Storytelling for Media

The term storytelling is gaining prominence both in academia and industry rightly so because narrative techniques allow for particularly effective and sustainable communication. Stories are what catch our attention, move us, teach us to empathise, and create strong memories. This introduction to the strategies of storytelling uses fundamental scientific texts as well as dramaturgical guides and practical examples. Dr. Joachim Friedmann, professor and writer of scripts for tv, comics, and games, presents a both theoretically-sound and practically-applicable guide for the analysis and design of narratives in various media, not only for students, but for everyone who wants to understand how stories are created.

Auteur
Joachim Friedmann ist Autor für Fernsehserien (ARD, ZDF, SAT1, RTL) sowie Comictexter (Disney, Egmont Ehapa, Carlsen Verlag) und hat zudem zahlreiche interaktive Online-Formate entwickelt, unter anderem für Microsoft Deutschland und den Deutschen Fußballbund DFB. Er lehrt an verschiedenen Universitäten und Hochschulen zum Thema interaktives und transmediales Storytelling, Serielles Schreiben sowie Film- und Fernsehdramaturgie, u.a. an der Universität Hildesheim, der Filmuniversität Potsdam-Babelsberg, der Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg und der Hamburg Media School. 2016 wurde er mit einer Arbeit zu Transmedialem Erzählen zum Dr. phil. promoviert. Seit 2017 ist er Professor für Serial Storytelling an der Internationalen Filmschule Köln.

Contenu
1 Storytelling More than Just Telling a Story 2 The Narrative Figure Life, Theme, Function 2.1 Functional Figures 2.2 Mimetic Figures 2.3 Thematic Figures 2.4 Anti-narrative Figures 3 Setting The Narrative Space 3.1 Juri Lotman and Semantic Space 3.2 Other Options for Spatial Semantization 3.3 Hierarchization of Spatial Events 4 Binary Narrative Oppositions Opposites Make Sense 4.1 The Meaning of the Narrative 4.2 Production of Meaning through Binary Narrative Oppositions 4.3 Idea vs. Counter Idea Narrative Oppositions in Film Dramaturgy 4.4 Binary Narrative Oppositions as a Structuring Principle in Serial and Interactive Narratives 5 Conflict Obstacles Force Action 5.1 Conflicts as Initial Triggers for Action 5.2 Basic Forms of Conflict 5.3 The Universal Conflict 5.4 Conflict Types and Types of Plot 5.5 Want and Need 6 Transformation What Needs to Change? 6.1 Transformation vs. Change 6.2 Transformation as a Criterion of Closure 6.3 The Cyclic Transformation 6.4 Transformations in Interactive Narratives 7 Emotion Progression of Feelings 7.1 Emotions as Genres 7.2 Emotional Progression as a Structural Principle of Narratives 8 Turning Points the Expected Surprise 8.1 Scientific Concepts of the Turning Point 8.2 The Turning Point in Applied Dramaturgy 8.3 The Effect of Turning Points in Literature and Film 8.4 Turning Points and Transformation in Interactive Narratives 9 Narrative Structure The Hero's Journey in Three Acts 9.1 Dramatic Structure 9.2 Mythological Structure 9.3 Oral Structure 9.4 Interactive Structure 10 Causal Relationships Why and How? 10.1 Causality as a Condition for Narrativity 10.2 Forms of Causality 10.3 Forms of Non-causal Narrative 10.4 Causality and Interactivity 11 Subtext and Gapping Involving the Recipients 11.1 Gapping as a Text- and Media-Specific Strategy 11.2 Subtext 11.3 Generating Tension through Information Management 11.4 Information Management in Interactive Stories 12 Semantic Objects McGuffins, Horcruxes and Holy Grails 12.1 Plot-functional vs. Non-functional 12.2 Semantic Objects in Narrative Media 12.3 The Semantization of Objects as a Communication Strategy 13 Epilogue: Values and a Worldview 14 Glossary 15 Bibliography 16 List of Figures