Digital Story Critique: “It Takes a Crisis”

Often times, an instance of adversity can have long-lasting effects.  In searching for digital stories that give a short glimpse into how people adjust to sudden changes in their lives, I found another story from the Charlestown Digital Story Project entitled “It Takes a Crisis.”  The narrator, Charlotte Valentine, talks about how the psychological adjustments she had to make before and after she decided to divorce after 13 years of marriage.  For this critique, I chose to critique the story using the following assessment traits:

• Originality/Voice/Creativity – From her time as a shy child to her success as a confident Certified Public Accountant, Valentine narrates her own story.  She discusses how growing up, she always was tough to “please others” and then later on, she learned how to “please herself.” Although the narration sounds a bit scripted, it feels genuine.  The story collaborator, Daniel Rodriguez, gives Valentine “room” to tell her story through her voice and her archived photographs.
• Flow/Organization/Pacing – Rodriguez wisely presents the story in chronological order.  He organizes the still photos making it easy for the viewer to absorb.  There’s a nice variety of image movement (some story creators rely too much on bring the photos in and out, which was popularized by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns).   The pacing of the images is accompanied by cuts of light and playful piano music.
• Media Grammar – Overall, the media elements are put together well, but their is a moment where it looks like a photo of Valentine in her flooded basement, after surviving a hurricane, appears to be Photoshopped.  This moment seems to interrupt the genuine nature of the archived images.

I highly recommend anyone to view either this story or the many other stories on this site.