This week's Find Your Voice lesson was entitled: "What's your storytelling style?" and it touched on lots of important storytelling topics such as character, theme, setting... etc. After doing my homework (filling out the worksheets), I decided to do the crafting based prompt once again. This was the prompt: "Pick out two different storytelling styles, and tell the same story using different styles. Make sure to use styles that push you out of your comfort zone."
Lately I've been making a lot of black and white comic strips. I love creating these little cartoons, and I've been toying with the idea of creating a flip-book style hand drawn movie. It seemed too hard, though, so I hadn't tried it yet. Well, this prompt just shouted "TRY YOUR MOVIE!", so I did. I chose a story that came from a dream I had about growing plants that produce rabbits instead of flowers. I'm calling this epic (kind of) tale Rabbit Bloom. View it for yourself below:
I chose to create a comic strip for the second storytelling method. I used color for the first time ever (I'm always afraid coloring my comics will ruin them, but I like it in this one.) I also added a new character, thus causing this story to be narrated differently. In my movie, the viewer is simply watching from the outside, but in my comic strip we get to witness the rabbit bloom through the eyes of this witty little lady bug. I definitely like the addition of this six-legged narrator.
I like both methods for storytelling, however, the movie certainly took more time than the comic strip. There are some stories that need motion to be told visually, others will do just fine in a comic strip. I'll have to carefully consider my options before selecting a storytelling method in the future - especially now that I have a new skill set to utilize!
If you're excited about this project - you can still join Find Your Voice and start telling some stories of your own. Check it out:
