2012 Webinar Series

Digital Storytelling Made Easy

The Society is grateful to the National Endowment of the Arts for its support of this webinar series, which strives to provide affordable resources to individuals and organizations wishing to establish or advance arts and health programming.

Presented by

Dina Bey, MS Ed. School Teacher

Children’s Hospital of Michigan &

André L. Key A. Key Productions Director/Producer

July 25, 2012

Learning Objectives

• To define digital storytelling

• To learn about the various stages of production

• To show how to maximize the aesthetics by using the

appropriate equipment settings and proper placement.

• To discuss the benefit of digital storytelling in a

healthcare setting

Digital Storytelling is a modern derivative of oral

storytelling, which is an ancient tradition that has been

passed down from generation to generations

Date of origin is unknown. One of the earlier pioneers of

digital storytelling is Dana Atchley, The Center for Digital

Storytelling, Berkeley, CA

Review of Literature: • Digital stories are 3–5 minutes of visual images

synthesized with video, and audio. (Bull, G. & Kajder, S., 2005 & Gubrium, 2009, Matthews-DeNatale,

G.)

• Digital storytelling is also considered an

educational and therapeutic tool. (Sawyer, B. and Willis, J, 2011)

Digital Media Stories/Programming at Children’s Hospitals

At Children’s Hospital of

Michigan (CHM) the child-life

(CL) staff works with patients

to produce or direct digital

stories.

Hospitals with digital media

programming: 1. The Children’s Hospital of

Philadelphia

2. St. Louis Children’s

Hospital

3. Mount Sinai Kravis

Children’s Hospital

Approaches/Process

Academic approach

media or resources used to develop the story

(communicate)

the movement of the story or movement used by

participants (connect)

relationships types and formations (share)

content or the elements that gives meaning to the

story (produce)

the type of communication used (evaluate)

http://academictech.doit.wisc.edu/ideas/digitalstorytelling/process

Most common approach: 7 Elements of Digital

Storytelling, which was introduced by the Center for

Digital Storytelling (CDS) of Berkeley, California

II. Elements

Story, point of view (POV), or theme—the digital story’s roots

or big idea

A dramatic question

Emotional content

The gift of the author’s voice

Sound (music or sound effects)

Impact/economy

Pacing (the speed or tempo of the story)

Digital storytelling elements are half the battle of producing a quality

digital story. How well you move through the production process

dictates the quality of your production.

Production Process:

• pre-production

• production

• post production

III. Stages of production An overview of important elements of each stage

A. Pre-production

1. Scripting—a written record of your story from beginning to

the end.

2. Storyboarding—a visual map of your project’s main

points. (See examples of storyboarding)

3. Site survey—it provides you with a realistic look at the place

where your production will be recorded.

See Storyboard template

See blank storyboard template

Storyboard template

(http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~nkaffe2/Samplestoryboard.htm)

B. Production—carefully consider how to choreograph the

production elements in a way that best brings your story

to life.

1. The Camera

• can make or break your project

• captures and tells your story.

• determines the recording format (tape or digital

cards)

• Camera’s settings

a. White balance Not all cameras offer this option

b. Focus c. Common Aspect Ratio:

• (4:3) Old television & computer monitor standard • (16:9) HD video standard

White balance with a point and shoot camera

4:3 Ratio (Standard TV picture view)

16:9 Ratio (high definition TV picture view)

2. The Shot of the cast/the set draws your audiences into your

story and creates the tone/mood. Try to vary your shots and

remember the rules of composition.

a. Establishing Shot—This shot is a point of reference,

which shows the relationship between the images on

the set.

b. Wide (or full shot)—a shot from head to toe, usually

placed within some relation to its or his or her

surroundings

c. Medium—a shot from the knees up or the hips up

d. Close—a shot from chest up.

References:

http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~candace/basics/shooting.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/myplacemyspace/promote-your-day-out/with-

film/planning-your-shoot.shtml

Close up

Medium shot

e. The Rules of Composition

1. The Rule of Thirds—thirds horizontally and

vertically imaginary markers, in which images are

place (on the line of axis)

2. Framing—consider allowing for titling, look space,

walk space, and headroom

Framing

Rules of Thirds

Angles

a. Low level—shows the subject looking

down at the camera (see example)

b. High level—shows the subject looking up a

the camera (see example) T

Reference website: http://www.thewildclassroom.com/wildfilmschool/gettingstarted/camerashots.html

High angle

Low angle

4. Lighting

a. Three-point vs. four-point lighting

b. Type of lights (tungsten and fluorescent)

5. Audio (mics)

a. Camera mic

b. Boom mic

c. Lavalier mic

Four Point Lighting

C. Post Production

• Editing

D. Finished product

• Encoding to DVD or to video file (.mp4, .mov,

.mpeg, etc.)

