Richard Wagner, a German operatist and composer, aimed to transform musical drama to a “gesamtkunstwerk,” which means “total work of art”, more than a century ago. He felt that theater was the superior artform and therefore music should be in subordination to it. The flawed concept of the “total work of art” has had a huge impact on the practice of storytelling, while Wagner’s radical ideas did much to trouble many of his musical contemporaries.
Nowadays, tools of digital storytelling could become “gesamtkunstwerk” for this generation. This is true because today’s audiences have the ability to access huge amounts of highly interactive and specific content online. So you can afford to start dreaming if you’ve got a story to tell. With multimedia storytelling tools there has never been a more appropriate time to discover ways in which to improve your work.