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Core Methodology With these general principles in mind, we have over the years and with the assistance of our colleagues, defined a core methodology for Digital Storytelling Workshops: 1. The Role of Story. Story defines and leads all aspects of the process. The workshop is built around the writing of the narration, its recording by the participant, and the edit of the visual material as led by the narration. Our initial process of introductions, the showing of examples in the framework of the seven elements of digital storytelling, and group script feedback are meant principally to inform the writing of the script. We work closely with participants to ensure they are comfortable with the draft they record for their story. 2. Personal Voice. Students work on first person, personal stories. Whether the stories are reflections on a particular event or a larger issue, we generally insist that the stories reflect firsthand experience. In this sense, our work shares methods with creative writing workshops dealing with memoir and life stories. The subject matter generally encourages thoughtful, meaningful writing and a high emotional commitment of the participant. As observed by anyone involved in therapeutic process, the dynamics of a group of people sharing life experiences in story have a special magic. This simply does not happen if the approach is an expository essay or business presentation on a general subject with little connection to the author. Even if the goal of someone’s participation is to at some point improve or develop stories related to subjects outside their direct experience, teaching this person to find their own voice is invaluable. 3. Still Images vs. Video. Pre-existing visual archives, i.e. the family album and home video, inspire the stories. In film or video production, a script or video interview leads to production of the media elements and to the assembly in the editing suite. Conversely, the assumption of our workshops is that most of the critical visual elements already exist and inform the design of the narration. Photo albums and archives carry particular connection to our lives. It is not difficult for any of us to get in touch with a profound sense of meaning, through a process of reflection with a set of images from our lives. As such, these images are an ideal prompt for creative writing. Photographs can be organized and brought into a computer with relative ease. Video, by contrast, is much more time consuming and difficult to log, organize, and manipulate in the design of a story. As such, we promote a restrained use of video in production, particularly given that so many of our participants are new to the media production experience. 4. The Seven Elements. We have organized a brief lecture with examples to provide a context for students as they draft their narration and design their story. The lecture is called The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling and follows the preparation materials provided in the Digital Storytelling Cookbook. Reviewing and analyzing a small number of stories helps structure the feedback in the group scripting process, and inspires a degree of thoughtfulness, creative experimentation, and risk-taking in the participants. 5. The Story Circle. Each workshop includes a group script review process. Participants either bring ideas or drafts of scripts for presentation. As facilitators, we invite group feedback and brainstorming when appropriate, but closely moderate the process to avoid overwhelming the author. We emphasize several methods in the creative critiquing process including: a. Positive re-enforcement and accentuating strengths in the story concept or script. b. When possible, stating a critique in the form of a question; i.e., "What was the intention of your approach to the story?" As part of this process, we also encourage the participant to ask questions of the other members of the group, related to writing or design issues. c. Identifying specific ways to focus the story, reflecting on the issues raised in the seven elements lecture or using the examples of digital stories presented in the process. d. Allowing participants a graceful way to terminate the review of their idea. 6. Equipment and Software. In our workshops, the choice of the software tools and production environment has been considered in detail. The process began with a mixture of Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Premiere, and these tools are still the predominant tools used in the process. Our choices were predicated on specific concerns: Is the software relatively easy to teach at a beginning level? Is the platform (Mac/PC) sufficient to operate the full extensive use of the software? Can the participants express a range of styles and design choices within the tools? But the workshop is not dependent on a given digital toolset; various other software will perform the function of allowing someone to edit a short video with a voiceover and soundtrack. Different software and hardware configurations will have a range of impacts on the experience of the workshop participants and their final results. In the context of the production environment, there are a number of considerations as well. Does the environment allow for the easy distribution of material (i.e., voiceover files, scans, captured video) from devices central to the production process? Is there adequate space for group processes? Is there space for people to spread out and work with their script and image material? 7. Workshop Tutorials. The approach to teaching software tutorials is also informed by both concerns of technological inadequacies or concerns of the participants. We have organized the materials to cover a minimum level of functionality necessary for the completion of a project. At the same time, the tutorials inspire and excite the participants about the potential of the tools, demonstrating some of the more surprising or unusual potentials of the tools in design. This expands the creative palette of the participant, which creates a more powerful potential experience for a range of participants. The tutorials are meant as a first orientation, and we emphasize that each of the steps or procedures will be re-visited individually during the production process. 8. Management of the Production Process. The management of the participant’s experience from the beginning of their entry into the digital tools to the completion of their project requires immense attention by the facilitators. Everyone enters the production process with significant strengths and weaknesses in various components of media production. The facilitator assesses each participant and works with them to adjust the expectations of their objectives and approach to production. Participants are monitored during the various steps in the process to see if they are proceeding on a relative schedule, and to assess the priorities of their design decisions and work in a pace that will allow them to complete their work. As we move toward the completion of the workshop, facilitators will gently intervene with participants that have become stuck in the process, and direct them in the shortest steps to finalize a sufficient draft of their work for a final showcase. 9.
The Final Presentation. An essential, perhaps the most essential,
component of the workshop, is the final presentation. Our workshops are
dedicated to completion of a reasonable draft of the project. There is
no getting around this objective for the facilitator or the participant.
For many, many people in our culture, the idea of starting a process but
ending without a result to be shared is part of their deepest sense of
inadequacy. Finding the means to allow the participants to be celebrated
in what they have accomplished, to see what others have accomplished,
and to have the vision of where this may lead them in their future with
this project, or other projects, pays off the entire process. This is
true equally for the participant and the facilitator.
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