{"id":4761,"date":"2016-10-20T14:40:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T13:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/?p=4761"},"modified":"2025-10-22T16:46:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:46:53","slug":"5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u00a0separates mankind\u00a0from its\u00a0wild counterparts is the\u00a0ability to string together stories and enrapture audiences. Going back to the beginning of our evolutionary journey and all the subspecies of homo sapiens that existed over millennia, we find examples of our\u00a0need to pass on events, imagined or real, into collective consciousness. From rock drawings to Reddit.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, in an age of self-publication, anybody, no matter how obscure can broadcast their opinions, albeit on carefully monitored websites, news platforms and social networking sites. It can be hard to tell editorial from advertorial, so now more than ever is the time to add\u00a0conscious, organic, and real storytelling to humanity’s narrative. To understand the communication\u00a0tools that naturally\u00a0developed across\u00a0centuries of civilisations,\u00a0we time travel to about 300,000 years ago, when we\u00a0began to advance beyond\u00a0primitive\u00a0sounds\u00a0and gestures, and\u00a0construct genuinely relatable stories.<\/p>\n

\n

1.\u00a0Verbal Storytelling<\/h4>\n

\"storytellingAt some point we learnt to talk, and we never stopped doing it. Oral tradition, which is when we orally repeat a story from generation to generation, remains our most dominant form of storytelling.<\/p>\n

Chronicling\u00a0our social experiences and what\u00a0we gained from them used to depend\u00a0simply on memory recall, sounds and gestures, and eventually rhythms that imitated those found in nature. This was our first ever interactive media – we told small audiences about how to procure food and what to watch out for while\u00a0hunting, and they would look on in awe or ask questions.\u00a0In modern history,\u00a0the transmission of stories has relied on these characteristics plus more concerted vocal delivery and the inclusion of mnemonic devices e.g.\u00a0alliteration, repetition, assonance and proverbs. These may seem trivial but they give extra texture and narrative layers, making our stories\u00a0more memorable and therefore repeatable – t<\/span>hink oral lore such as folktales, ballads, chants, prose and verses. Once we integrated music, these became songs.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let characters do the work, and speak for themselves<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Early<\/span>\u00a0belief systems delivered canonical\u00a0law orally, and used these performance techniques\u00a0to make sure disciples would correctly remember what was prescribed to them.\u00a0<\/span>Whether we tell a joke, give a presentation, perform on stage\u00a0or do an open mic spoken word night – today we encourage interpretation and leave room for the projection of ideas.<\/span>\u00a0Yet we still fear\u00a0being misunderstood,\u00a0and speech is the closest we get to having control over how accurately a\u00a0story is told.<\/p>\n

\n

2. Iconography<\/h4>\n

The earliest\u00a0known cave art is within an\u00a0archaeological cave complex known as\u00a0Cueva de El Castillo. The hand stencils and disks found there date back at least 40,800 years old –\u00a0discovered\u00a0in 1903\u00a0by an archaeologist as he studied the area of Cantabria, Spain.\u00a0Most rock drawing examples portray a series of events and depict the hunt of various animals, and are believed to have been not\u00a0just about art, but part of a ritual and a messaging system from ancient pagan cultures, much like the succeeding tombs, codices and vases that were inscribed with early imagery.<\/p>\n

Show them, don’t\u00a0tell them<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stamps are actually one the oldest\u00a0examples of iconography that we have to refer back to – Mesopotamian civilisations actually used round seals\u00a0to press\u00a0into clay tablets before 3000 BC. Jumping forward to classical Greece and the\u00a0Geometric period\u00a0(900 to 700 BC), we see another level of mastery of painted illustration and picture carving. This is\u00a0an era defined by the presence of monumental vessels, inscribed with motifs and figurines that\u00a0had until this point been faceless. The most prominent imagery was of armed warriors, aristocratic chariots, and horses on\u00a0bronze and terracotta pots.\u00a0Stone sculptures developed afterwards, and today we see similar large scale, public displays of symbolism in the form of\u00a0graffiti.<\/p>\n

