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:: the therapeutic art of storytelling


My name is Camille Turner and I am an artist. I've worked in a variety of areas and I've been involved in digital storytelling for several years. One of my projects is the creation of a Community Digital Storytelling Lab with Jennifer LaFontaine. Our work involves creating a supportive environment to allow participants to feel safe enough to share their stories. We have witnessed Story Circles in which stories urgently bubble up from grief, sorrow, pain, and joy demanding to be told. Some stories have never been told before. Some have finally found a place where they are acknowledged and valued for the first time.

Here is an introduction to our work.
http://www.thestoryproject.ca/menu.html

http://www.year01.com/forum.htm

The methodology was adapted from Center for Digital Storytelling in California


:: 7 elements of digital storytelling

1. point (of view)
In digital storytelling, we have combined the idea of point—the reason the story exists—with an emphasis that it come from a first-person perspective. These are personal stories and have some relevance for the storyteller, which is passed on to the audience.


2. dramatic question
Digital stories are structured around a question, and the body of the story is the attempt of the storyteller to answer that question. The traditional arc of the digital story begins with the dramatic question, rises and falls around personal experience, and climaxes with a realization, which is often the result of critical reflection.


3. emotional content

In the digital storytelling workshop, we often ask participants to tell powerful personal stories, and this emotional access to another’s experience is a major part of the story’s impact for an audience. The storytelling process allows the storyteller to make (new) meaning out of personal experience.


4. the gift of your voice

An important part of the experience of a digital story both for the storyteller and the audience is the voice of the storyteller. The sound of the storyteller’s voice adds a level of vulnerability and authenticity to the story.

5. the power of the soundtrack
New media allows for easy access to musical recordings and ambient sounds to add layers of production to the story. The musical soundtrack is often called the manipulative part of the story, because music has such power to influence an audience’s emotional connection to a story.

6. economy
The normal digital story is 4-5 minutes long, and the written text is less than one double-spaced page of text. The typical story has approximately 30 visual images. This relatively small asset bank forces the storyteller to make critical choices about what and how to communicate layers of meaning in the story.

7. pacing
Successful stories make successful use of pace. The storyteller carefully considers how much to tell, show, or put in front of the audience at any given time, and also lets the story breathe, or pause, from time to time, especially at transitions

 

:: stories to watch
stories from hamilton centre for civic inclusion http://www.thestoryproject.ca/HCCI/index.html
nancy's story http://www.thestoryproject.ca/CNH06/Video/Nancy.mov
salma's story http://www.thestoryproject.ca/CNH06/Video/Salma.mov
jennifer and camille's stories http://www.thestoryproject.ca/Jen_Camille/index.html
andre's story http://www.thestoryproject.ca/container_stories/video/Andre_small.mov
(from the container project in jamaica)


:: story-prompts
Tell me the story of a hero
Tell me a story about a time when it just didn't work out, when things just fell apart
Tell me the story of a first ... eg. first kiss, first job, first trip etc.
Tell the story of your name

:: story-games
Pass the story: Sitting in a circle, one person starts a story and stops just before an exciting act is about to occur. The next person continues the story. The story cannot end til the last person who wraps it all up.
Draw a map of the neighbourhood you grew up in

:: digital storytelling sites and tools
http://captura.llanogrande.org/introduction.html
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/lasica/1034121182.php
http://www.storycenter.org/
http://www.jakesonline.org/storytelling.htm
http://www.storycenter.org/
http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.html
http://digitalfamilystory.com/
http://www.digitalherobook.org/toolkit/plan_script.html
http://electronicportfolios.org/digistory/howto.html