MEET THE TCF TEAM!

Shelby Hadden - documentary director

  
Shelby Art to Life Self-Portrait from Shelby Hadden on Vimeo.


Greg Kubik - director, promo video & director of photographer


Self Portrait of Greg Kubik from Greg Kubik on Vimeo.



10-11:30 LAB SECTION / TCF GROUP MENTORS:

Kat DeLay - videographer, Honors digital life story editor

Kat DeLay's Digital Story from Kat DeLay on Vimeo.

Daniel Roth - videographer, Honors digital life story editor

Art To Life Profile from Daniel Roth on Vimeo.

1-2:30 LAB SECTION / TCF GROUP MENTORS:

Mick Gormley - sound, promo editor, Honors digital life story editor


Mick Gormley from Mick Gormley on Vimeo.


William Mason - videographer, Honors digital life story editor

  
William Mason Digital Self Portrait from William Mason on Vimeo.

EQ for Students

Sanford Media Lab on the 2nd floor of Gorgas Library

http://www.lib.ua.edu/smc/equipment

I liked this video because tells the story in a poetic type way in the story teller's native language. I think the transitions were a little slow, though the scenes demonstrated were quite beautiful. It is a very powerful demonstration of the daily abuse that these women have to go through and the emotions that this particular woman experienced. I definitely would not replicate this video because it does not show actual people; instead, it shows places in which the people live that endure this violence. It is a strange juxtaposition to view such picturesque images of where she lives while hearing her speak of such terrible violence and abuse. All of the other videos from this website, "Silence Speaks," are created in the same manner where they fade in and out photographs from the daily life of the participants. I think I definitely want to incorporate more actual video footage in my final project to acquire a deeper side of our patients that cannot be expressed solely through photographs and see their facial expressions when they speak. 

http://www.silencespeaks.org/case-studies/36.html

This video gave an interesting perspective of the storyteller by explaining her life as having a blurry or empty lens while everyone else's was a wide angle lens. It has too slow of transitions for my taste. It is interesting, however, to see how at the beginning it allows the effect to be blurry originally then focus on the clearer image. After she discovers a college that caters to her disability, the pictures are clear and it represents the new set of lens that she acquires. I like hearing her tell her own story and seeing pictures of her. I still would like to see more pictures and perhaps additional video footage; she doesn't show any of her as a teenager when she is talking about her difficult times in high school. I think it would have been neat to film a scene of riding in the car and film out of the window, allow the audience to see the college where her life is changed as she did for the first time. I also like how she captures the audience's attention at the beginning by making audacious statements. 

http://storiesforchange.net/node/2546

What the Water Gave Me

I chose this video because it is another example of a successful use of the digital media to tell a story. Again, the woman who's story is being told is the one actually narrating it, giving it a very personal feel. I particularly liked that the video opened with the definition of what toxin Maya, the speaker, was going to be talking about. I would like to do something similar with Ken's video by maybe opening with a quote or some other text that has held meaning for him in the past. I also liked that this video had a clear, linear narration plan in conveying the story, it wasn't just a random montage of images and descriptions. This made it easier to follow and also much more interesting than the last video I chose, which kind of just meandered throughout the narrator's thoughts.

What the Water Gave Me

In Service and Love

This video may have nothing to do with art therapy but it has many elements that make it successful. The woman's narration as well as the music playing in the background really help to give the video the solemn and thoughtful tone that the creator seemed to be going for. Her narration of her own story is also very effective as it gives the story a much more personal feel. This made me think of ways we could make Ken's digital story more personal, and I think it would be best if we could get him and a possibly a few of his family members to help narrate his life story. The transitions from each image to the next also works for this video. However, ours probably wouldn't be as slow of a fade between images for Ken's life story just because we want to keep his video upbeat and celebratory of his life, not sad or somber in any way. Overall, though, I felt this video was a good example of communicating a specific mood through the use of digital media.

The Story As I see It

I chose both of these videos for specific reasons. They both come from a point of view that I’m not familiar with, and so I felt they would provide the most educational benefit. From all of the videos I watched, I noticed that they generally followed the typical story telling format used in writing. An introduction brought the listener into the situation of the affected, which led to struggle, followed by the resolution.

What made these stories different from the norm is the unique insights they granted by utilizing the power of the story-teller’s voice. When you simply read something that has been written, the reader has the right to read it in the voice they choose and to take points as lightly or heavily as they wish. With the force provided by the storyteller speaking, however, you’re left with no other option but to take the highs and lows as they come.

