Category: StoryCenter

Chapter Review: “Designing in Digital”

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I’ve gained a lot of insight from Joe Lambert’s book Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community over the last several weeks. In addition, I’ve viewed a number of digital stories on StoryCenter, the organization that Lambert helped to develop in California. Recently, I created a digital story of my own for my Learning with Digital Stories class (INTE5340) at the University of Colorado-Denver. I incorporated about a dozen photographs of objects I had collected over the years from various former employers to create a 3-minute story called “Mementos of Adversity.” As much as I wanted the images to speak for themselves, I needed to include some detailed narration to give the viewer some idea of the significance of the photographed objects. After reading this chapter, I’m wondering if what I created in iMovie last week could be improved.

In the beginning of the chapter, Lambert comments, “Originality is all about shared culture and context, what I might find trite and sentimental, you might find engrossingly powerful” (p. 106). Lambert uses a digital story entitled “Camaro Boy” as an example. The creator, Robert Kershaw, took an old photograph of his favorite car and cleverly deconstructed the image over the first 55 seconds of the story. Kershaw was able to “reveal” sections of photo to draw the viewer into the story. In addition, he includes a cropped image of him when he talks about his haircut and sunglasses. These are very effective visual design techniques that seem best utilized with images containing people’s faces. My recent presentation was primarily objects, so I chose slow and simple zooms and pans, even though Lambert comments that such actions “should be practiced with constraints” (p.111).  I chose a steady visual pacing of images, but that’s not always the preferred method. Lambert notes how Kershaw changes the pace of images after 2 minutes to a faster pace that illustrates the change in Kershaw’s life over 20 years. “Life went on, like a flashing of scenes before our eyes, is suggested by the urgency of the pace” Lambert comments (p.110).

In addition, Lambert uses a second storytelling example of a man named Robert Gerli who created a audiovisual traveling memoir during a trip through Europe. Lambert comments how Gerli was able to allow his audio narration to be driven by the visual elements.  There’s a consistent use of a visual portrait to introduce members of his travel group and create a pattern that Gerli uses later in the story. Sometimes repetition does have a purpose.

One thing in particular that Lambert said caught my eye. “We are leaving an era of keyboard and mouse based computing, the world will soon be screens small, medium, and large that we touch to design and communicate” he comments (p. 112). To a certain extent, I believe this to be true. People are communicating and sharing raw expressions of themselves by smartphone, tablet and laptop. The composition and refinement of such raw expressions, however, are still being assembled on editing systems with computer monitors, keyboards and mice. The large 27 inch canvas of my 8GB RAM iMac gives me an opportunity to create digital compositions with a wide range of content. I doubt I could accomplish such things on my iPhone.

Thank you Mr. Joe Lambert for your insights. I’ll keep an eye out for your writings online.

Digital Story Critique: “Roller Coaster”

This week, I decided to check out another adversity story from the StoryCenter site. I found a piece entitled “Roller Coaster” by Denise Ward. It’s often difficult to listen to another person’s struggle after a tragic event, but it’s good to know at the end that people can overcome trauma. As in previous critiques, I judged this digital story on the following assessment traits (as established by Jason Ohler in his book Digital Storytelling in the Classroom):

Story – Like many good stories, Ward tells hers in the first person. She gives the viewer some historical background about the 25 years her air medical organizing had operated without a crash. She draws the viewer in further by giving a descriptive timeline of the day her rescue flight crashed. She gives a name (Brent) and a face of the pilot who died on the scene. She furthermore describes the scene in the hospital emergency room and what she needed at that moment. Ward talks a lot about how the rescue organization she works for feels more like a family that can work together to resolve any internal crisis. At the end, Ward comforts the viewer by mentioning that she has been able to continue with her job for 10 years.

Media application – There is a good mix of content, including still photos, program memorabilia and background music. Ward creates a nice collage of visual images using a series of soft transitions. Many of the photos emphasize Ward’s interest in her air rescue work as well as her compassion for her co-workers. The instrumental music creates a relaxing tone that does not distract from her narration.

