+

CMWP

the one about digital storytelling by jenny weight

+Digital storytelling

Stories created for distribution on the internet which make great use of digital production tools.

Not just video!

+Digital storytelling

You have a great deal of freedom with this exercise

However, having a lot of choices doesn’t really make it easy

And a lot of the technological options are too amateurish

As with any storytelling exercise, you need to have a plan

You also need to accept that whatever you do, it must be very short.

Teams – work in a group and you can do a bigger project.

There are also more marks available in you’re in a group

You can only do video and animation if you’re in a group.

+Fiction or non-fiction?

This is your first decision. Planning your story will be different depending on this decision

(Actually your first decision is whether you’re in a group.)

OK. So this is your second decision…

+Fiction

Character, plot, location

Motivations, problems

-> write a synopsis

+Fiction Then write the script

And the storyboard.

I recommend:

Accept from the start that you are not going to use actors. It’s too much work for such a small project. Plus you probably don’t yet have the skills to direct.

Your storyboard should have less than 6 scenes if you are a single author

Consider from the start what the visual style will be (but don’t lock it in yet, see the slide ‘aesthetics and technology’). Your plot needs to be practically achievable.

You can do an audio project or a mainly textual project and avoid needing many images

+Non-fiction

Not so much a story, but a problem/issue you want to explore

You need to locate and foreground the human interest in the problem

Structure – the beginning should establish the human interest. Perhaps an interviewee? A problem we can all relate to? Maybe put yourself in the frame – it’s personal. That’s instantly dramatic.

The middle explores the problem. It’s not an essay, don’t be too dispassionate. You need to keep your audience emotionally engaged

The conclusion – you may or may not have a solution, but you need to wrap it up somehow.

Your storyboard should be less than 6 scenes if you are a single author.

To inspire you to do non-fiction online I recommend this: http://www.slideshare.net/kalabird/new-culture-of-storytelling by Michaela Hackner

+Linear or non-linear?

Whether its fiction or non-fiction, you have this choice

Is the conclusion important? In a non-linear work, your viewer may never reach your conclusion

If you go non-linear, you’ll be using hypertext.

That may determine what platform you use (eg, wikis are good for hypertext)

+

autobiography history

futuristicgenre

fable

allegory

Children’s comedy

satirepastiche

issues

biography

+Aesthetics and technology

The technology you use to create your project will flavour the aesthetics. AND

Your aesthetic preferences will flavour your choice of technology

You can’t make a final decision about aesthetics and technology without experimenting

I recommend that you find a few possibilities then do some screen tests before making a final decision. There are some exercises in Mip and Mop which will help you.

DRAFTING – Be prepared to make about 5 drafts. That’s why you need to keep it short! 6 scenes x 5 drafts = 30 attempts

+Proposal sign-off

• You need to submit your proposal by the deadline. Have a look at the task and the form to see what you need to submit.

• http://geniwate.com/admin/mipandmop/ws4.html

• Discuss your idea with your tutor before you submit the proposal

• You should get feedback on your proposal before you start production.

+Options

Be careful !

You have to rely on production skills you already have.

You should only use simple equipment at this stage, unless you have good pre-existing skills.

You need to experiment with options you have not used before. Give yourself time for testing! Work in a group! Distribute the workload!

+Video-centric

Using skills you already have (ie, don’t do video unless you already have video skills)

If you don’t have video editing software at home, here are some options: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-free-tools-online-video-editing/

You’d publish the vid in Youtube or Vimeo (better quality) then embed it in your blog

Or consider using Popcorn http://popcornjs.org/

Video projects must be group projects

+

Interactive video adventures using Youtube, for example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W3lsu-r_xBw

Read this for morehttp://thefictionengine.com/2012/05/creating-an-interactive-adventure/

Great video tips and production techniques:http://www.slideshare.net/filizefe/visual-storytelling-for-web-tips-and-techniques