\n

3. Manuscript<\/h4>\n

\"digitalMankind’s oldest surviving manuscript\u00a0is also from the Geometric period. It\u00a0was an epic poem about the demigod and Sumerian king, Gilgamesh, that circulated\u00a0from Mesopotamia, Europe\u00a0all the way to\u00a0Asia, carved on stone pillars for all to see.\u00a0Writing systems like the Greek alphabet were just being developed, and the concept of the city state established.<\/p>\n

A story isn’t just told externally, there’s at least one point\u00a0when\u00a0the audience looks inwards<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 200BC we see the work of ancient Greek slave, Aesop’s fables being\u00a0written down – he was actually alive back\u00a0in 500BC so his stories had survived by\u00a0word of mouth for 300 years. The fables were reproduced in Latin iambic trimeters in the Christian Era, and today we still teach kids about ‘the dog and his reflection’.<\/p>\n

Moral tales featuring animals, also stemming from oral tradition, were being recorded in Sanskrit and Pali\u00a0in India (the first evidence of ink comes from here) as well,\u00a0and travelling to north Africa.\u00a0Anthropologists and folklorists discovered this trend of hand carving or writing stories occurred across most major countries, connecting people across regions\u00a0like never\u00a0before.<\/p>\n

\n

4. Print<\/h4>\n

Life-like impressions, intricate motifs and textual manuscripts were reproduced on cloth and silk way before printing on paper or papyrus, up until the 17th century almost.\u00a0The first ever printed book ‘The Diamond Sumatra’ was written in China only in 868AD, and\u00a0paper was discovered that dated back to 105AD.<\/p>\n

Religion played a huge role in the dissemination of print – copying scripture became an essential Buddhist practice, woodblock printing spread to Islam and butterfly binding was invented. This era was\u00a0the ‘cult of the book’ and led to developments\u00a0in mass production techniques.\u00a0By about 1400 paper became readily available in Europe.<\/p>\n

Even if the main characters are animals, stories are all about people<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Johannes Gutenberg then triggered\u00a0the European age of printing when he established movable type technology. His ability to reproduce scripts ushered in the Renaissance, an explosion in communication that broke across borders, leading to a complete restructuring of society and further printing press evolutions.\u00a0The Gutenberg Bible (1455), was celebrated for its print quality and the aesthetic of its copy, causing\u00a0a knock-on effect that\u00a0resulted in typography and the fonts\u00a0that diversify print and the web today.<\/p>\n

Eventually publishing houses popped up everywhere, with some becoming cultural\u00a0hubs for literati, such as Erasmus. Literacy rates increased among the masses, and thankfully the works of figures like William Shakespeare began to appear in print. If it wasn’t\u00a0for the First Folio collection, printed seven years after the Bard’s\u00a0death, we probably wouldn’t know what he\u00a0looked like and could\u00a0have lost the likes of Macbeth and The Tempest.<\/p>\n

\n

5. Audiovisual<\/h4>\n

\"cityIn 1614, Angelo Sala found\u00a0that “powdered silver nitrate is blackened by the sun”, as was the paper that was wrapped around it. The theory was swept\u00a0under the rug as of no consequence, but this was in fact the first step towards chemical photography. Attempts to capture light and use a dark room to ‘imprint it’ on paper were then made in the\u00a0early 1800s, but it was in 1839 that photography was officially born, and visual narrative began to have an impact on entertainment, and wider society.\u00a0These photochemical techniques were also the foundation of film, and both disciplines made\u00a0leaps and bounds together in the 1990s when digital cameras democratised them.<\/p>\n

The first ever motion picture was actually a garden scene\u00a0made about a 100\u00a0years earlier, and things\u00a0got a bit more exciting when the French short film known in England as ‘Train Pulling into a Station’ was released. The 50-second black-and-white silent documentary depicted\u00a0a steam locomotive stopping at a platform\u00a0in a single, continuous shot that famously had its audience ducking for cover and jumping out of the way because they believed it was really coming at\u00a0them.\u00a0The film “had a particularly lasting impact; yes, it caused fear, terror, even panic”, said Hellmuth Karasek in a German magazine. This is a well known myth,\u00a0and\u00a0the lesser known truth\u00a0is that the directors\u00a0were trying to achieve a 3D scene, so the success of 2009’s hollywood hit, Avatar, has been a long time in the making.<\/p>\n

