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It is estimated that the first storytelling process may take up to 24 hours of time because students are generally learning 3-4 software programs along with a wide range of technology tools. Some of the work, like gathering media resources, can be assigned outside the classroom over a period of time while other units are under study. The next storytelling projects will take less time because students will be more technically experienced even though creativity cannot be micromanaged. Teachers and authors find the following seven process steps helpful in organizing benchmarks for working on projects over time. Beginners might want to keep expectations simple the first time or two. Beware that there is such a thing as dabbling with the processes and choices — like trying all the fonts or transitions before settling on a choice — until you literally have a never-ending story! Deadlines will need to be clearly established with authors taking responsibility to meet those timelines.
Pre-production Phase — Finding and organizing ideas worth communicating
"There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."
— Maya Angelou
Step One: Writing the script
The written narrative script telling the story in the author’s own voice is the heart and soul of digital storytelling. It is meant to organize all the other media elements used and should be completed FIRST! This differs from digital products that narrate or describe images that have been sequenced first viewing the narration as an enhancement. The script is tightly crafted to tell a memorable story of understanding while also keeping in mind how the various media can help show, rather than tell, the information or ideas with words. Teachers hold conferences with students to ensure that the content and thinking in the script is robust and worth communicating.
Finding the right story requires brainstorming ideas that fit the assignment purpose and audience. Mind maps can help students explore ideas, organize details, and decide which ones will be used to tell the essence of the story. Whether developing fiction or nonfiction, researching the background and details of the topic will help the story be more authentic and credible. A great deal of thinking, planning, and synthesizing takes place during the creation of a script — sometimes as much as 30 percent-40 percent of the project time. Whatever story is chosen to make into a digital story, the written script needs to be about how this particular topic touched the author’s life — not just presenting the facts and information gathered. The narrative written script is captured later as a digital voiceover during the production phase.
Time management: 6-8 hours over a week
Processes: Mind mapping, drafting, teacher conferencing, peer review, rewriting and rewriting
Technology tools: Word processor and printer.
Step Two: Planning the project
This step of creating storyboards and image/sound lists is the modern version of making an outline for a written report. The time spent here increases the quality of the communication as well as definitely saving lots of time and frustration during the Production and Post-Production phases. Storyboard templates are graphic organizers that allow authors to visualize and detail out all aspects of their story — narration, images, titles, transitions, special effects, music, and sounds — BEFORE actually using any of the technology tools.
Start the storyboard with the actual text from the script along with the images and titles being planned. Then fill in the storyboard with any transitions and special effects being used. Sound effects and music are added last, even though ideas may be forming along the way. The storyboards may look similar to comic books, but they are rough sketches, keywords, or symbols as the scenes are mapped out enough to out show how all the media mixes together. It is highly recommended that all storyboards be signed off by the teacher BEFORE students are allowed to go to their next steps of using the technology tools!
As the storyboard is developed to unfold the written script, students will need to compile image and music/sound lists to guide them or other teams members in creating and editing the media resources.
Time management: 2-3 hours over a week
Processes: Storyboarding, Image/Sound Lists, and Teacher Conferencing / Peer Review
Technology tools: Word processor and printing.
Step Three: Organizing folders
Managing all the files — text, images, sound, music, and final product — is an important and often overlooked management system needed to ensure everything is where it needs to be for each student’s product. You need a well-organized system for file management, keeping in mind that video-editing software references (rather than actually embeds) the media elements. If the media elements are not kept together, the project will need to be re-pointed to the original files. Each student needs his or her own folders containing all media elements.
Time management: 15 minutes
Processes: File management with back-up procedures
Technology tools: N/A
Production Phases: Gathering and preparing digital media
"Photography suits the temper of this age as a perfect medium for active bodies and minds teaming with ideas."
— Edward Weston
Production includes creating the digital voiceover from the written script, collecting guest voices or digital interviews, filming, photography, downloading files from digital libraries like United Streaming or the Internet, digitizing images or sound, and creating or editing your own media resources with Adobe Photoshop® Elements, Adobe Premiere® Elements, or Adobe Audition® software. The image and sound lists will guide you in how many media resources you really need. Without the image/sound lists, time management may get away from authors at this stage.
Step Four: Recording the voiceover
Earlier in the process, students created a written narrative script that will now be recorded into a digital voiceover. Coach students to perform the meaning and emotional tone rather than read or recite the words on the paper. The author’s voice should be the emotional conduit for viewers to experience the information or story being told.
It is highly recommended that voiceovers be created first as separate audio files to focus on the art of creating a storytelling voice. These voiceover files should be normalized if possible to increase sound clarity. You can use any audio-editing software that allows the recording of audio files, but you want to invest in an external microphone attached to your computer with a spit guard if possible. The internal computer microphones pick up a lot of ambient white noise that lessens the quality of the voice recording.
Time management: 30 minutes-1 hour
Processes: Oral speaking — performing, pacing, and living in the story as a storyteller
Technology Tools: Audio-editing (Adobe Audition; Audacity)
Step Five: Gather, create, and edit media resources
Each media chosen either decorates, illustrates, or illuminates the message. Encourage students to gather, create, or edit images, sound, music, and other media with the deliberate intention of extending the understanding and increasing the power of their message. While there may be temptation to indulge dabbling in the novelty bumps and fun of this technical playground — this is where the time taken to develop a storyboard and image/sound lists to guide the work will pay off!
Creating and editing images with software like Adobe Photoshop Elements provides students with unlimited creative opportunities to extend their technical and communication skills. Making original images, composites, montages, special image effects, and unique title screens can be time-consuming but very rewarding if the image is JUST the thing they need to illuminate an idea, emotion, or concept.
