Brainstorming Constructed Narrative

Brainstorming for Constructed Narrative Photo Essay

Please fill out this form with your ideas.

Your responses do not need to match exactly what you decide to photograph for Assignment 6, this is only to get you to start thinking and to write your ideas down.

This is meant for helping you plan the 10 photos for Part 1, “Constructed Narrative” portion of the assignment only.

**Remember 10 photos for Part 2, “Documentary Narrative” are also due.  I did not include a brainstorming activity for Part 2 because I thought I’d let it be more open ended.

It can be difficult to start developing an idea for a narrative. There are a lot of ways to come up with ideas for a story. We are all familiar with stories and telling stories, but we sometimes need to remind ourselves of the basic elements, structures, and dynamics of stories. When we do this we can take our seemingly unconnected ideas and begin to fit them into the overall structure of a story.

Start very simply. For example, ask yourself a simple question and then list what comes to mind first. There are no right or wrong answers. For example, you could ask yourself to name three kinds of food. Then list the three things that come to mind first. If this doesn’t inspire you, ask yourself to name three places in the world. The challenge is to keep going until you find a subject that you are interested in and that you could develop a story around.

Most of the time, the simplest of stories work the best.  Feel free to take any of these suggestions:

1.  Photograph all the ingredients to a favorite dish that you like to cook, each ingredient separately.

2.  Photograph all the contents of your bag separately, use a simple background and direct lighting.

3.  Set up a scene where simple everyday objects are placed “out of context.”  Clear out your fridge and put books in there instead.  Put the contents of your fridge on the book shelf.

Describe your characters:

(How many characters will you have? You do not need to have 6, you can have 1 main character or more than 6.  Characters can be figurines, real people, house-plants, etc.)

1. ________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________
6. ________________________________________________

Describe of the setting in which the story will take place (ie: in the bathtub, in the back-yard, on the hood of the car, on a basketball court, etc.):

The final story should have 10 images that show the beginning and end of the complete story. Write down your plan for each frame.

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