Don’t give away the answers, if the audience aren’t\u00a0asking questions, they’re bored.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When done right, enhancing the\u00a0illusion of depth\u00a0can be\u00a0wonderfully immersive, allowing us to almost see inside\u00a0a director’s\u00a0wildest dreams – a notion\u00a0that\u00a0has resulted in new media platforms\u00a0such as virtual reality headsets. While we are able to see and\u00a0unthinkingly consume\u00a0the\u00a0imagination of others more and more, it’s just as important\u00a0to have your own outlet.<\/p>\n

\n

Media and marketing are everywhere, but the tools to tell your own tales are also at your fingertips, and that is quite literally true with the rise of the internet. Digital storytelling has never been easier thanks to the world wide web, where each of the evolutions we’ve mentioned here converge and reach millions across the globe in a matter of seconds.\u00a0Whether it’s Snapchat story, a Ted talk, a blog or a good old face-to-face exchange, self-publishing is inherent and learning to do it in today’s day and age can empower you.<\/em><\/p>\n

If\u00a0you’re interested in storytelling for business<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or storytelling for performance and broadcast<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0easier than ever to learn to communicate naturally and powerfully, adding your voice to\u00a0the mix.<\/em><\/p>\n

For core storytelling mediums, check out City Academy’s courses in\u00a0drawing<\/a>,\u00a0writing<\/a>, acting<\/a>,\u00a0photography<\/a>\u00a0and film<\/a>.\u00a0We also offer\u00a0public courses on particular communication techniques, such as how to present well<\/a>, speak in public<\/a>,\u00a0think fast on your feet<\/a>, or make yourself heard<\/a>. These workshops can be\u00a0tailored for corporate team building events too, please see\u00a0our business training section<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u00a0separates mankind\u00a0from its\u00a0wild counterparts is the\u00a0ability to string together stories and enrapture audiences. Going back to the beginning of our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,130,118],"tags":[164,397,395,396],"yoast_head":"\n5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling - City Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We time travel to about 300,000 years ago, to understand the storytelling tools developed by centuries of civilisations freer than ours\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling - City Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We time travel to about 300,000 years ago, to understand the storytelling tools developed by centuries of civilisations freer than ours\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-20T13:40:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T15:46:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samran\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/\",\"name\":\"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling - City Academy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-20T13:40:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-22T15:46:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa325316aa4b7cfb48b50930969adfc\"},\"description\":\"We time travel to about 300,000 years ago, to understand the storytelling tools developed by centuries of civilisations freer than ours\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":731,\"caption\":\"storytelling course city academy\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"City Academy\",\"description\":\"News, Blog and Features\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa325316aa4b7cfb48b50930969adfc\",\"name\":\"Samran\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling - City Academy","description":"We time travel to about 300,000 years ago, to understand the storytelling tools developed by centuries of civilisations freer than ours","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling - City Academy","og_description":"We time travel to about 300,000 years ago, to understand the storytelling tools developed by centuries of civilisations freer than ours","og_url":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/","og_site_name":"City Academy","article_published_time":"2016-10-20T13:40:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-22T15:46:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":731,"url":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Samran","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Samran","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/","url":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/","name":"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling - City Academy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg","datePublished":"2016-10-20T13:40:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-22T15:46:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa325316aa4b7cfb48b50930969adfc"},"description":"We time travel to about 300,000 years ago, to understand the storytelling tools developed by centuries of civilisations freer than ours","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/storytellingfeatured.jpg","width":1500,"height":731,"caption":"storytelling course city academy"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/5-mediums-that-revolutionised-storytelling\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Mediums That Revolutionised Storytelling"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/","name":"City Academy","description":"News, Blog and Features","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa325316aa4b7cfb48b50930969adfc","name":"Samran"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4761"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24651,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4761\/revisions\/24651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.city-academy.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}