Digital Story Prompt
From LIS5313 Course Wiki
Contents |
Task
- Make a 1-2 minute video that communicates a story about a specific experience or person in your life that has relevance or importance to who you are, or that tells an original story about a topic of your choice.
- Create and revise a Digital Story Treatment to accompany your video. (Follow this template as a guide). Instructions for how to create a new wiki page for your Treatment are here: Digital Story Treatments Fall 09.
- Provide substantive feedback to peers on Digital Story Treatments and Rough Drafts.
- The project is worth 120 points.
Guidelines and Specifications
- The story can be narrative or non-narrative, real or fictional. It can be told from your perspective, the perspective of a “fictional you,” or the perspective of someone else (e.g. third person narrative).
- The story should have a purpose and point of view.
- The video can be comprised of any combination of still or moving images, and it is not necessary to include images or footage that you have shot yourself.
- The story must include elements of voice over narration and/or dialogue, but no more than 175 words long. The video may also utilize text elements selectively and deliberately.
- The video must be a minimum of one minute and a maximum of two minutes (not including credits).
- The video must include a complete list of credits and sources, with appropriate and accurate attribution information. The credits should come at the end of the video and can be as long as necessary.
- Any use of copyrighted materials should be justified in writing when you turn in your video in the last section of your Digital Story Treatment. For example, you could state: “I received permission to use this material from…,” or “my use of this material qualifies as fair use for the following reasons…”. Any unjustified use of copyrighted material will result in your project being returned to you for revision.
Submission Instructions for Digital Story Treatments
- The Digital Story Treatment you create should include the sections and content described in the Digital Story Treatment Template.
- Instructions for how to create a new wiki page for your Treatment are here: Digital Story Treatments Fall 09.
- When you have completed your Treatment, submit your assignment to Blackboard > Assignments.
- To receive credit for this assignment, your Treatment must include a complete script of your narration and/or dialogue, and any text elements you plan to incorporate. This script can then be revised and improved before you begin production on your digital story.
- Update and revise your Treatment during the production process as a working document to facilitate peer feedback on your project, and polish up the document when you submit the final draft of your Digital Story so that the Treatment accurately reflects and accompanies the final video.
Submission Instructions for Digital Story Rough Drafts
- As you did with Media Exercise 6, save or convert your video to the file format of your choice (e.g. wmv, mp4, avi, etc.). I recommend MP4 if possible (but note that this is just a recommendation, not a requirement). Upload your video to your blip.tv account. This will convert your video to Flash; the playback quality will vary widely depending on the quality and settings of your original media (and you may want to experiment with your settings to get the highest possible quality).
- On your Digital Story Treatment page, under the "Draft Media" section of the page, include a link to the rough draft of your video. This will be important so that others in the class can read your treatment, find the link to your rough draft, and give you feedback.
- When you have completed these steps, submit your assignment to Blackboard > Assignments.
- Note: Do NOT post your rough draft video on the Media Projects section of the blog. If you want feedback or suggestions on versions of your digital story prior to completing your official "rough draft," you can post your request to Peer Support and include a link to your rough draft (and/or refer people to your treatment page for more information about your digital story).
Submission Instructions for Digital Story Final Drafts
- As you did with your Digital Story Rough Draft, save or convert your video to the file format of your choice (e.g. wmv, mp4, avi, etc.). Upload your video to your blip.tv account.
- Create a blog post with the following components:
- Title your blog post with the title of your movie. Do give your movie a title!
- Embed your video in your blog post. See the blog tutorial on How to Embed a Video in a Blog Post, which includes the specific instructions you need for embedding video from blip.tv.
- Optional: Attach a Creative Commons license to your video. If you choose to give your video a CC license, you can do it in Blip.tv. I also recommend that you display the license in your blog post. As you have done in the past, follow the steps for selecting the type of license you want provided at Creative Commons "Choose a License", and then copy the html code directly into your blog post (in the “HTML” window), immediately below the link to your video.
- Provide a link to your Digital Story Treatment page. Remember to polish up the Treatment so that the it accurately reflects the final version of your video.
- Tell us what software/hardware you used to create the video (including any audio or image editing software you might have used in addition to the video editing software).
- Tag your blog post, "digital story" (without the quotes) and whatever other tags you wish.
- Categorize the blog post under "Media Projects," save, and publish the post.
- Check it to verify that it is displayed in Media Projects and that it plays correctly, and revise it as needed to get it right.
- Submit the assignment to Blackboard > Assignments.
- Note: School Media Students must also submit the final version of the video to Chalk and Wire. For instructions on what to do, go to Blackboard > School Media > Digital Story.
Grading Criteria
This assignment is worth a maximum of 125 points, which will be given according the following grading criteria:
- Digital Story Treatment. 20 points.
- Digital Story Rough Draft. 20 points.
- Digital Story Final Draft. 85 points.
An "A" video has has the following qualities:
- The video tells a compelling story with a clear purpose and point of view.
- The video track has a strong, unified style. Visuals are compelling. The pacing and rhythm of the video track is balanced and reflects deliberate and planned edits that contribute to the meaning and impact of the story. Transitions and visual effects are used selectively and deliberately.
- The soundtrack has a strong, unified style. Sounds are compelling. The use of voice over narration and/or dialogue is clear, well executed, and effectively integrated with other audio and video elements. The selection and use of music, sound effects, and/or ambiance are appropriate to the story and contribute to the meaning and impact of the story.
- Media assets are well chosen and appropriate to the goals and style of the story. The assets used reflect effort and skill in the search process and/or in the production process.
- The video is technically well executed. Assets are of adequate visual and sound quality so as not to be distracting to the viewer. Edits are free from unplanned glitches or pops. Audio levels are appropriately adjusted throughout the video.
- The assignment is submitted accurately and according to instructions.
- The blog post and Digital Story Treatment that accompany the video are complete, clear, and follow instructions accurately.
A "B" (or lower) video meets most of these criteria, but may lack technical or conceptual quality in one or more area, may not follow the assignment guidelines and instructions accurately.
Note: Points will be deducted if students fail to participate in required production process steps, such as giving substantive feedback to peers on rough drafts, and providing an updated Digital Story Treatment that accurately reflects the final version of the video.
Production Resources
- Digital Story Showcase-View digital stories by former LIS 5313 students.
- Digital Story Treatment Template-Create a treatment for your project as part of helping you think through different facets of how to communicate creatively and expressively with image and sound, and also to give other people in the class general information about your project so we can give you more appropriate feedback. Use this template as a guide for what to include in your treatment. Note: Here are examples of Digital Story Treatments from Fall 08.
- Audio Resources
- Digital Story Cookbook-Download and read the introductory chapters of the Digital Storytelling Cookbook (published by the Center for Digital Storytelling). The introductory chapters are very short, easy to read, and address topics such as "finding your story," approaches to scripting, storyboarding, and digitizing story elements.
- Storyboard Resources-This is a link to my blog post that has some resources/tips for creating storyboards.
- Instructions for Giving Feedback on Digital Story Rough Drafts
