You have campaigns that try to get people so invested in them, they become part of the story. You also have people who want to be part of a story and seek all opportunities to become part of it.
I'm one of those people.
I love everything Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit / J.R.R. Tolkien. So when an opportunity occurs where I can meet fellow fans, cast-members, people from behind the scenes of the movies or otherwise connected to my passion, I try to be there.
That is why I love to go to conventions. Actors who can tell you the fun stories about what happened on set, the interesting stories of how they got into character, what they had to do to find that character inside themselves. The experts who know so much on topics related to Tolkien. Other fans who are likely invested in the entire happening. Who dress up as their favourite character, in amazing costumes. And who become friends, through this shared story.
During the past Easter weekend it was Hobbit-Con in Bonn, Germany. A true gem when it comes to conventions. Where true fans of the books/movies are, dressed in wonderful costumes, where the actors feel free to move around, mingle with the fans, sit in the audience when their fellow actors are on stage.
And at the convention, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ken Stott, who portrays Balin in The Hobbit Trilogy, to his very first convention. At the end, of his last panel, he was asked, why didn't you want to come to conventions first, when you seem to like it now.
He gave this wonderful reply:
"Why would you need conventions? It is a book? It is a movie? What else should there be. But here, it becomes hope, joy, it becomes reality."
A very good description of immersive storytelling, and the reason why I love going to conventions.
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| The actors and experts on stage during the opening ceremony of HobbitCon 2014 |
