Students do a digital storytelling assessment as part of the Hellenistic World module in Classics and Ancient Civilisation (Warwick University). Here’s the advice I give them to get started with it.
Get inspired
For this project, my advice to begin with is to have a look at some good historical documentaries, and consider how they use visuals (shots) and sound, to tell the story in a way that is more engaging and emotionally impactful than can be achieved in text. This is a kind of visual thinking and storytelling that you might not have consciously thought about before, but which is deeply embedded in our modern visual culture. Read my entry about this on the DAHL blog, and watch the short video presentation on that page.
You can search for and watch any documentary that has been broadcast in the UK using the free Box of Broadcasts service (right now there is a problem with accessing it, but it was working earlier, probably something wrong with the Uni network).
There are many tools you can use for making your movie, some of which you may already have on your phone, tablet or laptop. Don’t worry about how you will make it for now. Concentrate on the creative design of it first, and I can advise you on which techniques are best to use. I’ll provide whatever guidance and support is needed, but you’ll find that it is much easier than you expect.
Write a treatment
Once you have an idea for a movie, there are some simple techniques you can use to develop and test your idea. Avoid writing a script right away, as these tend to just resemble essays being read aloud (worst kind of movie). Instead you could try writing a “treatment” – a simple format used when pitching an idea for a movie.
Start by identifying your audience – in this case, don’t just aim it at whoever is marking, think about a broader audience. What do they know already? Why might they take an interest in this? What’s going to hook them in?
Then write add a statement about what difference you want to make to the audience through the film, how will you change them? What might they learn? How might their attitides change?
Then state what will happen in your movie, scene by scene – where a scene is a single shot or sequence of shots. Say what happens visually. What is heard (including ambient sounds). And what impact this will have on the audience in relation to the goal you set out at the start.
Your movie will consist of a series of such scenes, typically in a narrative arc from setting the scene and introducing the story, to drawing a conclusion. But you might want to do something more sophisticated as well. Use your imagination!
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