Media Grammar – This is the one trait that could use some improvement. Ward’s images, most of which are probably from photographic prints,  seemed to have been scanned at a low resolution. Noticing digital pixels in a presentation can be distracting. In addition, Ward has the images moving around sporadically at the beginning. Many people attempt to use what is referred to as the Ken Burns effect with images, but it’s not always effective. It would have been better to have the photographs move slower or perhaps as little as possible.     

On a side note, I like how StoryCenter has a dedicated YouTube site for exhibiting the works of their storytellers. Not ever organization does this and it makes it difficult for people to both find and share good digital stories.

Chapter Review: Storyboarding

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In chapter 8 of Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community, author and Center for Digital Storytelling co-founder Joe Lambert discusses the importance of storyboarding as a visual tool to organize a digital story. Having worked in television production myself, I’ve found that storyboarding is useful when trying to present a new client with a unique proposal. As Lambert says, “The art of film storyboarding has taught anyone working on a story (from mega-movies to digital stories) one important lesson: planning on paper will save the enormous expense of time, energy, and money when it comes time to produce your work” (p.97).

Lambert illustrates this point by giving a scenario of a man name Rick, who wanted to create a photo montage for his parents’ 40th anniversary. Rick had a lot of ambition, a ton of content, but very little production planning. In the end, the final project was a disappointment. I found this scenario interesting because I completed a similar project last August for my parents who celebrated their 50th anniversary. It took months to gather all the photographs, weeks to choose the best visual sequence and background music, and hours to ultimately decide on the final cut. Plus, I decided to show the 15-minute presentation to my parents to make sure no particular family member had been omitted. In the end, my family was very impressed by my work.

The 50th anniversary photo montage would not have been possible without a significant amount of planning. In creating digital stories, storyboarding can help a digital author in planning available content, such as photos, video, narration, music and text. Lambert gives an example, which is part of a tutorial called MomnotMom, that allow a digital storyteller to visualize the various elements that will be incorporated into a project. In many ways, it looks similar to a timeline one would find in a video editing application such as WeVideo, iMovie, or Adobe Premiere. In many ways, creating a storyboard is like creating a rough “off-line” edit of a multimedia project without actually using an edit software. One just needs to get a piece of posterboard, Post-it notes and a Sharpie marker. Personally, I would recommend a larger canvas to visualize the story, like a whiteboard in a conference room or classroom (if available).

Lambert concludes the chapter with a digital storytelling example entitled “Ray’s Story.” Unfortunately, there was no mention to where this digital story could be found online. I attempted to do a Google search using the keywords “StoryCenter” and “Ray’s Story”, but there were no clear results. Still, I was intrigued by Lambert’s comments of how the StoryCenter facilitators collaborated with Ray to help create his story about growing up in West Baltimore. Lambert mentions the term “story circle” as a way of the facilitators helping Ray shape the details of his story. He comments how “It’s a matter of listening hard to what the photos are saying, to what’s in between what the storyteller is telling you, in order to find the questions that will help someone discover their insight and their voice” (p.104).

Overall, I’ve been intrigued by what Joe Lambert and his StoryCenter colleagues had implemented to facilitate digital storytelling. Looking forward to the next chapter.

 

 

 

Chapter Review: “Seven Steps of Digital Storytelling”

DS imageAfter reading Chapter 4 of Joe Lambert’s Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community, I was tempted to jump to other readings mentioned by my peers in my Learning With Digital Stories (INTE 5340) class.  On the other hand, I realized that I was one of the few people writing responses to Lambert’s book. So, I decided to proceed to chapter 5 to discover what Lambert and his colleagues consider the important steps in creating a unique digital story.

