Digital Story Telling
Using Photo Story 3
Digital story telling is a concept that every teacher should know about. Its essence is about telling stories that are enhanced with digital images. What is most important about digital storytelling, as Jeannie Biddle says, “It is not about the product, it is about the process”, and the process is really the writing of the story. One of the easiest ways to create a digital story is to use a piece of free software from Microsoft called Photo Story 3. It can only be downloaded to a computer that is running a Microsoft Operating System (XP, Vista, Windows 2000...). If you have a computer with an Apple Operating system that isn't able to run it, we have provided some links to tutorials for iMovie4 specifically about Digital Storytelling.
For this segment we will review the main concepts of Digital Storytelling and then concentrate on learning how to use Photo Story 3. We will then offer some links and resources for you to delve into the topic at a later date. For now, we just want you to understand the concept and see how easy it is to learn to use Photo Story 3.
The Digital Story Telling process involves:
Planning the story
-What is it going to be about? What type of story are you telling? What is your own connection to the story?
7 elements of a story (www.storycenter.org tutorial)
1. Point of View - what is your point? What is the goal?
2. Dramatic Question - the action, tension, central desire...
3. Emotional Content or paradigm - inspirational, love, loneliness, friendship...
4. Gift of your voice - your audio recording (practice and relax, be conversational)
5. Power of soundtrack - music, sound effects, your own lyrical narration (watch copyright!
6. Economy - the sequence of events, images, text - (keep it simple)
7. Pacing - the rhythm, planned and telling pauses, starts and stops
Write the story
-Topics can range from personal, to fictional and everything in-between. Make sure to check out the links below for ideas.
- A good idea is to not have pictures in mind before the writing starts.
Keep it to no more than one page using any basic font, 12 pt, double spaced. That will keep a story in the 2.5 – 3.5 minute range.
Create a storyboard
-Keep this as simple as possible (sample below).
-Think of images that will enhance the writing. They may be photographs, drawings or any images that will emphasis points in the story.
-Use a graphic organizer to help, such as Webspiration, bubbl.us, or gliffy (see 'thing 21' -Visual Learning).
Make the movie
-Use Photo Story 3, iMovie (or any program you wish) to create the story.
-Use music to enhance the story. A good idea is to not use music that includes lyrics and make sure to follow all copyright rules. Take this copyright quiz, then check out the chart.
To get started, download Photo Story 3 from this link (PS3 Download), install it on your computer and watch the video to learn how easy it is to use. They also have a 5 page tutorial located on their site titled: "Create your first photo story." Their tutorial covers: Opening Photo Story, importing and arranging your pictures, adding a title to your pictures, narrating them, adding background music, saving your story, and viewing your story. The tutorial provided below demonstrates these.
If you are using a Macintosh, you can go to the following tutorials for
digital storytelling: Digital Storytelling Workshop Links or download the Short Activity pdf document from their site.
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Aligned to NETS-T: 1.a, 1.b, 1.c, 2.a, 2.c, 2.d, 3.a, 3.c, 3.d, 4.b
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Video Tutorial for Photo Story 3
Click on the image to view the video.
If you want a text version go to: http://tinyurl.com/ps3texttutorial
Below is a step-by-step tutorial you can download and use as well.
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Video Tutorials for iMovie
21things Hands-On Activity and Assignment:
1. Create a short 2-3 minute video that includes title, content, transitions and music.
2. Create a screen shot of it (or a URL to it, if you post it online) to include with your reflection in your Portfolio.
3. Write about three ways digital storytelling can be used in your classroom or educational setting.
4. Include some feedback from a student or peer about your story, and what suggestions for improvement were recommended in your reflection.
Additional Resources
For more resources on Digital Story Telling go to: http://delicious.com/cmccarthy and select the tag for DigitalStoryTelling (no spaces)
Also look under: http://pageflakes.com/fmiracola and select the Digital Story Telling tab.
You can copyright your work by going to the Creative Commons site and review the different licenses available to put on your work. As students begin to publish their stories on the Internet, it is helpful to teach them about the process of copyrighting their works as well as the different options available.
Some music resources:incompetech royalty free (search by genre), Soundzabound royalty free for education, RoyaltyFreeMusic.com royalty free music for education, historical music that is copyright free.
Check out Microsoft's MovieMaker, a program that usually comes standard on PC machines using Microsoft Windows XP and higher. Similar to Mac's iMovie, drag and drop photos, add transitions, and create a digital story.
Check out Animoto , VoiceThread or PhotoPeach for unique ways to display your photos or tell digital stories.
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