Digital Storytelling

     When Brad Fountain (ETV Digital Storytelling Training) shared his Kay Teehan based PowerPoint on digital storytelling with me a few weeks ago, I thought there was enough information there for a book. I am happy to report that Kay, a STAR Discovery Educator from Florida,  heeded my unspoken and unoffered advice. She has indeed written a book that you can buy for $12.94 from lulu.com or download for $6.25 from the same site. I’m reading the download version right now and there’s a lot to like and learn here. For starters I love her subtitle, In and Out of the Classroom. It may not be on an NCLB test, but it is a skill that can definitely transcend the classroom and formal education. She does, however, make a strong case for how digital storytelling can help meet state and national standards, develop higher order thinking, and sharpen research and literacy skills (see chapter 2). She has some great examples of rubrics near the end of the book and a nice comparison between digital storytelling and scrapbooking. I especially like that because there are so many ways to share that aren’t strictly digital storytelling, but use the same tools and mindset. At just about 100 pages and a very reasonable price in either format, this is an easy addition to any digital storytelling center’s resources.

     A picture or graphic scanned or saved at 72 dpi (dots per inch) is good enough for a web page or a computer screen, but not good for a video. And definitely not good for either if you’re going to enlarge it for presentation software or expect it to fill a video’s screen. You can get away with resizing a modestly sized .jpg or .gif image of one solid color because a computer knows to fill in the enlargement gaps with more of the exact same color. A photograph, a multicolor pattern or a graphic won’t fare as well since the computer has to stretch or guess at what shapes and colors go in the expansion gaps. We’ve probably all seen what happens to a modest web image when it gets blown up for a video or a slide presentation. I’ve told my students who are creating their own art to set the canvas to 6×9 inches. If you are exporting a PowerPoint slide for use in your story, get the highest quality that you can with PICT’s, BMP’s or TIFF’s.  Bernajean Porter frequently has attendees at her presentations chant, “720 x 534!” to make sure everyone knows how big a picture needs to be in pixels to have the quality to make it in a digital story.
     As part of the rehearsal dinner video for my daughter’s wedding, I scanned their 5×7 inch preschool class picture at 300 dpi and saved it as TIFF because I wanted to zoom in and pan from her face to my son-in-law. (Yes, they went to preschool together. No, though they were friends all along, they never even considered dating each other until well after college.) If you watch the movie I’ve linked here, you’ll see that there are enough picture elements (pixels!) to withstand the zooming in and movement without turning into jagged lines and blocky features. Download AHPDpre.mov

     A DV camcorder automatically gives you the quality you need, but if you set your still camera’s quality down low to fit more images on that memory stick, you’ll pay for it in your video - especially if you do any movement or zooming. Kick the quality way up and download the pictures more often or buy a bigger memory card/stick. They’re almost always on sale somewhere in the Sunday newspaper ads. A good story deserves quality images.

     I spent a lovely day in Lake Geneva, WI yesterday with about 80 DEN educators from both Illinois and Wisconsin and my young, old friend Bernajean Porter. Bernajean’s site Digitales will be a frequent stop on this blog’s journey. Here are a few morsels from our very full day focusing on the the art, the craftsmanship and the making of classroom connections with digital storytelling.
  -At present there seem to be only three programs that have enough tracks or layers to allow video makers to add their voice, a guest voice, ambient sounds (sound effects), and music. They are Adobe’s Premiere/Premiere Elements for the PC and iMovie and Final Cut Pro or Express for Macs.
  -A simple way of gauging the quality of a story is to ask yourself if the student’s work is  “decorating, illustrating or illuminating.”
  -Along those same lines, is the voice “simply reading, reciting or performing the text?”
  -30-40% of the project time should be spent on the script.
  -A good, quick way to get the script ready for storyboarding is to set the word processor to two columns and to sketch out the images alongside the text in the blank right column.
  -And, above all, “What is the lesson learned?” !!!

     This, of course, has been a liberal condensation and over-simplification of hours of great discussion, but you can get a feel for these highlights of good digital storytelling by watching just about any of the videos on the Digitales site. For starters I recommend
  -”Da um jeitinho” Bernajean’s own story of solving her transportation problem on the farm.
  -"60 Seconds" changed the course of the life of an aspiring actress.
  -"A Dog’s Tale" as told by Ginger the dog.
  -For an in depth look and thorough explanation, you should read the book: Digitales: The Art of Digital Storytelling

