Month: April 2016

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.

Want Your Audio to Rock?

Come to our INTE 5670 webinar!  If interested, please add a comment to this blog post.  For more information, check out our advanced organizer in Google Docs.

 

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Scholarship Response: “Moving Pictures”

1024px-Austin_Hall,_Harvard_University(By Daderot (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

This week, as I was conducting a Google search for the words “digital storytelling” and “education”, I came across a recent article from the website Harvard Law Today.  The article, “Moving Pictures”, discusses how law students are using documentary film making and digital storytelling to tell important stories about injustice.  One student interviewed is Sam Koplewicz, who heads an organization called the Harvard Law Documentary Studio.  He comments, “I think film moves us and interacts with us in a way that writing can’t.”  Koplewicz visited a refugee camp in Greece and interviewed young children through barbed-wire fences.  The Harvard Law Documentary Studio, or “Doc Studio” for short, has participants produce six films a year.  Another student, Andrea Clay, is creating a documentary on the development and utilization of the Socratic method in the education of law.  Other topics addressed by student filmmakers include gentrification, religion and political refugees.  Near the end of the article, there is an interview with a filmmaker and Harvard Law School lecturer named Rebecca Richman Cohen, who teaches courses in digital storytelling and documentary film.  She comments on how video recordings can help attorneys in arguing cases of clients that are located in remote places.  “Video lets lawyers bring clients’ voices directly to policymakers, judges, and mainstream media… it can expose corruption and law violations … and enhance public understanding of the law” she says.

It’s remarkable how the power of digital storytelling can be utilized by anyone with the right amount of determination and production skill.  To have young legal minds at one of the United States’ most prestigious law schools embrace that power is quite remarkable.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Digital Story Critique: StoryCorps – Willie Harris and Alex Brown

HarrisWNPR13-636x424I just can’t get enough of NPR’s StoryCorps. This week, I wanted to take a listen to one of their audio-only digital stories. One that stood out was a recording of Willie Harris and Alex Brown, the founding members of the Black Stuntmen’s Association. These movie daredevils talk about the adversity of getting into the film business in the 1960s and the recognition they have received for their tireless efforts. 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 – Harris and Brown share vivid details of how practicing stunts in a public park in the late 1960s drew the attention of the Los Angeles Police Department, who assumed they were Black Panther members.  There’s a nice interplay between them, even when discussing the racism they endured on Hollywood movie sets. Their story flows in a simple chronological order, which gives the listener a solid historical context.

Originality, Voice and Creativity – At times, the listener can hear the subtext of emotion from Harris and Brown. It’s a revealing first-person account from two individuals who have been at the forefront of changing hiring standards in a company town such as Hollywood.  Harris’s mention of the emotion he felt going back to post-Jim Crow Mississippi to be recognized for his accomplishments is especially poignant.

Media Grammar – StoryCorps productions are always know for their impressive recordings and this is a perfect example.  Every word and subtle emotion from Harris and Brown comes through clearly.

I think I’m addicted to the adversity stories on StoryCorps.  That’s a good thing.