Digital storytelling is a like a box of chocolate…
Posted by aurelia on 6 November, 2009
And of course, you know what’s next – Forrest Gump says, “…you never know what you’re gonna get.”
One thing about digital storytelling that thrills and intrigues me is that I will never exactly know how each participant will find the workshop. Is it going to be meaningful to them as it has been to me? Which part of it will they find difficult or easy? Script writing? Voice over? Images and video editing?
I have no idea until we start to work on their projects individually, journey with them in looking into their stories, until my workshop co-facilitator Angeline Koh and I get all of them to the finish line.
Digital storytelling is purely the art of telling stories supported by images, music, and voice and producing them into a video format.
For the past three workshops that we have conducted, I have seen some have a breakthrough in the technical challenges they encounter. Some overcome their fear of writing, of speaking, and hearing their voice over. Others have a breakthrough in some personal issues in their lives that have been buried for ages. For some, it’s just the thrill of discovering what they can do once they are stretched and given the opportunity to make mistakes and learn and be better. For many, it’s simply just the joy of keeping and sharing their personal stories.
In our recent workshop in Manila, I had the privilege of knowing people through their stories. One of them is Diane Manubay. I watched her from being one who was so apologetic for not being a writer and not a computer-savvy person on Day 1, to being one who abandoned her fears and took the challenges on Day 2, and ultimately to one who was bursting with joy after having made her story “When I Wept With Ester”, and present it on Day 3!
“Thank you once again for teaching us how to do digital storytelling. As soon as I arrived home, I let Willy and our son David watch it. You should have seen the smiles in their faces and they were happy with what I produced. Di sila makapaniwala (they couldn’t believe),” Diane emailed us after the workshop.
In another e-mail, she said: “Guess what….last Saturday, Willy was the speaker in the alumni fellowship and he asked me if I could play the video I made sa workshop natin (in our workshop)…After the fellowship, some approached me and they said that they were touched. Yesterday, Willy who came from a meeting in Metro Manila Council where they planned for the Thanksgiving party on Nov. 26 (in lieu of Christmas party), tumatawa siya (he laughed) and told me that they requested him to play again the video and I will also share a testimony. Ay naku, Au…naeexcite na tuloy ako (I’m excited) to do more digital stories…Salamat (thank you) for coming here to teach us this thing…Keep up the good work…marami kayong natuturuan ng isang bagay na para sa akin ay mahalaga (you are teaching many people something that is so valuable.”
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