Digital Storytelling and Transliteracy

September 17, 2012

Tell me a fact and I’ll learn.
Tell me the truth and I’ll believe.
Tell me a story and I’ll remember it forever.
Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Academic Technology, Simmons College

Once upon a time storytelling was a verbal art. Traditions, beliefs, cultural norms and history passed from generation to generation through fables, myths and story-based rituals. Tales of the ancients were meant to teach and entertain, but they were also essential to people’s identity and survival. Storytelling today still teaches, entertains and connects people, but now we have many different ways to tell a story, and, perhaps more important, today’s storytellers can instantly reach a global audience.

Since its founding three decades ago, AMS Pictures has been known for its mastery of the ancient art of storytelling. Every communication strategy we craft, every media product we create, is firmly rooted in a compelling narrative that engages the mind, touches the heart and delivers a message that yields the outcome our clients seek.

New media have opened new worlds of storytelling possibilities, and over the past decade our storytelling has evolved to optimize the growing platform of digital age tools and communication channels. In this new world of expanding media options, we are both masters and lifelong students of the art and science of story-based communication.

At AMS, we are constantly expanding our ability to be fully “transliterate” storytellers. That means we are continuously growing our ability to tell stories that utilize all media tools and platforms to their best advantage on any given project, including print, video, audio and interactive social networks. We believe that transliteracy is THE essential skill for creating stories that connect with audiences and yield the desired results.

Digital options, such as interactive web-based tools and channels, social media, mobile connectivity, e-learning, podcasts and global networking are some of the new technologies that make this an exciting time to be developing communication strategies and creative media. It is also an exciting time for our clients and partners, whose communication needs can be met in ways never-before-possible. That said, as AMS Pictures explores new and emerging communication opportunities and possibilities, one core principle will never change. At AMS, we remain grounded in the belief that great storytelling is the most effective way to deliver the right message to the right audience to yield just the right outcome.