NT5.5 part IV

By examining a story as portrayed through different mediums, I have been able to see how words and pictures must be transformed and recombined to fit each medium. For instance, if a narrative is being told through writing then thick description is necessary to portray the story in an eloquent way. For a film more of the story must be captured through actions and physicality than through speech. For a website it works best to utilize both visuals and description to best depict a story. These changes in how the story is told can also change the story itself in some ways.

Some factors necessitate change in a story. The audience to whom the story is being told can change the story. When I was writing the letter to my mom, I decided to not say exactly what was said by Greg in the story. I also included more details about my job and how certain things work. When I wrote the letter to my friend Chris I told him everything that was said. I didn’t leave anything that was said out. I also left out all the details about what certain work terminology means. I felt it was not necessary to include all the terminology because he also works at Bob Evan’s Restaurant. So, he doesn’t need all the details. He knows who the manager is and what my job entails. I included these details in the letter to my mom because she doesn’t know exactly what everything is or who my manager is.

The medium in which the story is told can also change the story being told. When my story was transformed, from a letter to a storyboard of a movie, many things changed. The key change was that the storyboard had very few words. Words were only included to clear up things that couldn’t be seen just by looking at the pictures. All emotion had to be shown by the actions of the characters. When the story was then transferred to the autobiographical website, it was kept in a format more closely related to that of the letter. I think, however, that the story lost some of its importance when it was added to the website. Though it is very similar to the letter, it loses its audience and its magnitude. It loses it audience because the website isn’t really addressed to any one person. It is for anyone in the world that would like to read it. It loses its importance or magnitude because it is just one of many stories. It is just one in a group of stories that can be found within my link to work stories that is within my young adult link. I think because of that factor its meaning, in my whole life story, is lessened. One thing that does add to the website version is pictures. There would be pictures of work. This would allow for the reader to better visualize the picture I would be painting with my words.

When a story is being told the main character is often seen in different ways to different people. That is one of the beautiful things about a story. The audience has the ability to make the characters look like whatever they want in their mind. This change in the main character can also occur when the story is transformed from one medium to another. In my eyes, I don’t think the “you” in my story or the story itself changes very much. I tell the story more or less the same way with my mother as I would with a friend, in the letter. The story is portrayed as I see it in the storyboard, and in the website the story is the same as the letter. The key difference in the “you” comes from the reader. Since the chances are that the person seeing my movie or navigating my website will not know me or my life personally, each person will see the “you” in a different way.

I think that both the audience and I, the storyteller, write the main character. When the reader reads the story online they will create a visual image of the situation and the characters that are included within the story. Once they are finished they are able to look at photographs, which will allow them to actually see what the characters look like. So the website allows the audience to create the characters and then interpret the story as they want, but then give them the option of seeing it more how I, the storyteller, says that the situation occurred. The reader is left with two views of the story they just read. They are allowed to choose whether to go with their original thoughts or to believe what the storyteller told them.

I think that narrative is a very powerful technology. It is one that can be used in most any medium possible. When it is changed from one form to another it still retains its key components and its importance and that is what I think is one of the keys to its power. No matter how you change it, it is still basically the same. The only thing that may change is how the audience utilizes it and interprets it in his or her mind.