‘The Impact of Storytelling’ is a documentary piece about the power of human connection. It is an honest, simple, creative documentary which uses the strength of audio soundscapes and visuals to intensify the experience.
The Impact of Storytelling explores the potential of story to both heal and to injure, it is a documentary about the experiences people have had in their contributing to, making of and watching documentaries. This will extend to other forms of communications, it will feature stories about people who connected in unusual circumstances. It is a piece about shared experience.
The Impact of Storytelling is a full length documentary that will be accompanied by a series of audio and audio visual experiences. They will be used as a way to promote the film and designed to be shown at festivals, in cinemas, in art venues and in community spaces. They will later be made available online.
I have made work which tells my own stories (In My Shoes: Dancing with Myself). I have had work made about my experiences (Mugged, Century Films (UK: ITV 2011); Smell of Burning: The story of Epilepsy, Colin Grant (UK: Jonathan Cape, 2016). I have made work which tells the stories of others and I have been both affected and inspired by the work of others. I will use both my own personal experiences and those of others to tell the story.
The Impact of Storytelling is close to me. The power of storytelling has both saved my life and put me in very uncomfortable situations. It is the driving force behind everything I do. The nature of working in theatre, VR and documentary means that I have spoken to many people about their experiences. What I have learnt has been quite overwhelming. I want to share this. I want to give people a platform on which to share their experiences (the good and the bad).
In this film I want to raise the subject of the importance of storytelling as a method of communications. We all all storytellers. We tell stories everyday both in real life and online, social media gives people a voice and the way we use it has the potential to be life changing.