CASD 1717 – Fall 2024
A Storytelling in the age of Zoom:
And here, a slightly different kind of story:
What were some of the specific things you noticed that these tellers did to try to engage their audiences? Were there moments where the language they used drew you in?
Danielle Ferlatte’s storytelling was based on humor and felt like she was reciting poetry since she had music playing along. It definitely kept me engaged. I liked the random noises she made to emphasize parts of her story. I found them funny.
Peninnah Schram’s storytelling is perfect for small children. Her tone is different every time she talks as a character, and she uses a very engaging voice. She also uses a lot of hand motions, and I like the little pauses she does when an interesting part of the story comes up. They make me want to hear what she is going to say.
Donald Davis’ storytelling about him and Santa Claus was more relatable, which made the audience engage more with what he was saying. The voice he used as his younger self made the whole thing funnier for me.
While watching Peninnah Schram tell the story of “The Magic Pomegranate”, I noticed that she used hand gestures to represent certain actions from the story. An example is when she said, “there were jugglers” and she made hand gestures of what juggling would look like. As well, she emphasized certain words in her sentences which definitely helped to grab the audiences attention. Both of these methods helped to draw the audience in and keep us entertained.
Some things I noticed were the interactions with the audience such as making jokes and the voices, these are very important even hand gestures as well because it grabs the audiences attention more rather than just sitting listening to a boring story.
By watching Danielle Ferlatte’s video, I noticed that she used humor while telling the story. She also changed her voice, making it funny when she told something funny; or making her voice serious when she was telling something serious. Beside that, she also used her body language such as gestures and facial expression.
While watching Peninnah Schram’s storytelling, something that genuinely stood out to me was her use of hand gestures throughout the read. Personally while I am storytelling to others, I have a genuine habit of speaking with my hands, especially as I believe that the use of it can create more of a “volumed” effect to the overall story, as we can see throughout her video as well. While watching Danielle Ferlatte’s video, I also recognized her use of hand gestures and the humor she added into her storytelling that overall brought a more dramatic and volumed effect to the story.
I really enjoyed Diane Ferlatte’s because she grabbed my attention right from the start. She was changing her voice constantly and make the story more entertaining. Her body language matched her energy and tone. Her small jokes were making me laugh and also grabbed my attention. I also really like the music because it went along with the her tone, body language and everything.
In all three videos, Diane, Peninnah, and Donald made me notice multiple things they tried to do in order to engage with their audiences and keep them on their toes and invested. It most definitely worked on me. One thing they all use is body language. For instance, in Peninnah’s storytelling, she used hand gestures so consistently whenever she found an opportunity to. If there was any type of action that was mentioned while reading the story, she physically did it; for emphasis and engagement with the audience. Also, in Diane’s storytelling, she used more of her humor to catch the audience’s attention. She always changed her tone based on what the story was conveying. She would make these sudden and unexpected noises and it honestly captivated me.
Davis used humor effectively to lighten the mood and keep his audience engaged. His wit and humor often serve to illustrate a point or make a complex idea more accessible. Ferlatte used a wide range of vocal tones and accents to differentiate between characters and convey different emotions. This helps to keep the audience engaged and invested in the story.
I noticed Peninnah’s use of body language in the video; it was as if she were performing certain words through her movements and gestures. For instance, at 2:40, she uses her hands to illustrate the merchant inviting the second brother closer. This makes the storytelling more engaging, creating tension and drawing us into the narrative as if we were part of it.
In Donald Davis’s video, I realize that he uses his face to story tell. For example, he uses his eyes, facial expressions and his body movements to tell the story to try to engage more with the audience.
Through these different storytellers, I noticed how each teller had a unique way of keeping people engaged. Some of the things that they did were using facial expressions to match the character, acting out the scene as if they were doing it with their body, making noises as if they were speaking like the character, telling the story almost as if it were a conversation or part of stand-up comedy, and more. These changes in their body language and voice all kept me engaged and drew me in making it feel as if I were a part of the story and watching a play.
In this video, Danielle Ferlatte uses comedy, body language, and verbal inflections to captivate viewers. She conveys serious and humorous tales with passion and tone, accompanied by harmonized music and body language. This captivating narration will capture the audience.
While watching Diane Ferlatte’s video, her use of language and humor was one of the things that got me wanting to watch and listen to the story until the end. The way she used her facial expressions and body language was also a very interesting way to keep the audience entertained.
Just by watching the videos you can tell that you can see the body language and the tone in they voice. You will know just by that who want to get their story out and will have your attention.
While watching the videos I noticed the use of hand gestures, humor, and using tone as an element to tell a story. Danielle’s video featured more humor and jokes, as well as changing her tone from more laid back to serious, which can keep you guessing. In Peninnah’s video there was a big usage of hand gestures. She also emphasized specific words and changed her tone. This helped me stay engaged and interested in the story. In Donald’s story, he tried to make his story relatable. I believe his efforts to make his story relate with others would help the audience be invested in his story. His voices that he used were also very funny and helped the story be entertaining and relatable, rather than boring and dull.
I noticed the storytellers in the first two videos used changes in tone and pitch to make their stories more engaging. They also used hand gestures to help the audience picture the story. I especially liked how Donald Davis told his story and used his voice to bring different characters to life, making the story more interesting.
I noticed that humor or audience interaction was a huge thing while watching. This is a way to get the audience involved which will keep them engaged throughout the story. It is a good technique that not only story tellers but many people do to keep crowds engaged.
As previous responses said, Diane caught my attention the most because of her humor. I think we respond to the style of storytelling we are most familiar with sometimes, and growing up my dad would always tell stories in a humorous way so I always paid attention to what he was saying.
Danielle Ferlatte used lots of head motions, her change of tone, her hand motions, her expressions and her humor as she talks about how a woman’s job is hard and she uses inflections in her voice.
Peninnah Schram ingaged by asking us questions and causing us to think and question how we think about certain things
Danielle Ferlatte’s used gestures and noises and humor when telling her story which I found fun.
Peninnah Schram’s tone would change when she changed her role as a character. Her strategy here definitely keeps one engaged.
Donald Davis’ storytelling made it more relatable to the audience when he was talking about Santa Clause. This is something we can all relate to because we grew up learning about who this big man is and what we as children need to do to receive a gift! I thought it was fun when he changed his voice when we was talking about his younger self.
Some specific things i’ve noticed that these tellers did to try to engage their audiences were engaging them with things that’ll make them laugh also with change of tone and voice throughout the story. The moment i felt drawn in was they paused and changed their tone of voice to show how intense that part of the story was. I also felt most drawn to the first story because there was music playing in the background to give the story more suspense.
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