MDA1800 - Week One

For the first Storytelling for the Screen seminar we looked at two different Creation Myths. One, from the ancient Persian Zoroastrian religion, and the other was the story of the fall of man which forms part of the Christian Bible.

When looking at the Zoroastrian creation Myth, we were put into groups and told to think of the different ways we would represent the myth visually in a film.

The result of my groups work were that it would be shown from the prophets eyes, and the gods would never be seen by the audience to add to their transcendental nature. The way in which the lands are perfect until the evil God taints them would be shown by long, aerial shots sweeping across the landscapes which are then visually shown becoming darker as the voice over narration recounts the story.

We were also thinking of using the visual element of Chess as a metaphor, as it could represent the ongoing conflict between the Good and Evil in the humans who are neutral and able to go either way, and it also would tie in with the fact it is a Persian creation myth, as Chess is a significant part of Persian/Iranian traditional culture, as I know from my father being Iranian.

We were then asked to think of a story idea which would place the idea of the fall of man into a modern context, in which a person has paradise, and loses it all by yielding to temptation. Our idea was one in which a  person has a happy family life, and then strives to advance their career, as they believe it is what they want, only to lose their family due to their new priorities and realise that the family life was the paradise they wanted when it was too late.

After the seminar we were given assignments to research creation myths and choose one in particular, and state why we found it interesting and post it on the forum which I have done at this link:

http://oasisplus.mdx.ac.uk/webct/urw/lc993279821011.tp993279842011/newMessageThread.dowebct?discussionaction=viewMessage&messageid=1068624644041&topicid=1064960719031&refreshPage=false&sourcePage=

I have also listened to the 'Fall of Man' podcast, which I think raised some interesting points about the fall story, including the idea of the fall as a metaphor for growing up and maturing, and the views different religions (such as Judaism) has on the fall as well.

I also found it interesting to hear about the origins of the story, including the names Adam and Eve, and the use of the 'Apple' and how they tie in with different ideas and languages of ancient cultures who have similar myths.