Got back last evening from the 7th annual Digital Storytelling Festival in Sedona, Arizona. Ordinarily I would have filed longer posts while I was there, given the terrific wifi setup, but I was so taken in by the presentations that I decided to spend the time between sessions talking with other storytelling aficionados rather than blogging.
Now, normally I’d post a long rundown of all the sessions. But my book deadline is a couple of days away, so I need to summarize quickly here. (Also, apologies if you’re one of the 1,000-plus people who’ve emailed me over the past week; I may not be able to get back to you for a few days.)
My Saturday morning presentation on Open Media was well received, with more than two dozen people coming up afterward and expressing support for the notion of a permanent online repository for visual creativity by amateurs and professionals. More on that in a couple of weeks when I launch a site explaining the project.
Besides taking in the wonders of Sedona with my wife, 5-year-old son and brother George (who drove up from Phoenix), the highlight of the week came over dinner at Javelina Cantina with Thom Gillespie, director of the MIME program at Indiana University, Mark Weaver (a digital storytelling consultant in San Diego) and his partner Lisa Young.
Sunday morning I was one of two dozen people who attended the annual meeting of the Digital Storytelling Association, where we laid out plans to help spur a mass movement of digital video creativity. (The Center for Digital Storytelling explains digital storytelling here.)
The conference was a good mix of high concept and practical application. The personable and very sharp Derrick Story of O’Reilly Media gave a 90-minute presentation on improving your video and audio skills. (I bought his Digital Photography Hacks.) I don’t think he’d mind if I reprinted these tips from his talk:
Movie house rules
– capture the best audio possible (sound is more than half the picture)
– may I have a little light please? (video needs a lot of light)
– ack! No backlight! (with camcorder you can lock in exposure on person so it doesn’t change when it hits backlighting; there’s no lock in in exposure mode with small cameras, but camcorders do have this)
– hold your shots steady
– vary your angle: use 1 or 2 angle changes in a 3-minute movie
– keep it moving
– if you’re on camera, smile, for God’s sake
– edit with a vengeance
– no loitering: 3 minutes or less
– avoid lengthy titles
Here are some of the sites that were spotlighted throughout the week:
• Storylink (a new academic-oriented site and organizing tool for digital stories created by MIT’s Center for Reflective Practice)
• BBC’s Capture Wales project
• The National Storytelling Network, which is holding its annual conference in Bellingham, Wash., next month
• The Australian Centre for the Moving Image
• Murmur, a fascinating interactive storytelling project in Toronto
• PBS’s The New Americans series
• KQED’s Coming to California stories
• TV journalist Ronni Bennett’s Time Goes By blog
• Listen Up! PBS’s Youth Media Network
• a Luna Blue, a stock footage and image library
• iStockPhoto.com, where professional-quality photos can be had for 50 cents to $2 apiece.
• Media That Matters film festival
• Ripple Training (a site for cool tips, tricks and tutorials on Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro HD, DVD Studio Pro, LiveType and Sound Track)
• Kenstone.net (amazing tips on Final Cut Pro)
• Free Range Graphics and their Flash movies, such as The Meatrix
• GoldenFleece’s Storyatwork (a site devoted to storytelling in business and organizations)
• Cyndi Greening’s blog on digital media
• Invent Media
• Third World Majority (a new media training and production resource center dedicated to global justice)
• The Great Canadian Story Engine, a vintage site from CBC’s Canadian Film Centre
And here are a couple of more photos I’ve added to the Storytelling Festival photo album:
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
How fascinating to find my Weblog listed as being highlighted at a storytelling conference. I was sitting here so pleased with myself, particularly because I’ve been insisting for decades, to anyone who would listen, that it’s all storytelling – no matter what it is.
Then after nearly breaking my arm patting myself on the back, it occured to me – oh damn, perhaps I was highlighted as a poor example.
I sure would like to know, if you can find the time to fill me in. I’m also glad to have rediscovered your Website. It seems to have fallen off my radar for several months, but you’re not back on it.
Best,
Ronni
Just to give some context, I gave a talk entitled “Personal Tranformation, Social Action” in which I showed examples of personal digital storytelling being used first for personal healing and then looked at the relationship between personal transformation and social action. I focused primarily on personal stories related to breast cancer and subsequent social action by National Breast Cancer Coalition and by the Show Me project. I included links to Ronni’s stories about her mother’s battle with breast cancer. I will eventually post a summary at http://www.abbedon.com