In the Creative Writing bachelor program’s fourth month, Multimedia Storytelling students are introduced to the creative structure of the visual medium and explore the different ways their writing can be brought to life for an audience.

“Multimedia Storytelling is the perfect class for me. It's the class I was born to teach because I'm a big-time multimedia storyteller,” says Course Director Christopher Ramsey, whose industry experience includes 25 years in broadcast television and the creation of an internationally award-winning web series.

In his time in newsrooms, Christopher discovered his passion for storytelling and learned to focus on how to tell a story effectively in quick strokes. “I think what I learned in the newsroom was to tell the story fast. You’ve got to be able to tell a story in a minute and get: Who? What? When? Where? You’ve got to get all that information. And then it has to have some sort of connection. There has to be a human element to it. You have to connect to the audience.”

Learning to connect with audiences is something the instructor focuses on in his four-week course. In the class, students are tasked with drafting a piece of flash fiction (a very short story) and evolving it over the month into a multimedia asset. “Everything you learn, everything you use in flash fiction, you're going to use in longer pieces too. [In] Multimedia Storytelling, we're taking that piece of fiction and moving it forward into another form of media, whether that's video or doing a lot of experimenting with podcasting or creating six-word story posters using Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator,” he says.

In the last few years, Christopher has practiced his advice by writing, directing, and producing his web series, Minimally Invasive Procedure. Gaining notoriety at festivals around the world, the pandemic project has become not only an achievement for the writer but something he can use to teach students how to take a story and create something that transcends words on a page.

“It's been a great journey and is something that I can teach my students how to do. I can show them, ‘Hey, you have the tools on your computer to create an award-winning series, short film, podcast, whatever.’”

The instructor’s successful web series also proves to students that they don’t need a major investment to create something substantial, saying, “There are a lot of opportunities right now to find an audience, bypass the gatekeepers. I think the days of Hollywood being the end-all is not true anymore. You can find your audience, you can build your audience.”

Full Sail students aren’t the only ones benefitting from Christopher’s willingness to share his industry knowledge. In his volunteer work, he donates his time to the Boys & Girls Club of America as a Professional Practicing Teaching Artist through a grant from the Wallace Foundation which encourages kids ages 11-18 to engage with high-quality arts such as dance, music, photography, and art.

In this role, Christopher supports the development of students who may not be introduced to the fine arts otherwise. “It means so much to me. I mean, art changed my life. I see it changing Full Sail's students’ lives,” he says. “Even if you're not going to pursue a career in the arts, it's still valuable for problem-solving, for all different types of skills that you can build.”

Regardless of the medium or student, Christopher encourages leaning into your strengths and sharing your story. “Yes, it's scary. You're putting yourself out there, but do it here,” he says. “I know the fears that you have, and I know that we all suffer from imposter syndrome. We all have that, and I know what that is. You got to just make the jump. If you feel compelled to tell a story, [Full Sail] is a great place to do it.”