I can’t overstate how excited I am about the emergence of so many accessible digital formats for telling personal stories, for expressing and sharing what has been learned, for making and sharing observations, for analysis of data, for creative expression, etc. For learners who have struggled, and all too often become disengaged in a traditional text-centric learning environment, it’s incredibly helpful that there are now alternative and engaging modes of expression available. I believe it is important that we make digital storytelling tools available to all learners, and it’s perhaps especially important for those not gifted with traditional academic skills.

There is a place for teaching the craft of filmmaking in our schools, but probably it is best taught as a specific art in the context of an art class. Most learners simply need tools that will enable them to express themselves effectively. There are many children in our schools who will never take pride in anything they write. I suspect that a significant number of these same children have a more realistic chance of feeling good about something they create with digital technology.

I also picked up a Flip-like camera this week and will be interested to see if it can produce the type of work and quality it promises.
http://tinyurl.com/yovcr4

Keeping the project concise is a helpful strategy. I have used televison commercials to illustrate to students and teachers how 60 seconds can convey a great deal of information. Even rock video like David Bowie’s Let’s Dance can be utilised to show how 4 minutes can speak volumes.

I emphasize storyboarding with each video workshop. Teachers (if it is PD) and students storyboard the project. Pencil and paper. Storyboarding provides students with an opportunity to write and draw. They can apply the skills the have acquired in writing and art in a completely new area. I agree with the thoughts of Gail and David.

Digital video allows them to capture each ‘chapter’ of the storyboard as they wish and the storyboard editing mode in tools such as iMovie (Mac) and (MovieMaker) allows them to take their storyboard and rework it on the fly. Timehsift chapters (clips), repeat chapters, whatever. Take their original storyboard and turn it inside out to see what happens. Manipulate the time and action. Flashbacks, paradoxes, perspectives.

This process promotes critical thinking and decision making skills. In a team environment it fosters communication, patience and the art of being gracious. If you specify a maximum time limit for the video, say two minutes, this provides additional challenges for the students, especially if they have captured say ten or more minutes of video footage. What to keep? What to discard? imagine if you throw that parameter into the pot after they have captured the footage?

Just this week Bob Sprankle reviewed the Flip Video camera on the TechLearning blog. http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2008/01/caught_on_video.php This is a cross between a small video camera and a USB thumb drive. Compact, practical and high quality apparently. Given that most mobile phones and digital still cameras have built in video capability one may find the Flip video camera is not high on the acquisition list yet I think the idea is quite neat. http://www.theflip.com/

Cheers,

John

Last spring, I teamed with some talented teachers in my district to pull off our first-ever Student Film Festival. A colleague from our local cable TV station interviewed one of the students to talk about the place of filmmaking in the classroom – http://www.secctv.org/video_gallery/seva2007/seva07fuentes.mov. What you cannot tell from the clip is that this student is from our district’s lowest socio-economic high school, but was fortunate to have an English teacher who believes fervently that students need opportunities to problem solve, collaborate, and create. In visiting that classroom a number of times prior to the film festival, I heard students refer to their “films” or their “video projects.” I never heard a student once use the term “digital storytelling.” So I don’t know that it’s necessary to distinguish between the two terms, but I do think “filmmaking” is broader and to our students, is perhaps more connected to the real world.

So then is it necessary to distinguish digital storytelling from film making? I tend to to see some differences if only to help people realize that using moving images isn’t the only form of film making.

I like the explanation Nikos Theodosakis gives for choosing the term “filmmaking” in his book The Director in the Classroom: How Filmmaking Inspires Learning – “‘filmmaking’ focuses on the process, the construction of visual storytelling, rather than on the technology that makes it possible.”