• Screening—this can be as simple as showing the

patient, staff, friends, and family your final cut

Licensing (only reference a website-- http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/copyright.html &

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/)

III. Benefit of using digital storytelling in a healthcare setting

A. “a method for teaching values and attitudes, for

professional development, and enhancement of

interpersonal communication”

(Borkan J, Miller W, Reis S; 1992; Hensel W, Rasco T,

1992; Rabinowitz S, Maoz B, Weingarten M, Kasan R,

1994)

B. Also according to Professor Aline Gubrium, PhD,

“influence indigenous healthiness and resilience by

offering a means of owning and being able to tell one’s

own story” (Gubrium, 2009).

“Aspect ratio (image) .“ Wikipedia 21 July 2012 . 24 June 2012 <

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29>

Bull, Glen and Sara Kajder. “Digital Storytelling in Language Arts.” Digital Storyteller 2005. 24 June 2012

<http://www.digitalstoryteller.org/docs/languagearts.htm>.

“Color Balance.“ Wikipedia 9 May 2012 . 24 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_balance>.

“Closed Circuit Television” St. Louis Children's Hospital Webpage (2012). 24 July 2012.

<http://www.stlouischildrens.org/our-services/family-services/child-life-services/special-programming/closed-circuit-

television>

“Close-up.“ Wikipedia 6 June 2012 . 24 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_up_shot>

“Digital Storytelling Process.” DoIT Academic Technology 2011 24, June 2012

<http://academictech.doit.wisc.edu/ideas/digitalstorytelling/process>

“Digital Storytelling in the Classroom.” EdTechTeacher Inc (2012). 24 July 2012. <

http://thwt.org/index.php/presentations-multimedia/digital-storytelling>

Gubrium, A. “Digital Storytelling: An Emergent Method for Health Promotion Research and Practice.” Health

Promotion Practice (2009)10: 186-191.

Haigh, C. and P. Hardy. “Tell Me A Story—A Conceptual Exploration of Storytelling in Healthcare Education.” Nurse

Education Today 31.4 (2011): 408-411. Abstract. 24. July 2012. <

http://www.nurseeducationtoday.com/article/S0260-6917(10)00148-6/abstract>

Hensel, William and Teresa Rasco “Storytelling as a method for teaching values and attitudes.” Academic

Medicine, 67.8 (1992): 500-04.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1497776>

Huson, Cindy, Karen Bosch, Sherri Clemens, Jerome Burg, Jim Harmon, and Paul Devoto. “Digital Storytelling with the

iPad.” (n.d). 24 July 2012.

<https://sites.google.com/site/digitalstorytellingwiththeipad/apps-for-digital-storytelling>

“KidZone TV.” Child Life & Creative Arts Therapy . Mount Sinai Hospital Webpage (2012). 24 July 2012.

http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/children/child-and-family-support-programs/child-life-and-creative-

arts-therapy/kidzone-tv

Lane, Carla. “Gardner's multiple intelligences.” The distance learning technology resource guide (n.d.) 24 July 2012.

<http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html.>

Levine, Alan. “Finding Media For Your Story” CogDogRoo Planning Wiki 2007.

<http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryMedia>.

Matthews-DeNatale, Gail. “Digital Storytelling Tips and Resources.” (2008). 24 July 2012

<http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI08167B.pdf>

Paul, Nora and Christina Fiebich. “Elements of Digital Storytelling.” A project of the University of Minnesota School of

Journalism and Mass Communication’s Institute for New Media Studies and The Media (2005). 24 July 2012.

<http://www.inms.umn.edu/Elements/index.php>

Rabinowitz, Stanley, Benjamin Maoz, Michael Weingarten, and Riva Kasan. “Listening to patients’ stories: Storytelling

approach in family medicine.” Can Fam Physician. December 40 (1994) : 2098–2102.

“Three-Point Lighting.“ Wikipedia 15 September 2011 . 24 June 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-

point_lighting>.

“The 911 Digital Archive.” Center for History and New Media and American Social History Project/Center for Media and

Learning (2011). 24 July 2012. http://911digitalarchive.org/galleries.php?collection_id=12386

“The Patient Voices digital stories.”. Patient Voices Programme 19 April 2012. 24 July 2012.

http://www.patientvoices.org.uk/stories.htm

“The 911 Digital Archive.” Center for History and New Media and American Social

History Project/Center for Media and Learning (2011). 24 July 2012.

http://911digitalarchive.org/galleries.php?collection_id=12386

“The Patient Voices digital stories.”. Patient Voices Programme 19 April 2012. 24

July 2012. http://www.patientvoices.org.uk/stories.htm