     I’ve always qualified my presentations on digital storytelling with the disclaimer “Makin’ Movies” because there are some differences in approach between “classical” digital storytelling and the videos that I promoted in my school district. Here is a brief comparison between the Center for Digital Storytelling’s seven elements.
     1. Point of View is good across the board. In the CDS model stories are very personal and created by one single person. Many of the videos my students worked on were team projects and, except for family immigration stories, not very personal. But even commercials, historical reenactments and literature videos need a point of view.
     2. Dramatic Question again, this works for well for both genres whether it be what difference a person made in your life or why you are attempting to sell a certain product.
     3. Emotional Content can really tug at your heart strings in the classical digital story. In student/team videos it often shows up in the form of comedy. Though there can be some very poignant irony when historical characters talk about their hopes or future.
     4. The Gift of Your Voice is invaluable in a personal narrative. Since student videos can cover such a wide range and often include interviews, we want to translate this element as the students’ understanding of the material being presented. Here’s where some higher order thinking and synthesis come into play.
     5. The Power of the Soundtrack provides an instantaneous shared experience to the viewers and can be very powerful in creating and sustaining a mood. We all know how movies bring us to the edge of our seats with their background music. Additionally, student videos can employ a range of sound effects to bring the action and the message home (i.e., Civil War soldiers talking with gunfire and explosions in the background).
     6. Economy used to be defined in writing assignments as “at least 500 words, 3 pages,” etc. With student videos the assignment limit usually starts out with “no more than…” In any case, less is more. 30 or 60 second commercials and PSA’s (public service announcements) can pack an awful lot of power. And since you will want to eventually share everyone’s video with the entire class, 3 minutes per project is a good maximum for just about everything. Anything longer than that really does start to feel like a feature length film or documentary (which isn’t always bad). Caveat: watch out for “blooper reels.” Make sure that it is clear from the start that bloopers don’t count. I’ve had more than one project where the out takes were longer than the video.
     7. Pacing is what really sets the great storytellers and joke tellers apart from mere mortals. No matter how visual a student video is, it has to be well written and prepared. It’s in this written preparation and storyboarding (along with helping them get and keep the facts straight) that the teacher can and should have the greatest influence on the final product. Caveat: transitions between clips are easy to add and very seductive, but they can take away from the story when they are over used or too noticeable.
     It’s elemental!

     "Opinions build walls, stories build bridges." Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher
     I just started thumbing through the Center for Digital Storytelling’s new edition of Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. I didn’t make it through the first paragraph before I could hear author Joe Lambert’s voice and see his face. No, really! Sort of…
     The summer before last I went out to Kean University in NJ for an educational conference on digital storytelling. Higher ed and storytelling, that was a combination I hadn’t seen before and besides, Joe Lambert was going to keynote. Unlike other keynoters at conferences I’ve attended, he stuck around for both days. He sat in on sessions, shared anecdotes and his experiences, ate with the participants, and we ended up flying back to O’Hare together where we continued our lengthy conversation before he continued on to Berkeley. So from Woody Guthrie to union ballads to the Weavers to Spalding Gray’s one man shows, I can see and hear Joe as I read through the introduction. As for higher education and storytelling, that’s just what I got in NJ in the summer of ‘05 and what I’m reminded of as I go through this new edition.
     We in the K-16 educational branch of digital storytelling owe a lot to the CDS and its cofounders Dana Atchley and Joe Lambert. Their commitment to social activism and theater put a name and a level of legitimacy on making movies and moving pictorial narratives that academia couldn’t provide. When they talk about students, they are mostly talking about people in the neighborhood who are not enrolled in a school of any kind. And those neighborhoods are on six, maybe even all seven continents now. When they talk about progress, it’s not AYP. They empower people to be heard; they empower us to hear each other. Through that they encourage positive change for humanity’s sake.
     You can get a taste of their storytelling cookbook by downloading the introductory chapters from http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.html
     Catch a story. Build a bridge.

     There’s nothing more exciting in digital storytelling than sharing. Whether it’s kindergartners or senior citizens, stories are made to be told and heard. It’s in our genes. ISMF recognizes that and, popcorn provided, set aside three rooms on Wednesday evening to screen any of the 900+ entries. Yes, I said any! Attendees’ work was given preference, but after that you could shout out a title from the list of entries that struck you and up it went on the screen. I hope the students that didn’t make the trip to Dallas got to hear the laughter, oohs, ahs, and applause at sometime somewhere. Rooms were divided by grade level and media presentations ranged from video to Flash animations to stop action filming to photo essays to web pages to sequential and interactive stills. Many of the youngest fans didn’t want to quit watching and held on until they couldn’t hold their eyelids up any longer. Just to point out a couple of the entries that really struck me, I saw a network worthy PSA (Public Service Announcement) explaining the restructuring of Hawaii’s department of education, a photo essay that was all reflections (puddles, windows, bumpers, and a few mirrors), and a hilarious crayon sketched story of one young girl’s family’s bad luck with pets. Thursday morning saw us taking over the main ballroom from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology who is the sponsor/parent organization and holds their annual (international and mostly college/university focused) conference at the same time. In the grand ballroom and on the main stage was a perfect place for the awards and closing ceremonies. A clown awarding stickers for hugs, a singing cowboy/emcee, photo ops, awards, door prizes, and sun glasses that came in our conference bags all made it an Oscar-worthy way to end the week. Over the next few months I will keep returning to ISMF themes and will beat the drum mightily to encourage students to enter next spring when the ‘07 festival opens up and the cycle starts all over again. Wouldn’t you like be in Anaheim next fall to celebrate students’ media creativity?

