Storytelling is an art. A great storyteller is a talented artist…but that doesn’t mean storytelling is only for the trained and skilled artists among us.
We know that everybody has a lifetime of stories inside them. Think about the people in your life and the stories they tell. There’s something about storytelling that makes it different from a regular conversation, isn’t there? It’s got different pacing; the storyteller might take the “long way” to get to the end, guiding you through scene after scene. And it’s got different vocabulary. Instead of just plain descriptions of places and objects and events, the storyteller might use rich imagery or other figurative language to paint detailed pictures in your head.
Now think about the lifetime of stories inside you. If you’re a regular storyteller, you know which ones are your best ones. And if you’re not, take some time to think about it. What stories have you always wanted to tell? What have you always wanted to share with the world?
We’re here to help you tell your story. In fact, we’re here to do more than that. We’re here to give you the opportunity to tell your story in a way that showcases who you are and the legacy you’ve cultivated. And when your story’s told, we preserve it in a future-proof format so future generations can hear you tell it in your own words and learn from the life lessons you learned firsthand.
Not sure where to begin? Let’s talk more about the art of storytelling.
What makes a story?
A story is more than a linear series of events. It’s got characters. It’s got a plot, conflict, resolution, and most importantly, themes.
Every story is unique, but they all contain these same ingredients. Think of it like baking a cake. Every cake, whether it’s chocolate, strawberry, tres leches, or funfetti needs a sweetener, an emulsifier, salt, and some kind of flour or flour substitute. Because of their recipes, the cakes taste wildly different from each other. But take out one of those core ingredients—the flour, for example—and none of these cakes are possible.
Let’s take it back to storytelling. More specifically, telling your story. It’s got:
Characters
First, there’s you. You’re the main character—also known as the protagonist, the character who the story is focused on. The conflicts in your story are your conflicts; the lessons in your story are your lessons.
Although there are plenty of great stories out there with only one character, most stories have a whole cast. We bet yours falls into that second category.
There’s your family. Mom, dad, siblings, maybe even some grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Maybe there’s even a few pets in your story too. Your first lessons came from your immediate family. Maybe your stories pick up where theirs left off. And just maybe, some of your best stories came out of family interactions you had as an adult, perhaps as a parent yourself or through your evolving relationship with your own parents.
Then there are your friends. Growing up, your friends shaped you. As an adult, some of those friends might have continued to shape your life by providing support and companionship as you faced everything life threw at you. Maybe a friendship (or two) grew into a romance…or maybe an important friendship ended in betrayal or loss.
Then there’s the rest of the supporting cast. The mentors. The antagonists. The colleagues, the neighbors, the classmates, the chance meetings that changed your life forever. They’re in your story, too, and their roles, however minor, intersected with yours in important ways.
Settings
Every story has a setting. Yours probably has multiple settings.
As you recall the stories of your life, don’t only focus on what happened. Think about where those stories happened, because often, a story’s setting plays a big role in how the events unfold and what kind of resolution the protagonist experiences.
For example, let’s say you grew up in Manhattan. City living shaped your early years and gave you experiences you might not have had if you’d grown up in the suburbs or on a farm. Experiences like learning how to navigate public transportation at a young age, making friends from vastly different backgrounds, and knowing how to stand out in a crowd spring out of a city childhood, as do things like making the most out of small living quarters and having access to opportunities that just don’t happen outside big cities.
Or, say your career brought you to Europe as an adult. Suddenly, your setting presents challenges like navigating a new culture and learning a new language. How you navigated these challenges defines your character, and these challenges came directly from the setting you found yourself in.
Plotlines
Your story’s plotlines are the “meat” of your story. These are the things that happen.
Your career might be a plotline. Your experience with your community might be another plotline, and like any great story, your plotlines might intersect and impact each other. Some are small and feel more like subplots, while others are major arcs that illustrate and define your character.
When we work with people to create Story Capsule videos, one of the first steps in the process is defining the major plotlines at play in their story. From these, we craft a narrative that gives each scene context and provides rich support to communicate the story’s themes.
