Much to my husband’s dismay, I absolutely love to watch true crime stories on TV. He finds it upsetting and I find it intriguing! Hence, I’ve taken to recording it on the PVR and watching it early Saturday mornings, when he’s still fast asleep. I get my freshly brewed cup of coffee, curl up with a blanket and settle in for a good murder story…I’m not sure what that says about me, but I do it non-the-less.
I used this week’s Dateline story to create my live-tweet thread on Twitter. While watching the show, I observed the principles that make a good story even better! They begin with a question that keeps the audience guessing. The set the scene and use dramatic style and language to convey what happens. They throw in some twists and a cliff hanger…or two. They have the beauty of a commercial pause, to add extra suspense. Just when you think you know who did it, they throw a curve ball. It ends with a neatly wrapped up resolution…most times anyway. Sometimes it ends with more questions than when it began.
“A figure in the House” tells a dramatic story of a murder in a quaint and upscale Florida neighbourhood and follows the investigation to find a killer. https://twitter.com/krisfleur13/status/1594053487410941952
The story begins when a husband notices a figure appear on his live home security camera, while he happened to check it at work. He’s thinking it’s probably his son, and he calls him to see if he’s at home. He soon discovers that this is not the case. He calls home to check on his wife and she doesn’t answer. He’s now alarmed. https://twitter.com/krisfleur13/status/1594053491441684481
The son rushes home to see if everything is ok and instead finds his mother dead, in the bathtub in a pool of blood. His first thought is that she’s committed suicide and that’s what he reports to his 911 call. While on that 911 call, he says that his mother’s hands and feet are tied up and he now thinks, she must have been murdered. A strange beginning, to an even stranger story. It turns out to be a brutal and gruesome killing.
As usual, the investigation always starts close to home and the son finds himself in the hot seat. Hours and hours of interrogation and he realizes they are pointing the finger at him. Meanwhile, the father is also being talked to in the next room and cops try to get them to turn on each other. Upon further questioning, they soon discover that the son recently had a house party while his parents were out of town…so they are now faced with multiple possible suspects to begin to investigate. https://twitter.com/krisfleur13/status/1594053498563616768
Finally, a suspect is arrested and goes on trial. You’d think this was the end of this story, but nope! Like something only seen in movies, this suspect escapes in the middle of the court room. How does that even happen? He could not have pulled that off on his own, and so…another twist.
After being caught again, the trial begins…and yet another dramatic event happens, and they are back to square one and a second trial.
In the end, the suspect is found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Justice. https://twitter.com/krisfleur13/status/1594053505643610112
So…another satisfying Saturday morning. 🙂
EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog 