Introduction to Digital Storytelling

Stories are created to transmit some sort of value or idea.

1.      The Point. What is the point of your story? Does it have a clear message that you can summarise in one sentence? It might be a moral of the story, or something you learned, or some value or message you want to convey to the viewer. Make sure you can articulate this.

2.      The Dramatic Question. Engage the viewer by posing a question, or a problem to be solved or some unresolved mystery that you can answer during the story. You need to give the viewer a reason to keep watching, they need to wonder what is going to happen here.

3.      Emotional content. By telling a truthful and honest story, where you describe a change in your life that affected you, you will engage the viewer emotionally. Also, by placing them in the scene, describing a scene visually or using words actually used in a scene, they will empathise with the story by visualizing it for themselves.

4.      Your Voice. Your voice, and your ability to use it to tell a story is a crucial element in this form of storytelling.

5.      Soundtrack. Soundtrack can set the tone for a story and can also be used to emphasise emotional content in scenes. Start thinking about the types of soundtrack available to you.

6.      Economy. Less is more. Let your pictures and words compliment each other, allow the viewer to connect the dots, don’t spell it out for them by describing what they are seeing.

7.      Pacing. Change pace to create drama. Slow for reflective, sad, contemplative; fast for action, tension and surprise.