Another major part of the digital story are the pictures. These help to re-enforce the speaker’s words and drive them home. Sometimes the pictures are very literal stand-ins for what is being said, while at other times the images are more of an abstract representation that expresses the general emotion of what is being said.

These videos have given me an idea of how to put together Dot’s life story, and I’m excited to find the pictures that will give more power to her voice.

*one video didn't have an "embed" option
http://www.patientvoices.org.uk/flv/0356pv384.htm

What not to do.

I found many things wrong with this video that made me uninterested and bored. The biggest mistake made was the pictures. The author had 3 pictures of herself, 2 of a medical bed and 2 of a hallway. They were not specific, not interesting and spent 25-30 seconds on the same picture. Some pictures zoomed closely, but some were just still with no animation. The pictures were not connected with the specific story, I felt like she just pulled them from the internet. The fact that each picture was shown for 30 seconds made the 3 minute video seem like 10.  She spoke very slow and monotonous which made me uninterested just due to the fact that she sounded uninterested herself! She used strong works such as ‘crazy’ and ‘intense’ in the same tone as every other word, which drained the meaning from the word. This video showed me how awful it is to watch a video with a monotonous voice, boring pictures, and no excitement what so ever. I will make sure my hardest that our video does not turn out as this one did.

Forensic Nurse Stories

I chose this video because not only did it keep my attention the whole time, but the story itself is captivating. A forensic nurse tells her story about her most memorable patient, and her story. She captures the audience by telling how she felt in the situation, and teases the audience with starting the story in a vague manner. This keeps the audience curious and anxious to find out what had happened to her patient. Then, once she reveals it, the pure shock of the situation seals the audience’s attention and pulls their emotions in to match hers. There is soft music in the background to match the horridness of the story, which did a lot to set the mood. I think it would be great to tell Mr.McCollumn’s story in a manner as this, in one that has the audience on the edge of their seat for more information. There is nothing about this video that I would complain about, it was professionally written and spoken, and held my attention all the way through.

 Life Story through digital media 

I found this video entertaining to watch, not because it was comical, but because it tells a story of hope and determination. I think the way this video is composed would be a great way to work with Dot to share her story. Like my last post, the composer of this video is also the narrator and I still find it inspiring to hear the voice of the person whose life story is being shared. That raw emotion is detected and flows freely through the video taking on the feeling she had at that exact moment. Since it is just like a story except digital, there is a point to the video. Isn't that the most important part of this video? To get the point across to our audience and leave them with a message. 

The video is not happy it is about a death, but the music being used conveys a happy mood. The reason for this comes in the end of the video when she gains an important life lesson to love on and spend as much time with someone/something while you still have them. I recognize the song from the movie Shrek and can not help, but think about the calming, peaceful nature of the piece. 

I would like to incorporate linking words like this video uses because it makes you think, but also administers ways to relate to her story. Words such as "healing", "love", and "hope" are just a few she uses, but they allow me to understand just how she felt at that time. This would make a great component to our life story of Dot.

Link to video

Digital Storytelling

This digital story has nothing to do with Art Therapy or Alzheimer's disease, but the reason I chose this video is because it helped me consider one way I could share Dot's life story through digital media. I like how the person whose life story this video is portraying is the actual narrator of the video. His voice tells the story of his life, which is really neat because he uses different emotion in certain parts of the video and we can tell by the varying tone in his voice. If Dot was the narrator that would be the most effective method of sharing her story because the emotion is so real. I also like the lively hopeful music that plays in the background as he is narrating. The point of Art Therapy is that of a hopeful outlook on life and the components of the video should coincide with this. Music such as the one used in this video would be a perfect piece to incorporate into our own life story.


Link to video

Welcome to the Course!

Combining TCF and Honors is a new adventure this term. I am very excited about this work, but am realizing that how to structure and develop this course content is challenging. I am trying to negotiate how to best build our technical skill set, spark our creative energies, and produce digital (life) stories that we all can be proud of.

In class today, we'll talk about digital media making + storytelling.

We'll explore one method of digital storytelling created by Joe Lambert at the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, California.

Let me first say that digital stories are NOT photo slideshows. They are thoughtfully constructed, short videos that reflect the storyteller's point of view... we'll get more deeply into this later.

One of the digital storytelling projects that I am most inspired by as a potential creative spark for Art to Life is PATIENT VOICES, a digital storytelling initiative developed in the UK by Pip Hardy and Tony Sumter.

This is just the beginning....