1. Created by P. Shoemaker for WLCS
Digital Storytelling
Created by P. Shoemaker for WLCS
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools

2. Element # 1: Media Digital storytelling uses many types of media:
Scanned drawings/pictures
Digital video clips
Text
Digital or scanned photos
Voice narration
Music
Titles
Transitions
The author chooses what media to use and how the media will be arranged.

3. The Writing Process
We expect that you will make many revisions to your writing throughout the creation of the digital storytelling process!
The technology is secondary to the writing.

4. The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling
Point of View
A Dramatic Question
Emotional Content
The Gift of Your Voice
The Power of Soundtrack
Economy
Pacing

5. Element 1: Point of View All stories are told to make a point.
You, as the author, need to figure out what you intend the viewer to “get.” What message are you trying to convey? In other words, what is the theme?

6. Element 2: A Dramatic Question
A good story has a “hook” that will hold the attention of the audience until the story is over.

7. Element 3: Emotional Content
A story that deals with our emotions, such as loss, love, loneliness, courage, acceptance, rejection, hardship, etc. - will help the audience maintain their attention.

8. Element 4: The Gift of Your Voice
The way you use your voice can impact the story you tell.
Tone of Voice: Slow, Fast, Loud, Soft
The tone of the storyteller’s voice provides the drama and sets the mood, while engaging the reader. It draws the reader into the plot development through the use of story elements.
Caution: You don’t want your final project to sound like you are reading your paper. Practice!

9. Element 5: The Power of Soundtrack
Music sets the mood.
The goal is to match the music to the story.
Instrumental music, without words, works the best to create an appropriate mood.
The focus should be the narration and the music should support and enhance the storytelling.
Use only copyright-free music! (Soundzabound)

10. Element 6: Economy
Use the least amount of images required to tell the story.
Your selection of pictures and drawings should illustrate the theme without becoming a distraction.
Too many images tend to confuse the audience.

11. Element 7: Pacing
Changing the pace of the story can be very effective. The narrative can have pauses, the music can change tempo, and the images can be set to enter at different rates of speed.
Changing pace allows the audience to concentrate, think, and maintain interest.

12. Five Writing Components - all to be saved and turned in.
Brainstorm at least two topics
Pre-writing graphic organizer
One-page draft of story
Storyboard
Final draft of story

13. Technology Components of the Project
Downloading digital camera photos
Scanning still photos and drawings
Importing digitized media into Movie Maker 2
Creating digitized voice-overs (narration)
Editing/timing photos to correspond with narration
Rendering the video (converting to a file format so that it can open and play in Media Player)
Importing the rendered video into Movie Maker 2
Capturing and importing musical soundtracks
Final Rendering

14. Personal Story
Brainstorm ideas. Think about events or a person that has impacted your life. What lessons have you learned by going through this experience?
Write down at least two ideas. Each idea can be a short one or two sentence description.
You will choose one of these ideas to write your digital storytelling project about.

15. Select One Idea
Share your ideas with your parents, your friends, and your classmates. Determine the best idea for your digital story.
Think about what media you have available to include in your project
photographs: such as objects, people, nature scenes, etc. (you may have them already or you may need to take a snapshot)
drawings that you create

16. Questions to Think About
How did this event or person have a direct impact on your life?
What emotions did you experience?
What lesson/s have you learned from this experience?
You will complete a graphic organizer in Word to help organize your ideas and thoughts.

17. The First Draft
You will create a one page script in Word of your organized ideas in the form of a story. (Arial font, 11 pt, double-spaced, with one inch margins).
You will first introduce your topic and the “hook” to draw in your audience.
Next, you will present your ideas and thoughts on your topic.
The conclusion should include the lesson or lessons learned from your experience.

18. Co-Editor Proofreading
Schedule a 20 minute conference time with a parent/guardian (co-editor) to review the script. The objective is to just proofread. Co-editors should NOT change student ideas.
Materials needed: three copies of script and highlighter.
One copy to your teacher, two copies for proofreading at home
Your co-editor reads the story aloud, exactly as the story is written.
As the story is read by the co-editor, the author highlights the draft with any dropped words, misspellings, unclear thoughts.
Your co-editor will then go back with the author to edit for grammar and punctuation errors.
The author will then “honor thy Websters” and look up misspelled words for correct spellings and meanings.
The co-author will do a second reading of the corrected script. Repeat editing process as necessary.

19. Development of Script Turn your script in to your teacher.
Feedback will be provided.
Once your script is approved by the teacher, you can begin collecting media.

20. Selection of Media
Collect and/or create images to include in your digital story. You will have more than you will use.
Select/sort the images, choosing those that enhance and do not detract from the script. More is not better.

21. Putting Script and Images Together
Creating a Storyboard
A MS Word storyboard will be used to put the selected images with the script.
Make sure that your script has a clear beginning, middle, and end as you organize your images with your script.
You may find that the script will need to be revised to fit with the images that you have chosen.
Turn in your completed storyboard to your teacher for approval.

22. Production
You’ll digitize all selected images. All drawings and photos will be scanned.

23. Putting it all together with Movie Maker 2
Import digitized media
Add voice-overs/narration
Editing timings of photos
Add title
Add transitions and special effects
Add credits
Add soundtrack (Soundzabound)

24. Digital Storytelling Website
All files needed for the project, along with student examples, are posted at