts and advisors to help you truly understand a topic and
a world is extremely important that if you jump into the creative process without understanding
the context the significance what's important about that particular story
is can be very problematic so I always want to find multiple perspectives on a particular
subject matter or topic or World whatever it is to truly understand especially if it's non-fiction
especially if it's something biographical especially if it's historical or educational
even if it's not even if it's a fictional World you have to respect
the subject matter and the story so that research is number one the first step that you must take
as a Storyteller to any project that you work on can you talk about the brainstorming process
there's so many different ways to brainstorm an idea but as a creative process and as creatives
and creative collaborators it's a really great way to all be together in a room when you brainstorm
an idea and it depending on the scope of your project and the kind of project that you have
you may bring in some different disciplines to really think about your world through their
various skill set so you might have an illustrator or an architect or a writer or a creative director
or a landscape designer it really depends on the subject matter that you're working with
but ultimately you want to have all these various Representatives if you will of all these creative
disciplines come together so that you're able to create something that is seamless and integrated
because you're using multiple senses to experience an immersive story you want to
make sure that all of these voices are present in the room at the table cultural experts
story subject matter experts all of these things it's a way for you to really throw out
all the ideas and brainstorm all the good and bad ideas together so that you can really understand
what's important about the story you want to share with the world and hearing it from all these
different disciplines and from different people and voices is extremely important to make sure
that you have a very diverse and representative representation of a story that is truly unique and
authentic and on the flip side though let's take an example of like the the quote too many cooks
spoiled broth so if we have too many people how does it dilute it I mean when do I have a good mix
that's a really it's a good question and that a lot of times we you want to it really depends on
what we're talking about because there are certain instances where you feel like you really want to
focus on an idea or a topic and really brainstorm from that idea but sometimes that it's good to
start out it's good to start out bigger in some sense and maybe you narrow it down from there
that it's important to have important voices heard in the beginning because that really shapes how
you create that story throughout the life cycle of a project and it really gives you as the Creator a
Storyteller you want to at least for me personally I want to hear everyone's ideas and as the story
Champion as the person who's going to create the story I want to make sure that all the voices
within that within the team are heard first and foremost and in a way my job is to be a curator
to decide which of these perspectives are the ones that we really want to focus on which are
the ones that are important but may not take the spotlight in this particular point in time
what are the ones what are the ways that we can tell a story that's not so overt I guess can we
tell stories in ways that are more contextual and more suggestive rather than something that is very
obvious so I know that seems very like strange to think about because surely like with all
the voices in my head it would be confusing or distracting perhaps but it depends but for me
I really want to hear it all it's kind of like a funnel if you for lack of a better analogy I want
to hear it all I want to hear all the different perspectives and from there really be able to
hone in and focus on what's really important what are the common themes what are the common patterns
what are the common things people are saying that have a a unified a more unified approach
to how we can tell that story so ultimately once you have all the voices heard and you hear all
the different perspectives you can have smaller groups and breakout sessions to consider okay
now that we have this greater idea this big idea concept of what our project is about now let's
we can go into smaller groups of like how do we tell that story in this particular room how do
we tell that story in the dining experience how do we tell that story in the retail experience right
so in that sense you can have more focused groups to think about it but as a Storyteller you you
kind of have to do both you're a generalist and you're also a specialist when it comes time for it
you really have to think about how you can use all of these different stories ideas perspectives in a
much bigger arching story story arc and then find ways in which you can be more defined and focused
in different elements of your entire experience so there's different ways that you can do that but
that it really depends on how much time you have how much money you have frankly for the project as
well and really think about how best to approach it and the most efficient and effective way.