Digital Storytelling made easy

Below are simple step-by-step instructions for creating a digital story. Of course, the best way to learn anything is by doing it. You may make mistakes but, in the end, you will be proud of your efforts.
1.  The Essay. Begin by writing your essay. For a 5 minute video, the essay should be no longer than one and a half pages hand written or two pages typed. Be sure to use colorful descriptive adjectives and vary your sentence types. Short, simple sentences will give a quick, dramatic and exciting feeling, while more complex/compound sentences will give a more thoughtful feeling. It's a good idea to think about what graphics (pictures and videos) you have available while you are writing your essay in order to make the production of the video a bit easier.

2. PEER REVIEW. Choose an editor for your project. BE sure to choose someone who will be able to give you good advice and not just a friend. Your editor will be working with you throughout the project. After you choose your editor, let him/her read your essay and make constructive suggestions to make it better and more descriptive. Remember, you are trying to paint a picture with words. Listen to your editor and make any changes needed. Once your essay is acceptable, your editor will sign the top of your essay. He/she will then give the essay to your teacher who will review the essay on the spot. IF your teacher approves the essay he/she will also sign the top. If not, your teacher will discuss changes with your editor and your editor will return it to you and discuss the needed revisions. This process repeats until you have two signatures on your essay.

3. RECORD YOUR ESSAY. You are now ready to record your essay. Go to Windows Movie Maker (or Mac IMovie). Click on TOOLS (see illustration to the right).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After you click on tools, click on NARRATE TIMELINE. After you connect your microphone you are ready to record. Be sure the room is quiet, speak slowly but with feeling. If you make a mistake, just cancel the recording and start again. When you finish, nake your narration and save it to your flash drive.Be sure to save your essay as you will need it again.

4.  COLLECT YOUR GRAPHICS. Keeping you essay in mind, gather photographs and videos to use in your video. A simple rule of thumb is that no graphic should be on the screen for more than 8 seconds. This means that a 5 minute video would need 38 photographs (some could be used more than once). Generally, a digital story begins with music and graphics that introduce your story. 30 to 45 seconds creates a good introduction. The video will end with music and more graphics (again, 30 to 45 seconds is fine).

5. THE STORY BOARD. Creating a storyboard may seem like a waste of time but it will bring your video to the next level. It will insure that the graphics used are appropriate for the narration and that you will have plenty of graphics and won't be repeating graphis again and again. Now, rewrite the essay leaving several empty lines between each line of your essay. You can either write a description of the graphic below the narration or number the graphics and write the number below the narration. Be sure to include the introduction and closing graphics.

6. CHOOSE YOUR MUSIC. Now that your video is planned, it's time to choose your music. If you will be using music that will play while your narration is playing, be sure to choose an instrumental piece of music so the words won't fight each other. You may want at least three pieces of music; one for the introduction, one for the narration and one for the closing.

7.ADD ALL COMPONENTS TO MOVIE MAKER. Finally, it's time to begin construction of your video. In Movie Maker, click on import picture, import music, import video. Before you begin to add elements to your video, click on Tools and options. In the ADVANCED screen, set the time for each graphic and transition (1.5 seconds for transitions is good).

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. CONSTRUCT YOUR VIDEO. Begin constructing your video by constructing the entire audio line. To do this, click on the music or narration and drag it below to the audio section of the time line. You can shorten the music used in the introduction by moving the cursor to the correct place and click on CLIP and SPLIT. Then remove the unneeded section of music. As you add pictures and video, be sure to add transitions. Transitions are a way of moving from one graphic to another. Remember, less is more. Don't use tons of different transitions, one is best.

9. You can also add titles and credits to your video by clicking on TITLES AND CREDITS. You can also add effects to your video by clicking on EFFECTS. This will give your video another dimension. Again, less is more. You can watch the progress of your video at any time by clicking on the play button below the screen on the right. You can also click on VIEW; FULL SCREEN.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
General but important tips.

There are a few things you MUST remember when working with Movie Maker.

  1. Movie Maker saves nothing. It is vital that you save all components of your video to a flash drive BEFORE adding anything to Movie Make. Add components from your flash drive and nowhere else. If you fail to do this, the first time you close Movie Maker, you will lose anything you have done.
  2. When you finish your video and are happy with the finished product, ask your editor to critique your work. Be sure to look for misspelled words, Proper grammar and punctuation in your titles and credits. When your editor is satisfied, YOU MUST SAVE YOUR FINISHED PRODUCT BY CLICKING ON PUBLISH TO THIS COMPUTER. If you fail to do this, all will be lost. By doing this, you will convert your video to a different type of file that can be seen on any computer. At this point, you can also burn it to a CD or DVD.
  3. Sometimes, if your computer at home has a newer version of Windows, you will not be able to see your video in the school Movie Maker program. This means that you will have to choose where you will work on your video.
  4. If you have Windows 7, all is lost. Windows 7 has a terrible version of Movie Maker and is not appropriate for this project.
If you have questions or problems, contact me at tmcmahon@enter.net. I'll do my best to help.