Digital Production

I have a lot of experience with digital storytelling and all the other jazz that comes along with it. I have been teaching at Milwaukee Visionaries Project, a youth-based film workshop for four years now and have a bunch of experience making films. Many of these made it into the Milwaukee Film Fest and I am actively involved in the development of many. The one thing I learned from this process is that digital storytelling is best done collaboratively. I'm not saying that people can't make great work alone (they can), but having a group of people who are experts makes the product so much more effective. That's something I've seen from experience and has also been found in scientific articles as well: "Teachers need to master more than the subject matter they teach, they must also have a deep understanding of the manner in which the subject matter (or the kinds of representations that can be constructed) can be changed by the application of technology" (Hicks, Turner & Stratton, pg. 181 (as cited in Hicks, Turner & Stratton (2013))).

In our digital world, there are countless examples of digital storytelling, to the point where coming up with 2 is inherently limiting. I have two recommendations which I consider experts in the art of digital storytelling

The first is Mid-Day of the Living Dead. The title being a clear reference to the film Night of the Living Dead, the story follows suite. It follows a young person being chased by zombies. Eventually, the person gets caught and attacked, with a twist rendering a "game over" screen. The person walks outside to see hordes of people walking on their phone. 

What's clear from the use of greenscreen in the first half  of this film is that many scenes would be impossible to produce in person. Perhaps the filmmaker didn't have the ability to drive to these places and take these shots, so they were digitally added. We only see 1 person as a zombie. Perhaps that was the only person available for those shots? Regardless of the answer, the ability to use digital media is allowed the filmmaker to design the film in the way they wanted, regardless of physical limitations.

The second is The Bob Emergency: a study of athletes named Bob. As the title suggests, this video essay explores the history of athletes named "Bob". What stands out to me most is the nearly complete lack of animation. It doesn't need any. Instead, it starts as a blank canvas, slowly adding more and more details as the narrator, Jon Bois, goes more in depth on the histories of the Bobs. 

What I like most about this story is that it focuses on what we can do as digital writers. Too often when we see digital storytelling we think "film". This makes sense. After all, there are countless digital animators who create high quality films circulated throughout our culture. But the thing is, film isn't a requirement for digital storytelling. You can create effective and engaging stories without animation and characters. All you need is an interest in digital production and a good story. Thankfully, we all have them.