Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Digital Storytelling
When I first looked at this assignment, I noticed that I would need to use pictures in all three programs to tell my story. It took me a while to think of a story, but I decided to tell the story of how I bought my Nintendo Wii, which is based off of a true story. I really enjoyed Animoto because it was simple. I choose the pictures and a song, and the program did the rest for me. I like how I had the option to choose a song from their playlist, or a song from my computer. Being the indecisive person that I am, it was nice having the playlist. I didn't want to dig through my whole music library looking for the perfect song. It was convienent that they had the playlists by genre. I choose something that was Electronica because the Wii is a type of electonic. The problem with Animoto is that I cannot use text or voice, so I was forced to choose pictures that would clearly tell my story. I had to make sure I had enough pictures to demonstrate the plot. I was worried that viewers may not understand the full meaning of a picture and its relevence to the story. I know some photographers who artistically take pictures of everything that happens at an event. I believe that they could fully portray a story using this program alone. Since I just bought my digital camera over the summer, I do not have many pictures on my computer. I had to look at flickerCC to find addtional pictures. I also had to take my own pictures to recreate the story. But finding these pictures were also useful for the other 2 programs.
I also found the same issue with pictures on Scrapblog. The main thing I liked better about Scrapblog was that I could add my own text. I did not have to worry that viewers would miss important details of the story. If a picture I used lacked detail, I could explain what was going on through words. I also liked how they had pre-made layouts I could choose from. If I didn't like everything on the layout, I could delete certain stickers and objects. I chose the theme relating to a journey because I went on a journey buying that Nintendo Wii. Having different themes can help shape a story. Scrapblog made my pictures stand out due to the scrapbooking-like component. However, the program has a smaller selection of music. But for me that is OK, since I am very indecisive. I chose a song titled "Success" because the end of my journey was successful. Having simple titles for the music selection helped me choose a song that went along with the story. The biggest problem I had with Scrapblog was that it didn't work for a long time. I started my story in the morning at a friend's apartment. Then later I worked on it at home, but the editor would not load. I tried several times and even left it on for 20 minutes. But it would not load. Then i restarted my computer, and it still wouldn't load. Then, I tried using my neighbor's internet. It worked, but the music was taking forever to load. Finally, I gave up and decided to try again 2 hours later. Finally it worked on my own internet. I believe that it was down because many people (probably everyone in our class) is using this website at the same time. I find Scrapblog the least reliable out of the 3 programs I've used.
Finally, I used voicethread. The nice thing about Voicethread is that I could record my voice and physically tell my story. The only thing is, I am self-conscious, and I don't like my voice. But, my voice definitely helped me explain every detail of my story. Voicethread also had the option of drawing on the picture, which I found neat. Since I carefully choose my pictures and my voice was available, I did not use this drawing feature. I believe that other types of stories may have benefitted from this feature. What I didn't like was that there was no smooth transition between pictures no animation. Therefore, the video did not seem as attractive. But having voice made storytelling easier.
I also found the same issue with pictures on Scrapblog. The main thing I liked better about Scrapblog was that I could add my own text. I did not have to worry that viewers would miss important details of the story. If a picture I used lacked detail, I could explain what was going on through words. I also liked how they had pre-made layouts I could choose from. If I didn't like everything on the layout, I could delete certain stickers and objects. I chose the theme relating to a journey because I went on a journey buying that Nintendo Wii. Having different themes can help shape a story. Scrapblog made my pictures stand out due to the scrapbooking-like component. However, the program has a smaller selection of music. But for me that is OK, since I am very indecisive. I chose a song titled "Success" because the end of my journey was successful. Having simple titles for the music selection helped me choose a song that went along with the story. The biggest problem I had with Scrapblog was that it didn't work for a long time. I started my story in the morning at a friend's apartment. Then later I worked on it at home, but the editor would not load. I tried several times and even left it on for 20 minutes. But it would not load. Then i restarted my computer, and it still wouldn't load. Then, I tried using my neighbor's internet. It worked, but the music was taking forever to load. Finally, I gave up and decided to try again 2 hours later. Finally it worked on my own internet. I believe that it was down because many people (probably everyone in our class) is using this website at the same time. I find Scrapblog the least reliable out of the 3 programs I've used.
Finally, I used voicethread. The nice thing about Voicethread is that I could record my voice and physically tell my story. The only thing is, I am self-conscious, and I don't like my voice. But, my voice definitely helped me explain every detail of my story. Voicethread also had the option of drawing on the picture, which I found neat. Since I carefully choose my pictures and my voice was available, I did not use this drawing feature. I believe that other types of stories may have benefitted from this feature. What I didn't like was that there was no smooth transition between pictures no animation. Therefore, the video did not seem as attractive. But having voice made storytelling easier.
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