On Thursday night, Nabeel and I lead the discussion in the tech class. We spoke about digital storytelling. Our reading had been from the "Digital Storytelling Cookbook". This is published by the center for Digital Story Telling (based in Berkeley CA).
The ideas in the Cookbook were focused on the theories and methods of digital story telling. One of the through lines was about how good story telling relied on honesty and humanity. The notion of a "digital" story should remain biological, something close to the bone, something that allows us to hear the storyteller's heart. One of our classmates pointed out that what makes good stories work is the ability for the audience to connect to the narrative, and hopefully the characters. Even before the "how to" elements of film making are presented, the authors ask the future storyteller to get real.
There are so many stories, and as we well know, so many ways in which to tell them. This is not so much as a Rashomon or the Gospels moment, but more specifically, our stories-the personal ones- that we long to, or are afraid to share. There is this common saying that "every one has a story, every one has a play or a novel in them." I suppose this is true, the trick is how to select the story, and then how would one tell it? In many a creative writing books, the author will address the first and most import question. That is, what is the forum for this story? Is it a fictionalized movie, a documentary, a play, a song, a poem, an oral story, or is it a story that called to be shared only as a written piece?
Time is a luxury that many high school teachers and students do not have. The teacher needs to consider the amount of time and resources available to the class. This is when the 'digital divide" really starts to widen. Can an English class be connected to a media-making class? Or, is the English teacher slugging it out alone in teaching digital storytelling? Will the principal allow for so much time being used in developing these multimedia productions?
One of the questions that came up with my own class, here at Cal, is the "legitimacy" of multimedia being really "academic". I believe strongly that broadcasting and theatre are very legitimate forms of academic study. If fact, I could sell you on how and why theater and broadcasting could serve as the vantage point for any part of the humanities (and math) studies. One of the true points came from another fellow student. She pointed out that the developing of a screen play (even for a documentary) and the producing calls for writing. The form of writing and collaborative work needed to produce a multi media production is academic. The same would be true for the structure of a documentary (even one in progress), and certainly this goes for a fiction film (of any genre).
The core of storytelling is having a heart. Even if it is a hard story to tell. I guess another subject for me to think about is how to tie the digital story telling assignments into the curriculum. I have a few stories of what I have experienced, but those are for another time.
The ideas in the Cookbook were focused on the theories and methods of digital story telling. One of the through lines was about how good story telling relied on honesty and humanity. The notion of a "digital" story should remain biological, something close to the bone, something that allows us to hear the storyteller's heart. One of our classmates pointed out that what makes good stories work is the ability for the audience to connect to the narrative, and hopefully the characters. Even before the "how to" elements of film making are presented, the authors ask the future storyteller to get real.
There are so many stories, and as we well know, so many ways in which to tell them. This is not so much as a Rashomon or the Gospels moment, but more specifically, our stories-the personal ones- that we long to, or are afraid to share. There is this common saying that "every one has a story, every one has a play or a novel in them." I suppose this is true, the trick is how to select the story, and then how would one tell it? In many a creative writing books, the author will address the first and most import question. That is, what is the forum for this story? Is it a fictionalized movie, a documentary, a play, a song, a poem, an oral story, or is it a story that called to be shared only as a written piece?
Time is a luxury that many high school teachers and students do not have. The teacher needs to consider the amount of time and resources available to the class. This is when the 'digital divide" really starts to widen. Can an English class be connected to a media-making class? Or, is the English teacher slugging it out alone in teaching digital storytelling? Will the principal allow for so much time being used in developing these multimedia productions?
One of the questions that came up with my own class, here at Cal, is the "legitimacy" of multimedia being really "academic". I believe strongly that broadcasting and theatre are very legitimate forms of academic study. If fact, I could sell you on how and why theater and broadcasting could serve as the vantage point for any part of the humanities (and math) studies. One of the true points came from another fellow student. She pointed out that the developing of a screen play (even for a documentary) and the producing calls for writing. The form of writing and collaborative work needed to produce a multi media production is academic. The same would be true for the structure of a documentary (even one in progress), and certainly this goes for a fiction film (of any genre).
The core of storytelling is having a heart. Even if it is a hard story to tell. I guess another subject for me to think about is how to tie the digital story telling assignments into the curriculum. I have a few stories of what I have experienced, but those are for another time.
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