SEVEN ELEMENTS
Joe Lambert set out to accomplish a very difficult task with his Digital Storytelling Cookbook. How do you fuse the artistic and emotional creativity of story telling with technical instructions or guidelines? Generations of writers, after all, have been grappling with narrative formulation—story telling—themselves through the ages.
At first, I was worried that Lambert would simply compile a how-to recipe. I think it would have been a lot harder to try to tell someone how-to go about telling their story. But, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he did not go there. One of several reasons that I was initially concerned with Lambert’s seven elements is grounded on my preference for diversity of artistic perspectives. I worry that how-to manuals constrict the creative process that has to evolve from within the individual, and not from a book.
Lambert approaches this task by focusing on the core components of the narrative. He lists seven fundamental elements for constructing a multimedia story. Of these, he includes traditional components that have been used for constructing spoken or written narratives. And since he is specifically working with multimedia storytelling, he also includes crucial elements for those working with the digital medium.
On a separate issue, Ashley raised an import point about “point of view and purpose, [being] essential to a story, because they provide organization.” I agree that “humans are natural storytellers.” Whether we organize our stories within the confines of time and space, or like our predecessors who organized their stories based on purpose and point of view, we all tell stories to get our point across.
I’ve includes a variety of on-line digital stories that I really liked below. To my surprise, there are some many professional looking ones that are free on the web. Because, of the egalitarian nature of digital stories in terms of creation and access, I am optimistic about them and their impact on our society. I hope that they continue to provide people with a medium for personal creative expression.
DIGITAL STORIES
CAPTURE WALES: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/capturewales/
FACE TO FACE: http://www.itvs.org/facetoface/intro.html
FAMILY HISTORIES: http://www.ellisisland.org/Immexp/indexframe.asp
KATHARINE DREXL: http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2000/drexel/
PHOTOBUS: http://www.photobus.co.uk/index.html
At first, I was worried that Lambert would simply compile a how-to recipe. I think it would have been a lot harder to try to tell someone how-to go about telling their story. But, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he did not go there. One of several reasons that I was initially concerned with Lambert’s seven elements is grounded on my preference for diversity of artistic perspectives. I worry that how-to manuals constrict the creative process that has to evolve from within the individual, and not from a book.
Lambert approaches this task by focusing on the core components of the narrative. He lists seven fundamental elements for constructing a multimedia story. Of these, he includes traditional components that have been used for constructing spoken or written narratives. And since he is specifically working with multimedia storytelling, he also includes crucial elements for those working with the digital medium.
On a separate issue, Ashley raised an import point about “point of view and purpose, [being] essential to a story, because they provide organization.” I agree that “humans are natural storytellers.” Whether we organize our stories within the confines of time and space, or like our predecessors who organized their stories based on purpose and point of view, we all tell stories to get our point across.
I’ve includes a variety of on-line digital stories that I really liked below. To my surprise, there are some many professional looking ones that are free on the web. Because, of the egalitarian nature of digital stories in terms of creation and access, I am optimistic about them and their impact on our society. I hope that they continue to provide people with a medium for personal creative expression.
DIGITAL STORIES
CAPTURE WALES: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/capturewales/
FACE TO FACE: http://www.itvs.org/facetoface/intro.html
FAMILY HISTORIES: http://www.ellisisland.org/Immexp/indexframe.asp
KATHARINE DREXL: http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2000/drexel/
PHOTOBUS: http://www.photobus.co.uk/index.html
posted by Raymond Kram at 5:17 PM
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