Pictures by Johanna Riddle

     We often shortcut music and photography by exercising our fair use rights to borrow other’s work, but tools are readily available to allow students to create their own. The artistic payback is definitely worth the investment of time.
     M-Audio led a workshop on GarageBand and supplied music keyboards for all the
stations in the lab. Our presenter explained that what once filled a home studio now can fit in a backpack in the form of a laptop computer and a MIDI keyboard. There was something for everyone in this workshop as the keyboard players were able to play their own tunes, choosing various instruments to carry the notes generated by their keyboard. And the not so tickling the ivory inclined were able to combine loops to get some melody, a beat, and a little bass. Not to leave out the PC users, M-Audio offers a product called Session. It is available as a stand alone product or bundled with some of their devices.
     Eli Reed, a professional photographer who has worked for magazines like "Life" and "People," been the production photographer for a number of Hollywood movies, and
does work for Magnum Photos, showed us dozens of his pictures from the poorest of the poor to Hollywood stars. What came through loud and clear in Eli’s speech and photos was his love and respect for mankind and the indomitable human spirit. Pressed to offer advice on what makes a great photograph, he said that he likes to convey more than just the moment. He attempts to show something of the past and a hint of what the future might be. It seems for him that photography really does focus vision and expand point of view. Inspired by that ethic, one his university students rerouted his drive back to school in Texas last fall to both document hurricane Katrina and lend a hand to those in need.
     Encourage your students to make their own music, take their own photos and use their own artwork.

In the Enthusiasm and Fun Category

Almost half an hour after the afternoon sessions had ended I wandered down to meet some friends at the room the iMovie workshop was being held in. I thought the closed door meant that I had missed them. But when I peeked in, almost all the stations were still occupied and the student producers were busy finishing and sharing their movies on the San Diego Zoo. Nobody seemed to notice or care that the "bell had rung" a while ago.

Pictures by Johanna Riddle

     I’m sitting in the back of the Continental Room at ISMF with a few other adults watching about 40 students share sixteen computers running Adobe’s Premiere Elements. To give you an idea of the tenor of these workshops, when our very capable presenter hit a little snag importing, a student quickly volunteered the remedy. Premiere and its more affordable but almost as powerful little brother, Premiere Elements, is an intuitive and easy to use video editing program. At $119 for the combined Adobe Elements education package of Premiere and PhotoShop, it’s a must have for any PC media center. Even if you are not a Premiere or PhotoShop user, you will find a lot of good examples of what can be done and how to do it at the Adobe Digital Kids Club site. With election season closing in on us, you might give the tutorial on election ads a good looking over. Highlights of this program include a number of video and audio tracks as well as the ability to do a green screen/chromakey effect which can put students anywhere in the world or universe by laying one video on top of another.

     …International Student Media Festival. I’ve been attending educational seminars, conferences and coaching clinics for decades, over two centuries, into my second millennium now, actually. I have seen a few students and athletes at these learning gatherings, but never have I seen the adults in the minority! Almost 200 students with a few of their teachers and chaperones attended Marco Torres’ keynote last night here in Dallas, Texas. I have heard Marco and seen many of his videos before, but I have never been in a conference room full of students who cheered and identified with the videos and Marco’s message. It truly was invigorating! And the K-12 students weren’t shy about joining the line dance lessons during the ice cream social afterwards. I’m looking forward to attending a full day of workshops with these enthusiastic young producers and then celebrating their work with a viewing tonight and honoring the best with an awards ceremony tomorrow morning.

… can all story.
     I used Apple’s rolling out of their "Rethink. Global Awareness" project in New York City last week as an excuse to finally go visit our actor/singer/dancer son. (BTW, he is currently appearing as a waiter at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant on Times Square.) They closed down the Apple store in Soho for the evening so we could celebrate the culmination of our efforts stemming from a tour from Berlin to Prague that I was privileged to be on this summer along with 40+ other Apple Distinguished Educators. And we also celebrated the 15th anniversary of the George Lucas Education Foundation
. George (a fairly decent storyteller in his own right) couldn’t join us, but he did send his video regards. Apparently, he was groundbreaking the next morning at the UCLA(?) film school that he has so generously gifted. So we had to make do with some of the key players who organized the program
and our trip. Oh, yeah, and then there was a nice, intimate set by Macy Gray who sang a very appropriate version of "Imagine."

     Now, back to the iStory. The point of our European trip was to help both Apple and EF Tours illustrate the need and power of global awareness in the curriculum and to produce examples of what can be created and shared on these trips. Coincidentally, Discovery Education and the Discovery Channel see the same need and ability to share through current technology. Both the Discovery Educator Abroad program and the Discovery Atlas series are vivid examples of what lies beyond the walls of our classrooms and how transparent those walls can be. So, when you get a chance, check out the resources at the Apple Learning Interchange, you don’t have to be a Mac user to pick up ideas and resources there. And think about sharing a trip or activity of your own. You don’t have to dust off your passport to share with the rest of the world. Post a movie, podcast, or blog of what your students saw and learned on a field trip or during a creative activity in your own building.

     What’s your iStory?