Designing Stories with Purpose, Emotion, and Resonance
This six-week course explores the architecture of storytelling through the lens of Cinematic Design Thinking. You’ll examine how stories function: why we tell them, how they move us, and what connects creator, content, and audience across all media. By the end, you’ll understand story as a designed experience that unites plot, character, and meaning into a single emotional throughline.
The Why Beneath Every Story
The origins and evolution of storytelling — from myth to modern media.
Why humans create and consume stories: communication, empathy, identity, meaning.
The shared DNA of all story experiences, regardless of medium.
How different art forms (film, games, animation, literature) express the same underlying structures.
Understanding What Makes a Story Work
The story’s value proposition: why it exists and for whom.
The creator → content → consumer relationship — and how connection is built.
Core principles: clarity, causality, emotion, contrast, transformation.
Breadth vs. depth of experience — balancing accessibility with resonance.
The engagement–immersion–resonance continuum.
The Engine of Experience
The mechanics of cause and effect: setup, development, and payoff.
Classic and alternative structural models — three-act, sequence, circular, modular.
Designing momentum, rhythm, and dramatic tension.
Scene construction and narrative hierarchy: what to show, when, and why.
The Human Dimension of Story
Character as vessel of audience emotion and meaning.
Goals, conflict, transformation, and revelation as emotional architecture.
Designing arcs that mirror theme and evolve with plot.
The role of empathy, projection, and identification in audience connection.
The Story Beneath the Story
How theme shapes perception, interpretation, and resonance.
Symbolism, subtext, and metaphor as design tools.
Aligning thematic intent with plot and character design.
Immediate experience vs. enduring meaning — what lasts after the story ends.
Interiority and Exteriority in Harmony
Uniting inner purpose (theme, emotion, idea) with outer expression (plot, image, form).
Translating abstract intent into concrete storytelling design.
Balancing authorial voice with audience experience.
Integrating all narrative layers into a coherent, emotionally truthful work.
Six 2–3 hour live sessions (with recordings and Q&A)
Downloadable reference notes, frameworks, and analysis templates
Case studies from film, games, and animation
Optional assignments and story review feedback
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to articulate story intent with precision, design narrative structures that express emotion and theme, and translate cinematic storytelling principles into any medium with greater clarity, coherence, and resonance.