Aberth Digital Storytelling

digital storytelling, participatory media and easing access to mass media for public expression

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Entries Tagged as 'tips'

Moving image archive meets personal story

July 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Here’s more about how we worked with people who had stories to tell about what the heritage of the Rhondda Valleys in Wales  means to them in Valleys Kids’ Rhondda Lives project. This post follows a question from Cheryl Colan:
“…Did the individual storytellers work with and direct the video editor? If they spent only 2 […]

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Tags: education · museums · tips · media literacy · empowerment · Wales · digital storytelling

The ideal production room for your digital storytelling workshop

July 3rd, 2009 · No Comments

This is where the digital stories will be made.  There needs to be enough space, tables, chairs to accommodate all the equipment and people. Power points along two sides of the room makes safe rigging easier. It’s good if it has natural light and ventilation but’s essential it can be made dark enough for images […]

Popularity: 30% [?]

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Tags: tips · instruction · digital storytelling

Four things to do before saving your final version

June 30th, 2009 · No Comments

1. Make sure each digital storyteller in the workshop watches their film from start to finish
2. Make sure there are no mistakes with narration or images: an image duplicated or in the wrong place, a piece of narration clashing with an image
3. Correct any typos in the titles or credits
4. Double-check the spelling of names
Here’s […]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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Tags: tips · instruction · digital storytelling

Why you should keep movie titles away from the edges

June 28th, 2009 · No Comments

When adding titles and end credits to your digital story, use only the middle 80% of the screen. The central area is the TV safe area. If you creep too far out to the edges, there’s a risk letters will get lost if the story’s broadcast on TV. Old cathode-ray tube TVs trim the edges […]

Popularity: 24% [?]

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Tags: tips · instruction · digital storytelling

Why naming conventions matter

June 25th, 2009 · No Comments

Here’s a tip that will make post-production, storing, archiving and finding individual digital stories easier.
When working with workshop participants and individuals, ask them to make a final decision about which name they will use on their digital story.
This seems so simple, but some people find it difficult because:

they have a name like John Smith which […]

Popularity: 19% [?]

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Tags: tips · instruction · digital storytelling

Three Digital Storytelling Ideas for Museums

June 3rd, 2009 · No Comments

If you work in a museum, library or archive and you’re looking for digital storytelling inspiration, here are links to three ideas in this blog:
Archive Meets Storytelling - A step-by-step set of instructions on how to run a workshop which delivers short videos mixing considered but unscripted personal reminiscence with existing archive footage.

What a Museum […]

Popularity: 21% [?]

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Tags: education · museums · tips · media literacy · story · digital storytelling

How to tell a story using five 5-second clips

May 21st, 2009 · No Comments

Here’s an example from Stockholm of a visual narrative (no voice) made by editing together five very short clips. With this previous post in mind, it’s just good to see experiments like this.
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Tags: tips · story · digital storytelling

Aberystwyth DS4 Festival advance details

April 14th, 2009 · No Comments

Here are the latest details about the fourth annual festival of digital storytelling in Aberystwyth, Wales, on Wednesday 17 June 2009, from a press release from Aberystwyth Arts Centre:
Following on from the success of DS3 the fourth festival of Digital Storytelling DS4 aims to inspire and encourage and show the exciting possibilities of Digital Storytelling […]

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Tags: media literacy · DS Cymru · tips · Wales · story · empowerment · instruction · digital storytelling

Five ways to make your digital storytelling project more sustainable

November 26th, 2008 · No Comments

1. move away from the ‘once in a lifetime experience’ approach. Make it feel like a process that can become more of a ‘routine’ than a ‘treat’ event.
2. get people making stories using accessible tools. E.g. free web-based editing tools they’ll be able to continue using after you’ve moved on.
3.reduce the resources participants need to […]

Popularity: 10% [?]

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Tags: tips · media literacy · Wales · digital storytelling

Bug eats VHS

September 7th, 2008 · No Comments

Anyone who filmed home video from the 1980s -90s will is likely to have that footage in the VHS tape medium. I’ve just seen an item on a TV programme called Sunday Life which warned that fungus is attacking these old tapes. So now may be a good time to digitise these old recordings.
The way […]

Popularity: 49% [?]

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Tags: tips · capturing assets · digital storytelling

Avoid using other people’s stuff - number 7 of 7 DS no-nos

August 6th, 2008 · No Comments

This is your story, so try to use your own images, story, words, original sentiments, music, style, philosophy, etc. as far as you can.
The promotion of royalty-free content advocated by some digital storytelling trainers means that opportunities may be missed. Of course, sometimes you’ll find yourself working with people who have no access to their […]

Popularity: 53% [?]

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Tags: tips · capturing assets · digital storytelling

Pink fingertip syndrome

August 5th, 2008 · No Comments

This is a new term I just had to invent. We launched a new Welsh-language mobile website yesterday (info). It was fast as anything when I browsed it alone, yet when I needed to show it to Siwan from the press office, it loaded ever so slowly. Why did this happen? Because of pink fingertip […]

Popularity: 46% [?]

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Tags: tips · mobile

Avoid rhyming poetry - number 6 of 7 DS no-nos

August 2nd, 2008 · No Comments

Of the stories I’ve seen which use poems I can remember only one or two as being the best possible way of telling that person’s story. This is just my personal opinion.
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Tags: tips · story · digital storytelling

Avoid show and tell - number 5 of 7 DS no-nos

July 30th, 2008 · No Comments

If the story goes something like this:
“When he came back from the mine he had a bath”
weaker: cut from a photo of the mine to a photo of a tin bath
stronger: leave up the photo of dad throughout, maybe with a slow zoom in.
Popularity: 44% [?]Share This

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Tags: tips · digital storytelling

Avoid visual cliches - number 4 of 7 DS no-nos

July 25th, 2008 · No Comments

E.g. the question mark. If you’ve got a line in your story like: “why did he do this?”, don’t put a great big image of a question mark on the timeline/screen.
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Tags: tips · digital storytelling

Avoid less-than-perfect voice recordings - number 3 of 7 DS no-nos

July 18th, 2008 · No Comments

Get your voice-recording done with a high-quality unit in a quiet room with natural acousics (neither boxy nor echoey), unless there’s an overriding reason to the contrary (e.g. you’re working with an archive recording or in an inescapably noisy environment). As I’ve said here before, the best digital stories can work as radio pieces, so […]

Popularity: 57% [?]

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Tags: tips · capturing assets · audio · digital storytelling

Avoid fancy video effects - number 2 of 7 DS no-nos

July 12th, 2008 · No Comments

Cuts or cross-fades are the video transitions I recommend, unless there’s a good story-related reason to use something else.
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Popularity: 49% [?]

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Tags: tips · instruction · digital storytelling

Avoid pure linear reportage - number 1 of 7 DS no-nos

July 6th, 2008 · No Comments

E.g. it’s tempting to tell the story of a trip chronologically thus
weaker: “We started in Rome, took the train to Florence where we saw Ponte Vecchio, then we headed to the coast towards Pisa….”
stronger: look at how well Simon Griffiths uses the device of how he funded his south American trip to make a great […]

Popularity: 50% [?]

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Tags: tips · story · digital storytelling