Welcome to Assessment Task B, Part C – a media task based on digital storytelling. Please start by watching the following clip I created on Windows Movie Maker. This clip is a ‘trailer’ of what to expect further on. Enjoy!
Digital storytelling is the art of telling a story through a combination of digital video, still photographs, animations and audio. It is necessary to recognise that digital storytelling is also inclusive of student work samples, which can be scanned in as images or photographed in digital macro mode (on a digital camera). Digital storytelling is commonly used to express personal stories. Often an author uses their own voice accompanied by additional audio to narrate their story. Stories revolve around a theme and last only a few minutes.
As stated by Robin (2008), digital stories can be placed into the following categories – personal narratives such as discovery stories about events or places in our lives; examination of historical themes and events which are based on the resources students use; and stories that inform or instruct on specific topics such as Science and Technology. By creating a digital story, students are challenged to transform their written ideas in an aesthetically pleasing digital medium.
The above clip illustrated various icons of the software available for creating digital stories. As mentioned, stories can be created on Windows and Mac platforms. Here is a list and brief description of these technological wonders. Clicking on the icons will take you straight to the corresponding website.
Windows Movie Maker (WMM) and Photo Story 3 are excellent tools for creating a digital
story. Photo Story allows users to manipulate images and includes the effect of pan and zoom. Text and audio (including voice narration) can be added to the digital story to make it unique. WMM allows users to import and creatively assemble images, video and audio. Both programs contain transitional effects. Great for users of all ages!
Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation program often available on school computers. It is also suitable for creating digital stories with many similar features as WMM and Photo Story. Click here for a tutorial on creating a digital story using PowerPoint.
Adobe’s Fireworks and Flash software is more suited to advanced users; these programs provide powerful tools for graphic and video editing, which results in suberb, professional outcomes!