Conflict
Every story has conflict. Even the smallest stories have some kind of conflict at play…otherwise, they wouldn’t be stories.
Think about the conflicts you’ve faced in life. They don’t need to be literal person vs. person conflicts—maybe you’ve faced discrimination, natural disasters, emigrating to a new country or having to start all over again. These are all plot points in your story, and how you overcame these conflicts (or didn’t) shaped you and added new layers to your character.
Themes
In literature, a work’s theme is the universal message or idea it explores. Themes are topics like love, perseverance, overcoming fears, and serving others.
When you tell your story, its themes shine through your words. There’s no need to tell the audience that a particular anecdote is about adapting to a new environment or that your primary takeaway from your years of community activism is that every voice is important. Instead, a storyteller communicates themes by telling their story as it is, allowing the listener to interpret the themes from the story’s content.
For example, your story might focus on a lifetime of community activism, illustrated by anecdotes about events you organized, backlash you faced, and the slow growth of a movement as more and more people heard your message. By listening to this story, your grandchildren and future generations will see activism at work and internalize your story’s underlying message about the importance of speaking up about causes they’re passionate about.
When we craft a narrative, we craft it with themes in mind. That’s what separates an explanation from a story.
Storytelling is in our DNA
Every single human being on Earth is genetically “wired” to share and listen to stories. It’s one of the universal human experiences we’ve all taken part in. So when you’re telling stories to your loved ones, you’re doing exactly what nature intended.
That’s also the case when you’re listening to stories. Stories stick with listeners, and that’s by design. We learn valuable lessons like safety and values through stories, as well as things like social mores and roles. Our cultures shape the stories we’re told, and the stories we’re told shape our cultures.
Storytelling is drama
There’s one more ingredient every story needs: drama.
All the other ingredients listed above create and add to a story’s drama. Drama is the stakes the characters face, the suspense the listener feels as the characters face conflict, and all the surprising twists and turns the plot takes as the characters face conflicts and other obstacles. It’s the vivid descriptions of people and scenes and the rich dialogue that we can still hear in our heads years after first listening to a story.
Crafting drama is an art. Documentarians do it through a variety of strategies like background music, cuts, B-roll, and the order in which they present the narrative. Through these strategies, documentary filmmakers aren’t turning real life into fiction; they’re presenting real-life stories in a way that connects with viewers.
When we create your story, we don’t create artificial drama through dishonest editing or embellishing actual events. Rather, we give your real-life drama a stage. Drama is richness; it’s flavor that makes your story captivating and unforgettable.
Storytelling keeps history from being forgotten
We learn our history through listening to stories.
Stories also help us understand that history. Think about your favorite historical figure—how do you know so much about them? We’d wager a bet that you’ve read biographies and watched movies about that figure. Reading that figure’s stories, the stories that cemented them into our historical canon, were effective because they made that figure come to life.
It’s hard to relate to a person’s motivations, circumstances, and struggles through a wikipedia paragraph. It’s easy to relate to them when they’re dramatized and presented as a narrative.
That’s our goal for every single Story Capsule we create: to ensure that the subject’s story is never forgotten.
We give you a platform to tell your authentic story
When you have a story to tell, sometimes it can be challenging to find the right place to tell it. Sure, you can—and probably do—tell your stories to close friends and loved ones. But if you’ve ever wanted to go beyond that and tell your story to a larger audience, your options are:
- Write a book
- Make a movie
- Go on a speaking tour
- Tell your story on social media
These options aren’t equally realistic, especially when you don’t have a specialized skill set.
That’s where we come in.
As professional documentary filmmakers, we handle all the “making a movie” parts of recording your story in a documentary film. That includes working with you to write the script, filming, editing, and ensuring that the film is preserved in a way that your loved ones will be able to watch it for generations.
So all you need to do is tell your story. You’re the artist, and we’re supplying the tools and canvas you need to create a masterpiece.
Tell your story the way you want it to be told
Contact the Story Capsule team today to learn more about how we work with individuals like you to create timeless documentary films your loved ones will cherish for generations.
