The concept of space and how things are organized on the screen in the pursuit of capturing a certain feel for a film seems to show most distinctly the difference in storytelling in visual versus written form. The idea that telling a story in a visual medium has completely different rules and methods of communicating than telling a story through writing fiction may seem quite obvious. However, since this is the first time I have had to learn and live out those differences on a day by day basis, this is becoming frustratingly clear to me.

Due to the fact that all my previous endeavors at storytelling had been through writing, I was used to that form of storytelling. It seemed to me a very natural way of translating story from pure idea and thought into a tangible form. Communicating my thoughts into writing has seemed more natural to me than communicating my thoughts into verbal form. In any event, I was used to story in written form.

Translating story to visual storytelling seems to be a completely different process. It is like attempting to translate one single language into two separate, distinct languages. There are different ways of communicating emotions and evoking reactions from the audience. There are different ways of emphasizing certain characters, events, or other important story elements. The rules are very different indeed. This is beginning to reveal to me that at this point, I do not know much. New concepts of visual storytelling are bombarding me day in and day out so far this semester. Interestingly enough, each one of those shows me how a story as an abstract concept is not the same regardless of what medium you are using. Whether using word or image, the essence of a story is wrapped up in the manner in which it is told, and the realization that I don't know much does not make me want to quit. Instead, it motivates me to always keep learning, one day at a time.