What Is Immersive Storytelling? - Margaret Kerrison

A bad movie might use the location as a background to stiff dialogue, or it could immerse you on the feeling of being in the a restaurant with the sounds, textures, smells, sounds, points of view, realism, zoom ins, etc...

GURPS is probably my best resource for immersive storytelling, and it's the system by which I got the best immersive storytelling experiences to date. I have to do the "heavy lifting" from the RP System, and build out the Role Playing GAME as it's going to work in my world-setting... AND then I pass that structure around our Table so everyone can run the Game through an Adventure or two in turns... adding to maps as needs be, and creating new monsters when they desire, building up enemies from the "usual" monsters or Character types available... whatever.

AND I KNOW FOR A FACT that I have my Players/Audience engaged when I can present a homo-erotic romance between a Vampire and a Werewolf, and nobody bats an eye at the homosexuality... No more than a chuckle is had for the Vampire requesting plaintively, "Don't knot me, bro'." AND YET... They'll debate at great length whether society is going to balk over the Werewolf's necrophilia or the Vampire's bestiality as the greater Taboo... It means they bought in...

It's not the only acid-test... It comes down to noticing when the Table is engaged in a conversation or an outright argument that you COULD NOT POSSIBLY have "IRL". When you get those kinds of conversations and the emotional context to go with them, you've got the Audience deeply engaged... and you can "sell" them anything. ;o)

Does she play D&D? People like Brennan Lee Mulligan know this type of story telling!

Sounds a lot like role-playing games.

Love it!

This was an awesome video and helped me a lot with my creative writing assignment that specifically focuses on immersive writing/storytelling.

I just pictured the world as a pop-up story book. We are the people in this book. This world is one book, and we're constantly interacting with other characters and moving the plot forward...

This is a great! I just taken a class on immersive storytelling. Dealing with VR, 3D and AR and using your screenwriting skills or more less the formatting to create your own immersive story. Using this platform name Twine. Writing in pov's, different pov narrative whether it's Embodied and Non-Embodied, it really places you in that world when writing. Best part it you are in control a bit more than screenwriting. At least what it seems to more. And I'm a devout screen filmerFun!

When I think of immersive storytelling I think of tell-tale games my teens enjoy like Cyberpunk. It truly could be the wave of the future.

Isnt an immersive story just a good story?

I like you

Well said

Amen

This was such a fantastic interview! I never knew there were people who focused on writing for theme parks, museum's etc. This was so fascinating. 🤯

Thank you so much for sharing Margaret!
Thank you so much for doing this film courage.

No offense, but I found the sales pitch for this kind of storytelling confused & contradictory. In statistics, this is called a model that is "over identified" where everything is explained. If seduction is about the fantasy brought to the table, storytelling must stimulate Imagination. Otherwise, what is left for the reader.

I had a writing teacher who taught: there are two types of writers--those put in & those who take out. Good writers take out.

Ironically, the great storytellers of the Old World were unabashedly Take Outers. Certainly this was the practice of The Bard.

Or the opening paragraph of the Red Badge Of Courage, or Moby Dick. Such storytelling puts the reader into the Story IMMEDIATELY.

Thanks for video.

Yeah i get that. Everyone has a story to tell and i think she captures that very well.

I love Margaret's point on connecting with characters that are different to us through emotions and experiences. This is exactly why I love international films too. Thank you FC!

I can make due without smell thanks

Can we hav som examples for good immersive stories in movies.

fantastic interview

It's really hard to tell your story 😕

I have a friend who's an author and I have a question that maybe could be kinda on topic with the video. (I hope this won't get too lengthy, but my English isn't perfect, so maybe I won't be able to express myself properly in a few words.) He once asked my opinion on this topic, but I guess he could use some opinions from impartial people.

So, he likes details. Not to the point where there's more details than a plot, but enough to make that world seem real. The piece he's currently writing is, although set in a fictional land, kinda similar to our own through the Stone Age until High Medieval times. The people from this land doesn't document their history, but religion plays a huge role in how they live their lives. For example, if you're a good hunter, some would say you're blessed by the God of Hunting. Kind of like Ancient Greece. So, he's also writing the story of these gods and the holy book of this religion.

The gods' names would mean something in their language, so he's also creating a conlang (not to the point you would be able to have a conversation, maybe. But enough to make words make sense) to explain the root of the words and their meaning as in the gods' names, for example.

He also made maps (for the lands, climate, heights, vegetation, etc.), defined the culture and traditions of every part of that land, made some family trees and wrote a "creation" and a "discovery" myth for that land. There's also some other details in the worldbuilding, but I fear this comment is already too long.

So, long story short: is this too much? Like, part of him feels it's better like this, since his goal is to make that world "believable". In a sense you would think that place really exists, since every question you could have about there would have a definite answer. But, considering this is fiction, wouldn't this be, like, "too realistic" or so detailed it kinda loses its meaning?

Thanks in advance for the answers!

Jesus Christ appeared on Nunawading Mountain

have been enjoying the new content 🥳

Great insight, thank you. Stories are all around us, we just have to pause and let ourselves see and feel.

Very cool guest and interview.Thanks for the work

What is the best immersive storytelling experience you have participated in?