Creating and editing your own music loops or ambient sounds likewise gives students an opportunity to experience technical and creative skills in communication. George Lucas says that music/sound is 50 percent of the information or story experience. Music and sound provide tone, setting, emotional context, and nonverbal meaning to the message. Sound and music should not be used as a background to the story — each piece of music or sound chosen illuminates and extends the message.
Time management: 5-6 hours over a week
Processes: Using image/sound lists, understanding file formats, honoring copyright
Technology tools: Cameras, Internet access, scanning, image-editing software (Adobe Photoshop Elements), audio-editing software, music-making software, royalty-free subscriptions
Organize for copyright uses of media
In all cases, be sure that the media selected is being used legally and ethically. Fair Use Guidelines of copyright materials have been developed for classroom use assuming that the percentage of media used is 1) limited and 2) non-commercial. But WARNING to all students and teachers who expect to distribute their work outside their classrooms —Education Fair Use does NOT include the student work leaving the classroom in any way based on a third legal interpretation of fair use called 3) spontaneity. Distribution of any kind outside the classroom does not meet the full definition of Fair Use. It is highly recommended that students and teachers plan from the beginning for their digital projects to rigorously meet copyright standards that will support wide spread distribution of the student work.
It will be important for educators to identify and obtain rich resources that students can use without violating copyright laws. Many resources are public domain or available for nominal fees. Consider building royalty-free libraries, encouraging students to generate their own images and music or rehearsing processes to obtain written permissions from copyright holders.
Post-Production: Putting it all together
"We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works itself up to a climax."
— Samuel Goldwyn
You are now ready to spin your tale with powerful digital tools — like Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 (which includes a multimedia slide show feature) and Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 — that easily let you mix all the media elements together. The ultimate goal is to draw viewers into the story and hold their attention as it unfolds. While your storyboard provides the initial decisions and elements, it is now time to mix and dance the elements together in a compelling and memorable story that illuminates understanding for others.
Step Six: Creating rough cut FIRST and final cut LAST
It is useful to organize the Post-Production steps along with learning technical features within Adobe Premiere Elements in two stages called ROUGH CUT and FINAL CUT versions of the product. The rough-cut step provides the author with a FIRST view of the story sequence — made up by inserting the voiceover, guest voices first along with sequencing images/video and titles. It is a rough cut of how the story will flow. NO transitions, special effects, fine-tuning the durations, or adding music/sounds yet! Reviewing the rough cut saves the author project time by determining what might still be missing or in need of additional editing before proceeding with the fine-tuning. If the author needs to reconsider or revise the sequence or overall images used, let it be at the rough-cut stage before all the other elements are mixed together. General feedback about tone and design from teachers and peers can be very useful at the ROUGH CUT stage.
Time management: 3-4 hours with approximately a 30-minute tutorial
Processes: Working with storyboards, importing media resources, and inserting voiceovers, guest voices, images, and titles.
Technology tools: Video-editing software (Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0, Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0); utilities for file format conversions may be useful
If the ROUGH CUT generally flows for you, begin fine-tuning the additional digital elements considered the FINAL CUT stage. Titles, openings, closings, special effects, and transitions provide a world of playful creativity for designing powerful communication that immerses the viewer in your thinking and experiences. Plan for credits that identify dedications along with citing the specific resources used to create the digital story. Add music and sound effects LAST according to the storyboarding plan! If you modify any of the other elements, it changes the timing of the music’s entry, exit and fades, etc.
Time management: 3-4 hours with approximately a 30-minute tutorial
Processes: Working with storyboards; inserting transitions, special effects, music, ambient sounds; fine-tuning durations, sound levels; and identifying credits
Technology tools: Video-editing software (Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0, Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0), utilities for file format conversions may be useful.
The FINAL CUT stage is fun and extremely creative. Many authors go into a timeless flow state intently engaged in bringing their script alive! However, this fine-tuning stage is also where novices can get overwhelmed or lovers of novelty and experimenting might find themselves bogged down. Again if the storyboard step was skipped, it takes a lot more time to make all the Post-Production decisions. Depending on project time, storytellers may want to consider keeping technical expectations very simple the first time or two. If time is not a variable, enjoy playing with all the choices and variations before wrapping up the project. But beware of the danger of eternal dabbling, polishing, or modifying, thus creating a never-ending, never quite ever, ever finished story project. Sometimes it is time to say “good enough!”
Step Seven: Applause! Applause!
Anything less than reverence for each and every story can result in a deeply emotional sense of betrayal. Student authors put themselves into these stories in ways that surprise them. Cherish each and every story.
— Joe Lambert, Digital Storytelling
And now each digital story will be able to live happily ever after, literally a living artifact that each storyteller now leaves as a personal legacy to others. What a joy to finish a digital story! The bringing together of the author’s own voice, the images, music, and sounds with technical craftsmanship into a meaningful story is a sheer delight for the soul! It is time to celebrate as well as find a multitude of ways for others to experience the author’s work in real time. Make sure any feedback responses or comments are very respectful and appreciative — the time for any revision is past. This is the time for pure celebration for what has been accomplished!
Digital products are easy to distribute across time and space to others who were not part of the class work with Adobe Premiere Elements. Distribution includes making digital movies that can be inserted into other media, making DVDs, posting on school, community or student websites, having parent, student or community gatherings to view the projects collectively or taking student work to showcase at conferences to celebrate the amazing talents of our kids! Be sure student work is copyright friendly and permission is obtained to distribute their work following the Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) within your school district.
It is highly recommended you NOT create a competitive climate with awards like best film, most humorous, best artistic story, or other categories. It is counterproductive with few gains compared to the goal of creating a safe non-judgmental climate for students taking risks in practicing the art of expressing themselves.
May all your student stories be heard far and wide!
Tell your tales; make them true. If they endure, so will you.
— James Keller
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