First of all, Lambert and his StoryCenter team believe in the importance of the digital author expressing his or her viewpoints fully and expanding upon how certain events have changed the author’s life.  More importantly, Lambert focuses on the importance of the author writing without any concern for fame or publicity.  He comments, “If you burden the beginning of your process with the external expectations, you can easily interrupt or edit the little voice inside your head that is working through why the story has great personal meaning for you” (p. 55).  The second step is the author retaining ownership of his or her emotions.  The emotional undercurrent of the story is key in establishing a connection with the readers.  At times, however, the author may be hesitant to disclose certain pieces of information out of concerns of privacy.  Thirdly, the digital story must highlight a pivotal moment when things changed significantly in the author’s life.  The more details the digital author can produce, the better the reader will be able to “see” the significance of the moment.  This concept is key in the fourth step of gathering archived images or creating new ones to create a visual narrative.  Lambert brings up the concepts of “visual metaphor” and “juxtaposition” as clever methods to orchestrate images.  On the other hand, Lambert advises against quickly gathering random images from the Internet that “can take away from the integrity of the story” (p. 63).

After incorporating visual elements, the fifth step in digital storytelling is creating the audio elements.  Key to this is the author recording his or her own voice, since, as Lambert says, “voice not only tells a vital narrative but it also captures the essence of the narrator, their unique character, and their connection to the lived experience” (p.63).  Mixing in music and ambient sound (thunder, traffic noise, etc) can be useful, but only if it adds, rather than subtracts, from the overall emotional tone of the story.  Editing the visual and audio elements together is the sixth step, where the author determines what elements of the story will be included and when those elements will appear.  As a rule, Lambert’s team sets certain constraints regarding narration words (250 – 375) and visual images (less than 20).  The final step is sharing the story with the audience, where digital authors may need to make revisions based on who they want to share their stories with on the World Wide Web.

I found these steps very easy for a novice digital author to comprehend.   Perhaps the biggest challenge for most people would be the first two steps: “Owning Your Insights” and “Owning Your Emotions.”  As an introvert, I’m often reluctant to express myself openly to a group of people, much less the whole Internet.  Still, there’s something very therapeutic about telling a remarkable story to a large group strangers in cyberspace.

Digital Story Critique – “Opening Doors”

Immigration is a very hot topic.  From American politicians (or pseudo-politicians) advocating a ban on Muslims from entering the United States to European leaders closing their boarders to Middle Eastern refugees from war-torn countries, there is a lot of concern regarding immigrants.  Most of the soundbites come from influential people in power.  The immigrants, many of whom come legally for educational or employment reasons, rarely get an opportunity to give their perspective.  That’s why it’s refreshing to watch “Opening Doors“, a StoryCenter video created by Tahira Hussain, a student from Pakistan.  She carries the responsibility of being the first person in her family to go to college.  For this critique, I judged the digital story on the following assessment traits (as established by Jason Ohler in his book Digital Storytelling in the Classroom):

  • Story – Hussain draws the viewer in by telling her story first-hand.  She gives a glimpse into the cultural traditions of her community in Pakistan, including the staggering difference between how a family is treated when a daughter, rather than a son, leaves for college.  Even before she got accepted into a college, she admitted she was “too scared to apply.” She also comments that she could not go to the local doctor by herself because she was “not allowed to go out without a man.”  By the end of the story however, Hussain seems more confident after completing her studies.  In addition, she remarks how she has inspired other women in her Pakistani village to get an education.
  • Originality, voice and creativity –  If Hussain had told this story in her native language, there might have been a greater emotional undercurrent in her voice, but she does a solid job of unfolding the timeline of events in English.  She includes a number of personal photographs from her childhood in Pakistan as well as her schooling in the United States, including photos of her creating banners in support of environmental causes.  There are also a couple of images, including a video clip of rippling water, that add abstract emotional layers to the story.
  • Media grammar –  It’s fairly evident that this was Hussain’s first time creating a digital story.  Some of the photos were scanned at lower resolutions and the audio level of the narration varies throughout the video.  Still, it’s not bad for a first effort.

As a tutor at the Community College of Denver, I often work with students from far-off places in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  I sometimes wonder if each of these students have their own story to tell about leaving the world they were born into then and the world they live in now.   Even loud-mouth politicians could learn a thing or two from them.