Project 2 Finding your Story

Finding Your Place Story

Copy this post and answer any questions or topics that are bold, underlined

A good place-based story doesn’t require an extraordinary location. It requires curiosity, attention, and a reason to care. Your story might reveal something hidden, capture a change, explore a memory, or help viewers see an ordinary place differently.

Step 1: Start Close to Home

Choose a place you can easily visit at least 2–3 times to observe, film, and capture sound. Think within a 10–30 minute walk, bike ride, or drive. Or a place you can and want to visit more than once.

Where do you go regularly but rarely pay close attention?
Where do you feel curious, comfortable, uneasy, or connected?
What place would you miss if it disappeared?
Where do people gather, work, play, or spend time alone?

Write down three possible locations, specifying your top choice. Think small: a bench, path, bus stop, garden, stream, café, or campus building can be enough.

Step 2: Find the Story Hidden in the Place

For your top location, ask:

What’s happening here? Look for an activity, ritual, conflict, or change.
Whose story is here? Consider people, animals, plants, or communities connected to it.
What’s surprising or overlooked? Find something most people wouldn’t notice.
Why does it matter? What could this place reveal about belonging, memory, nature, culture, or change?

Step 3: Imagine the Video

Visit your strongest location for 10 minutes, without filming at first.

See: What five different shots could tell this story?
Imagine: What cuts could you use to edit these shots into a story? Try to imagine at least two.
Hear: What sounds make this place distinctive?
Discover: What question could you investigate or what small story could unfold?
Feel: What should viewers understand or experience by the end?

Step 4: Test Your Idea

Is your idea ready?

I can safely and easily visit this place more than once.
I can film interesting images, details, or actions here.
I have a specific question, person, activity, or change to explore.
I can capture useful sound and get permission where necessary.
I can tell a meaningful story in just 2–4 minutes.

Use any UNDECIDED items to refine your idea or choose a more accessible place.

Step 5: Complete Project 2 Prep

Use this exercise to refine your choices and ideas–you can repeat any steps, especially if you change location–and then complete the Project 2 Prep using material gates in this class Task.

Remember: Don’t try to tell everything about a place. Find one compelling detail, question, character, or change that opens up a larger story. A small place can reveal something big.