Video Stories

To Do This Week

Class

• Diagrammatic Narratives...
• One-on-one Zoom meeting 5%
• View One-Day videos
• View examples of video storytelling
• Premiere intro, questions, voice-overs

Notes

Video Stories

• framing
• continuity editing
• montage (discontinuous editing)
• sound and image
• text with image

Story elements

• characterization — actions, reveals
• POV — restricted or omniscient narration?
• setting — the world of the story
• plot — linear sequence of events, cause and effect chain
• editing — the presented order of temporal events
• voice-over narration — thread through the sequence of images, clarity
• dialogue — move plot and reveal character
• description/exposition — information important to the story but not in the plot, the backstory
• style — in the look and in the telling

Student Projects

In-Class Exercise

1. On a sheet of paper, diagram your ideas for the Video/Audio Narrative project. Make connections between thoughts, images and sounds, etc.
2. Turn the page over, and write quickly a few paragraphs about your idea.
3. Then write a paragraph about the style or approach you will take. Will you use video that you shoot, archived videos or photos, public domain images/videos? Will you use montage and/or continuity editing? How will you use sound: voice-over narration, music, sound effects, asynchronous sounds.

Video/Audio Narrative (10%)

DUE March 21st

For this project, you are to make a 1 minute video using continuity and/or montage techniques. Edit together video clips, animation and/or still images, recorded audio, voice over and/or sound effects to tell the story. It is up to you how you “narrate” the story — through just images with sound effects, your own voice-over, text on the screen or an interview with the subject. The images do not have to illustrate the spoken narration, but should relate and help reinforce the story. This project is about using multiple types of media to tell a time-based story.

Ideas

• a personal story or an anecdote: You probably will need to use voice-over (or text-over image) and either images from your archive or shoot video that stands in for the past events. How might you add sound effects?
• a story about an object: Similar to the above, but the story or anecdote is about an object. Show the object in various angles/framings.
• a sound-driven story: Create a story with sound effects over video or still images. No language. Scary stories are good with this form.
• an episodic video essay: tell a series of mini-stories organized alphabetically.

Final Project (30%)

The final project is to be a digital story that incorporates at least two of the modules covered in this class: diagrammatic, visual, cinematic, hyperlinked/interactive, game-like storytelling. The work may be a significant reworking of a previous project or a new idea and direction.

The final project will have required stages and deadlines and each of these will be graded separately for a certain percentage of the final grade. It is important that you do not leave everything to the last minute. There should be progress each week until it is due. Our class time will be focused on building these stories so that you can get help from me and your classmates. You are not to use this time for other class projects.

Project Summary (5%)

DUE April 18th — After our in-class brainstorming sessions and a required Zoom meeting with me to work out your story idea and approach, you are to write a summary in a blog post. What is the story in 3–5 lines? What form will it take — Twine, HTML, video, comic slides? What are your inspirations — what are the works in this class or elsewhere that are models for what you want to do?

Project Critique (10%)

DUE April 25th — We will have an in-class critique of your digital stories. The grading will be based on how much of the work you have completed. I will also be giving you my feedback.

Final Project (85%)

DUE May 2nd — Based on the critiques, you are to address the issues raised and complete the final version of your work for grading. Make a post with a link to the work and give a brief summary or artist statement about what you set out to do and describe the process of how you made it.