Video-centric

+Animation-centric

Using skills you already have

You’d publish the vid in Youtube or Vimeo (better quality) then embed it in your blog

Animation projects must be group projects

+

Warning: some of these may be too amateurish

Photospeak: talking head animations

Animation-centric

+

+Stills-centric

Screencast: adding audio to a powerpoint

Good for text + still image + narrative/soundtrack

Upload to slideshare.com then embed in your blog

Can be hard to sync audio and transitions, for that reason you may want to compile it all in iMovie (or similar) and output it in a video

The visual style becomes very important. You may need good Photoshop skills

+

This is how the Mip and Mop stories are made

Stills-centric

+

You can even make these on your phone! (But I’m not sure how professional they could be)

Try Story Kit, Story Robe, Puppet Pals, Sock Puppets

Stills-centric

+Stills-centric

+Text-centric

You can do a mainly textual project

However you should incorporate still images

And graphic design elements

Text alone is boring on the Web

Includes wikis, blogs, micro blogging, twitter and other forms of social media

+Text-centric

+

+Text-centric

+Text-centric

+Image-centric

You can do a mainly still image project

Either illustration or photographs

It is likely you’d incorporate either audio, text, or both

It is important, and time-consuming, to develop a consistent aesthetic when using stills.

There are lots of little apps to help you make comics using their characters and sets. However, many of them a squarely aimed at children and they may not offer you enough creative freedom.

Perhaps you’ll need to expand your Photoshop, Illustrator (name your software here) skills?

If you have an ipad, it’s great for drawing

+

Warning: steep learning curve!

Image-centric

+Image-centric

+Image-centric

+Image-centric

+Ebooks and zines

Mainly text, but Much more powerful to have images as well However, combining text and image is a design challenge How you do it may depend on your structure – hypertext? Non-linear? Or simple linear? Simple blogs like Tumblr and Posterous Or a pdf? Or a zine publishing platform?

+Ebooks and zines

+Ebooks and zines

+

+Ebooks and zines

+

+Audio-centric

You can do a mainly audio project

SoundCloud

Perhaps embed the audio in your blog, then incorporate images

+Audio-centric

+A bit of everything

+A bit of everything

+Whatever you do

…It should be embeddable in your blog. If it can’t actually be embedded, then you’d link to it from your blog

+Not an exhaustive list

You can go beyond my suggestions

The web is all about recombining, synthesizing

BUT WHATEVER,

You need to discuss how you’re going to do it with your tutor.

His or her main worry will be whether you’re taking on too much.

Complexity is easy. Simplicity is art.

+Actually

Everything is complex,

the art lies in making it look simple.

+3 cants and 1 must

You can’t break copyright (including music copyright)

You have to credit everything you use, and everyone that was involved

You can’t do anything with minors without parental consent

You can’t video/photograph private property without owner’s consent

+Tools and apps for groups

Use Dropbox or Google Drive to share files.

Use your Google calendar to manage meeting times

Use Google hangouts (if you’ve all got a private gmail address) or Skype

+The story is the difficult part, not the digital

http://themuseumofthefuture.com/2012/10/11/digital-storytelling-how-to-tell-a-story-that-stands-out-in-the-digital-age/

Tips for telling 6 second stories: http://mashable.com/2013/05/21/vine-pro-tips/

+And finally, some inspiration

http://www.ted.com/talks/giles_duley_when_a_reporter_becomes_the_story.html

Missing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiyDmqO59QE

The last hunt: http://www.allmyfaves.com/blog/photos/the-last-hunt-a-stunning-piece-of-digital-storytelling/

Student work: http://postgradmedia.org/rmit/s12014-ex.html

+Credits

Chilling by 1BobHolt http://www.flickr.com/photos/1bobholt/6918332157/ cc some rights reserved

Thanks to ‘Stories on the go’ by Sherlly Ferrell (tiny.url/shellyferrell)