The Storyteller

I once saw a storyteller perform live in a theatre. I don’t remember the story, but I remember how she told it - for the duration of time she was on stage, she had this presence, this projection, this performance that absolutely captivated my decade-old brain.

I sat there thinking, “I could never do that. I could never tell stories like her. In front of a crowd this large? All on my own? I can’t.”

In a sense, I was right. I still can’t deliver a speech, a presentation, or a story with the energy and confidence I saw in that storyteller that day. But somehow, I made myself a storyteller. I am a storyteller of the human world, of a city, its people, and its problems. I took on this role for my original work product, to make a short film.

This project will be a 3-5 minute short film highlighting the idea that America is a land of migrants. I’m taking the stories and experiences of four immigrants and combining them into one seamless video. As expected, after interviewing these four people, I’ve heard a lot about hardships, missed opportunities, racism, prejudice, and culture shock, but also about newfound hope, freedom, and identity.

I’ve gathered over 90 minutes of preliminary audio from my first round of interviews, which I am currently assembling into a mock-up video to give myself an idea of which experiences and stories I want to feature as well as what accompanying footage I will need to shoot.

This process has proved to devour my time, but I enjoy it nonetheless. In the past week (from January 18 to 24), I have dedicated 8 hours to brainstorming and creating this mock-up. Still, there is much more work to be done. Surprisingly, the hardest part is finding stock footage to put in the timeline as placeholders for the kind of footage I want to take. Perhaps it is because I’ve developed a specific vision for the shots I want, and stock photos don’t live up to the images I have in my head.

Although time-consuming and challenging, I’ve had a lot of fun playing the role of storyteller as I piece together the experiences of four immigrants from all over the world. After my mock-up is done, I can exit the planning phase and finally start shooting! I’ve never been more eager and excited to work on a school assignment.

Even though I may not become like the storyteller I saw six years ago, I can still be one in my own unique way, doing what I enjoy the most in the realm of filmmaking. Hopefully, my short film and storytelling will create some gravity of impact and inspiration for someone, just as the storyteller once did for me.