S24 Bonus - How Film Impacted Storytelling

Storytelling has evolved more rapidly in the last 100 years than in the centuries before all because of film. Movies and television have changed the way we consume stories, sped up the process for evolving genres, and given another way for people to share the stories they want to create.

Even before books, people were trying to tell story through pictures. In the earliest days of cave drawings, scientists theorize that people would use wavy lines to mimic motion. The flickering firelight would create an optical illusion to make the figures move. Later, grand scenes were embroidered into tapestries. Entire battles would be logged with needle and thread.

In the late 1800s, we figured out how to make moving pictures. Only a few years later, people were using them to tell fictional and fantastical tales. George Méliès is among the first to use editing tricks such as stop motion to help him share his stories.

From those early days of hand-cranked film reels to modern times, storytelling through movies has been evolving. It's not entirely because of changing technology. Hosts Ley and Leigh talk through more than 100 years of film history, how it coincides with the writing industry at the time, and how both changed because of the other.

First aired September 25, 2021.

We’re still buying your books to celebrate our two-year anniversary and thank all of you listeners for your support! Hosts Leigh and Ley are buying self-published books from our listeners and followers. We’ll keep buying until our fund runs out. Find out more on our Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter (found on our homepage) while you’re here.