Five Types of Books Digital Storytellers Should Be Reading

You’re a digital storyteller. You should be reading everything you can get your hands on about digital storytelling. These three are a great place to start. Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media Seven Stages: Story and the Human Experience Flash Genres (Flash fiction, flash nonfiction, prose poetry) Most digital stories are short. By short I mean less than a thousand words and likely less than five…

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Choosing a Microphone for Storytelling

Choosing a microphone for recording your voiceover can be a little daunting, especially if you’re choosing your first microphone, or if you’re upgrading your current setup. The setup you ultimately land on will largely depend on how you plan to capture most of your recordings, and of course, your budget. So you might start by asking yourself a few questions:   Questions   In what sort of environments will you be recording? If you’re new…

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“Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community” by Joe Lambert with Brooke Hessler

If you’re starting a collection of books on digital storytelling, Joe Lambert’s “Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Boundaries” should be one of the first you add. It serves as an excellent reference for ideas, techniques, prompts, and examples. Not only that, but reading it from start to finish offers a comprehensive background of where StoryCenter’s brand of digital storytelling comes from and how it has evolved. I picked up this latest edition because a quick…

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Zoom H5 Tutorial – Recording with Onboard Mics

This tutorial walks you through the steps for recording your story’s narration using the Zoom H5 portable recorder with external microphones.   If you would prefer to record with the H5, but using external microphones, check out this tutorial: “Zoom H5 Tutorial – Recording with External Mics.” If you’re thinking about purchasing a new microphone for your recordings, you might want to check out this post: “Choosing a Microphone to Record Your Narration.” If you’re…

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Six Microphones for Storytellers

In a previous post (“Choosing a Microphone for Storytelling“), I offered some factors storytellers should consider when deciding which mic they’re going to use. That background covered, we can now get to the good stuff: the microphones themselves. I’m going to try to keep it simple. (Don’t laugh.) I’m going to recommend seven different microphones, along with comments for each. My criteria consist of sound quality, build quality, ease of use, versatility, and value. When…

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Thumbnail for "Zoom H5 Tutorial: Recording with External Mics" tutorial.

Zoom H5 Tutorial – Recording with External Mics

This tutorial walks you through the steps for recording your story’s narration using the Zoom H5 portable recorder with external microphones. If you would prefer to record with the H5, but using external microphones, check out this tutorial: “Zoom H5 Tutorial: Recording with Onboard Mics.” If you’re thinking about purchasing a new microphone for your recordings, you might want to check out this post: “Choosing a Microphone to Record Your Narration.” If you’re hesitant about…

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Writing Your Script

Drafting Long Listening To Your Story Finding the Heart of Your Story Finding Your Story’s Beginning Finding Your Story’s Ending Editing Ruthlessly

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Improving Your Photography: Some Online Resources

The physical components of almost any digital story are these: narration, score, images, and movement. As you improve as a storyteller, I think it’s important to sometimes isolate one of these components and hone your skills for the sake of that particular skill. One of your most readily available media elements is the collection of photographs you already have. But no matter how extensive that collection might be, there will come a time when you…

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Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons Resources

Contents for this Page Understanding Copyright Finding Creative Commons Materials General Sources Where to Find Creative Commons Video Where to Find Creative Commons Music Where to Find Creative Commons Images Where to Find Creative Commons Sounds and Sound Effects Where to Find Creative Commons Books Citing and Documenting Creative Commons Materials Articles and News Related to Copyright, IP, and CC Materials Organizations and Resource Sets Related to Copyright, IP, and CC Materials Copyright, IP, and Creative Commons Resources For Writing Instructors Understanding…

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