For this group project, I teamed up with Irwin Qi, Rani Kang, and Will Politan to research the history and application of visual storytelling.
First of all, we created this mess map. Here is the link to the Miro board.
We created a mess map for visual storytelling.
https://miro.com/app/live-embed/o9J_leo5cnI=/?moveToViewport=-1920,-1577,4090,2565
Irwin is interested in motion graphics, Rani is interested in animation, Will is interested in film, and I am interested in mixed reality storytelling.
Here we created a history timeline for how visual storytelling developed from cave paintings to mixed reality.
We created a timeline for the history of visual storytelling.
https://miro.com/app/live-embed/o9J_leo5cnI=/?moveToViewport=-1929,-1757,14247,5246
Early History
Early history of visual storytelling
This history of visual storytelling can be dated back to 162,000 BCE when ancient people started to use dirt to paint. After that, a lot of cave paintings were discovered around the world. These images tell some of the story of how these ancient people lived and what they considered important enough to document. Interestingly, a trend found in both Europe and Asia is that painters painted animals that represented loftier, more inspirational stories than their daily reality. That’s the beginning of storytelling.
Later on, visual storytelling is used for religions, like the Book of Death in Egypt and documenting historical event, like the panathenaic games being painted on a vase.
Also, Chinese invented paper in 105 CE.
The Middle Ages & Early Modern Period
Visual storytelling in the middle ages and the early modern period.
This is an era about reproduction.
The Mogao Caves were dug out in AD 366 along the Silk Road in China. It’s one of the most sacred places with ancient cave paintings and Buddhism sculptures for Buddhist meditation and worship. That can be considered as one of the early example of 360 immersive storytelling.
Another example from China is the Chinese shadow puppetry, which was popular during the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. Storytellers used movable miniatures made of paper and leather to tell stories with lights and shadows.
Six hundred years before Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Europe, Bi Sheng invented movable type in China, which makes reproduction of printings and education available for everyone.
In 1690, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick was the first newspaper printed in the Americas.
In 1798, the invention of lithograph also makes it easier to mass-produce art and text.
The 19th Century
Storytelling in the 19th C.
In the 19th Century, photographs, data visualization, animation, movie, TV and Kodak films are invented. The world finally entered the era of storytelling with real visuals that is accessible and commercialized.
The 20th Century
Storytelling in the 20th C.
The 20th Century is about interactiveness.
Not only we had the first video game console, we also had the first computer, the first AR machine, and VR was used for training NASA astronauts.
Most excitingly, the Internet was open the public in 1994. I was surprised by how similar the oldest version of emojis look to our current ones.
The 21st Century
Visual storytelling in the 21th Century.
The 21th Century is about social media and wearables.
We now have Facebook, Instagram, and all kinds of headsets that make VR, AR, and MR storytelling accessible to everyone. So, what’s beyond?
Reflection on COVID
Personally, I’m interested in mixed reality storytelling because I realized my life has been largely digitalized and remain online for most of time during the pandemic. I also made my thesis project about talking to people and telling stories in the digital world.
Screenshot of Jude’s thesis project
We grow up with fairytales, comic books, films and all kinds of videos. Those stories not only gave us knowledge about the world, they also shape who we are. I wonder how we can better use the powerful tools such as VR, AR, and MR, to better tell stories and shape the future world.