Storytelling for Media

The term storytelling has gained increasing prominence in both academia and industry — and for good reason. Stories capture our attention, evoke emotions, foster empathy, and shape the way we understand and remember the world.

This book offers a systematic introduction to the principles of storytelling across different media. Drawing on classical narrative theory as well as practical dramaturgy, Joachim Friedmann explores how stories are constructed through characters, conflicts, transformations, and narrative worlds.

From Aristotle’s concept of peripeteia to modern film dramaturgy and interactive game narratives, the book examines the structural patterns that shape stories in literature, film, television, and digital media. By bringing together narratology, dramaturgy, and media studies, it presents storytelling as both an analytical method and a creative craft.

Inhalt:
1 Storytelling – More than Just Telling a Story
2 The Narrative Figure – Life, Theme, Function
3 Setting – The Narrative Space
4 Binary Narrative Oppositions – Opposites Make Sense
5 Conflict – Obstacles Force Action
6 Transformation – What Needs to Change?
7 Emotion – Progression of Feelings
8 Turning Points – the Expected Surprise
9 Narrative Structure – The Hero’s Journey in Three Acts
10 Causal Relationships – Why and How?
11 Subtext and Gapping – Involving the Recipients
12 Semantic Objects – McGuffins, Horcruxes and Holy Grails
13 Creating Stories
14 Epilogue: Values and Worldview


Autor:inneninformation:
Prof. Dr. Joachim Friedmann is a script- and headwriter for award-winning television series and author of storylines for comics for Disney, Egmont, and Carlsen. As a storytelling consultant, he has worked for institutions and companies like Microsoft and the German Federal Ministry of Environment or the German Soccer Federation DFB, creating educational and interactive online formats.

He teaches serial, transmedial, and interactive storytelling at the University of Hildesheim, the Filmuniversity Potsdam, the Film-Academy Baden-Württemberg, and the Hamburg Media School. In 2016, he received his doctorate with a thesis on transmedia storytelling. Since 2017 he is a professor at the International Film School Cologne (ifs), heading the masters course in serial storytelling.