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Week 1

1/7    Intro to course. 

1/9    Read The Science of Storytelling. (online)

           Discussion questions: How would narrative have been useful to                                                  our earliest ancestors? How does listening to a story influence the brain?

           Why are metaphors so effective? 

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           Introduce Skills Exercise #1 Analog Storytelling

          Before we explore the world of digital storytelling, we are going to experience                      traditional oral storytelling as it's been practiced for hundreds of thousands of                    years. 

 

          After our class discussion on story elements (Friday 1/11), you should have a                       pretty good idea of what goes into a story. For this Skills Exercise, choose an                       event from your life that you believe represents a story as we have defined it.                       Write it down. We will be revising our stories together in class. Then tell your                       story to the rest of the class. You may read your printed story or challenge                             yourself to tell the story completely from memory. Be sure to practice before                       storytelling day. Time limit: 3 minutes.

1/11  What is a story? Group activity: online research to assemble list of elements of                    stories.

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Week 2

1/14    Revising activity. Bring your (double-spaced) written story to class.

1/16    Presentations of Skills Exercise #1: Analog storytelling

1/18    Continue analog storytelling

 

Week 3

1/21    MLK Day--No class      

1/25    Copyright.  Skills Exercise #2 Covering your Assets

             Knowing how to use the intellectual property of others is a vital skill if you plan to              work in the digital realm. In class, we discussed copyright law and ways to locate                legally available assets (images, video, music, sound effects.) For this skills                            exercise, locate an online asset such as a piece of music, a photo, or video clip                      that’s legally available for you to use in a project. 

 

            Using the information you can gather from the metadata, prepare a correct credit             for the media using the Attributing Creative Commons Assets handout: Artist,                   Title, URL, type of license. On our class FaceBook page, paste the link to your                     asset and the credit--just the way it would look at the end of one of your class                     projects. section. Then comment on 2 of your peers' asset attributions. See how                 complete the attributions are and suggest any revisions you think are necessary.

            Post credits and comments to FB by Monday, 1/28.

            Everything's a Remix

   

 

Week 4

1/28     Intro Assignment #1  Sound and Story

1/30    Watch: Empathy, Neurochemistry, and the Dramatic Arc. Discussion questions:                  What chemicals does the brain produce when we hear stories? What are their                      effects on our thinking and behavior? What are the aspects of the narrative arc?

2/1      Read Narration. Bring the story you are recording to class. Work on scripts in                        class.                                                         

 

Week 5

2/4    Understanding Audio Material. Open doc, then right click and choose "Open with                Preview." Rotate to read more easily. 

           Quiz on terms and types of sounds described in the chapter.

2/6    Skills Exercise #3, Sound Collection

           With a partner, go outside the classroom and collect three sounds: #1 an ambient              sound, #2 a foley sound, #3 wild card--any interesting sound you hear. We will                   listen to these in class.

2/8    The storytelling effects of music

 

Week 6

2/11    No regular class--Work day outside of class. Suggested tasks: record script,                          record or gather sound effects, choose music, edit audio. 

2/13    Sound and Story Assignment due. Post to class FB page by class time. Bring hard              copy of Reflection Paper to class. Each team member must write and hand in                    their own paper.

2/15    Listen to remaining Sound Stories

 

Week 7

2/18    President's Day--No class

2/20   

2/22    Intro Short Documentary assignment 

 

Week 8           

2/25   No class

2/27  Read: Understanding the Visual Material  Quiz on types and effect of different                     types of shots

3/1   How to conduct and film interviews.  

          Skills Exercise #4 Talking Heads 

          This exercise helps you practice filming a short interview. Ideally you'll use this                     exercise to conduct an interview for your 60-Second Doc project, but not                               necessarily. If you are working with a partner on the short documentary, then the               two of you can do this Skills Exercise together. If you are working solo, then you'll               have to do this assignment by yourself or partner up with someone who is also                   filming by themselves.

•   Identify someone interesting to interview. For most of you this will be one of your     friends. Identify what you'd like to focus the interview on. For example, one of your   friends has several fresh-water fish tanks and is building a natural water filter with   plants and gravel. This would be a fascinating topic since most of us don't have           fish tanks or know much about tropical fish.

•   Write 3-4 questions that both draw out information and show the person's  passion or expertise.

•  Film the interview. Consider the background, lighting, camera distance, and  recording. You may choose to check out a wireless mic to get good quality audio. 

•  Post the interview clip to our FB page by class  on Friday 3/8.

 

Week 9

3/4   ​No class today. Extra credit opportunity: Reframing Landscapes Symposium.                       Attend any of the lectures or workshops on either Monday or Tuesday. Turn in a 1-             2 pages summary or your notes for 10 points of extra credit.

3/6   Read Transitions and Edit Categories.  Quiz on the four types of edits and                               five edit categories.

3/8   Watch filmed interviews in class

 

Week 10

3/11  Spring Break--no class

3/13               "

3/15               "

 

Week 11

3/18    Skills Ex #5 Short Doc peer review. 

3/20    Short Doc due on FB by class time. Reflection papers due in class.

3/22    Watch remaining docs.

 

Week 12

3/25   

3/27   Intro to Interactive Multimedia Storytelling Project

3/29   Intro Skills Exercise #6 Types of storytelling group report.

            In a small group, research one type of storytelling found in today's culture.                       

            Create a PowerPoint presentation that covers the following information: an                         explanation of that type of storytelling, what it accomplishes and/or why it is                       popular, one or two examples (links to story) that we can view in class. Include                     citations, if appropriate.

            Present your report to the class. Each member of the group must participate in                   the presentation. Time limit: 10 minutes

            Reports are due on Monday 4/8.

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Week 13

4/1    Pitch proposals

4/3    Pitch proposals

4/5    Pitch proposals

 

Week 14

4/8    Storytelling group reports

4/10  Storytelling group reports 

4/12  Work day--no regular class

 

Week 15

4/15  Conferences. All members of the team must attend conference. Please have                         at least 50% of your project completed. No regular class.

4/17  Conferences. No regular class

4/19  Conferences. No regular class

 

Week 16

4/22    Presentations of Digital Storytelling Projects, Reflection papers due in class

4/24    Presentations

4/26    Presentations