Digital Storytelling Festival

Next Exit

Introduction:

Next Exit is set in an engaging framework. I think people love seeing the campfire. It suggests the shared participation of all the observers. Every storyteller should start with something like that, something that establishes your relationship to the audience in a evocative way.

JL: In storytelling, as distinct from theater or public speaking, the storyteller necessarily establishes the basis of conversation with the audience.

DA: That's breaking the fourth wall.

JL: Exactly. I think the storytelling art, as distinct from theater, is everyone being present, even as they allow themselves to be immersed in story. And this aspect of storytelling is a very good metaphor for critical presentation, as opposed to entertainment. Because if everyone is being only swept away by story, they will not remember the differentiation of material that a presenter is counting on their audience to leave the experience remembering. And finally, it's the obvious thing that the audience has the opportunity to influence change, either by being unresponsive or by injecting their own voice, ideas, requests into the process.

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