We’ve all heard of the 5W’s (and one H) tin various capacities – whether it’s for a communications strategy, projects team development or even related to an investigation. However, the classic “5 W’s” can be considered the basics for any good story development.
Starting at the route of any good story – the who, what, where, when, why (and bonus, “how”) are the starting point from which any good story is developed. Understanding these five core concepts of a story ensures consistency, clarify and transparency in storytelling.
The following infographic provides a quick overview of things to consider before starting a story, and a basis from which to develop a storyline.
24 hours previously, I had been in a loud, bustling market among a throng of people, where the sumptuous spices of ginger, cumin, paprika, turmeric, and saffron filled the warm air.
The next thing I knew
The next thing I knew, I found myself bouncing along a rutted, dirt road at the edge of the desert with a parched throat from the arid, dusty air. The van pulled up to a small encampment of low shelters, nearby a flock of camels sat under the sun. I paid the driver, grabbed my backpack and walked up to one of the men tending the herd. For a negotiated price, he saddled one of the beasts, helped me to get on and handed me the reins. I then headed out into the barren landscape, effectively deserting all my worldly comforts.
This trip to seemingly the middle of nowhere
This trip to seemingly the middle of nowhere is my attempt at consciously disremembering, at losing myself. As the proverb goes ‘solitude is often the best society,’ but as the last hints of humankind recede into the distance, I’m not so sure anymore.
Now out here in the desert, atop a sand dune, I find myself face to face with a mysterious woman I name “The Girl.” Part of her face is veiled, as is mine to keep out the blowing particles of sand. Despite the many boundaries that divide us, I look into her eyes and see kindness and warmth, a stark contrast to the desolation and chilly temperature that envelop us.
The sun sinks below the horizon
The sun sinks below the horizon, and the stars begin to twinkle above. The Girl welcomes me to join her around her fire; the crackle and soft glow of the flames are mesmerizing. She breaks off a chunk of bread and sets it on a blanket near me. I eat it greedily.
With a full stomach, it dawns on me that while seeking solitude, I only found loneliness. But now, in the presence of The Girl, I can’t recall ever feeling more at peace as a wave of tiredness washes over me. I lay my head down and fall into a deep slumber.
The first rays of light
The first rays of light touch my face, and I slowly open my eyes. I am enveloped in a blanket I don’t recall bringing with me. A memory stirs, there was a girl. I look around for her but find only Chewy looking lazily at me. Where is she? Renewed in spirit and soul, I climb into the saddle of my desert ride and let him carry me back to humanity. A placid smile forms on my lips as I come to the realization that weathering desolation has revealed an inner strength I didn’t know I had. I’m ready to go home.
I found “The Girl” at the edge of the earth, but in truth the real girl I found, was me.
How did you do? Were you able to solve the crime by analyzing the social accounts of the suspects? If you enjoyed this experience, please let me know in the comments.
For the final assignment of EXSM 3989, we were asked to use our knowledge of storytelling principles and create a multi-platform story. I wanted to lean into my silly, sci-fi side and write a piece of fiction on my Instagram and Twitter.
In her article “Distributed Narrative: Telling Stories Across Networks” (PDF here), Dr. Jill Walker discusses how some contemporary creators are breaking down traditional fiction “unities”. Instead of being told in one contained space, stories can be fragmented across time (for example, released serially like a podcast) and/or space (told on stickers around a city, or on multiple social media platforms). Although Walker’s paper was published in 2004, when internet creation felt transgressive and impossible to commodify, her proposed principles of distributed narrative are the foundation for multi-platform online storytelling.
Best Practices Across Platforms:
Keeping in mind that many of my regular readers don’t follow both my Twitter and my Instagram, I wanted to ensure that the plot on each platform was clear, but told a different side of the same story. Because Twitter snippet storytelling and Instagram visual storytelling require slightly different skill sets, I leaned into the strengths of each platform.
Twitter thread
Due to Twitter’s focus on brief snippets of text, I tried to keep the narrative feeling raw and unpolished. Because videos are known to powerfully influence emotion and immerse viewers in a way text never can, I complemented my text entries with footage I shot on a walk near my neighbourhood (edited using TikTok’s free, user-friendly editing software). Side-note: my neighbours probably think I’m delusional now. You can see my Tweet thread here.
Instagram post, pointing viewers to my story highlights.
I have noticed that Instagram’s focus on visual storytelling tends, in general, toward users creating more polished-looking content. To mimic this style, I used storyboarding and the software Adobe Creative Cloud to create my comedic “how-to” as an Instagram story, preserving it to my highlights so viewers can watch it after the 24-hour expiration. And, because even Instagram users feel more connected to creators who write captions, I used the opportunity to provide some context for my audience.
Finally, I focused on my favourite medium—long-form writing—to compose this blog post!
Conclusions from an alien invasion
ESXM3989 (the course, not the alien invasion) has encouraged me to experiment with the many ways that we, creators, can tell stories in the digital age. Looking ahead, I would be incredibly interested to play with even more widely-distributed narratives and build up a fictional universe.
Walker concludes by asserting that digital, distributed storytelling asks readers to actively engage with, seek out, and interpret the full story. I look forward to seeing what kinds of interpreters we become as digital technology develops.
A recent incident with my soon-to-be teenager has me questioning our societies expectation and assumption of what a 12 year old girls appearance should be. And as a mother of a 12 year old girl, encouraging and maintaining the self-confidence of my tween is proving to be more challenging than I anticipated.
The Incident
I recently shared a story on Instagram, about my 12 year old daughter Renée being called “he” during a family outing.
The comment left her feeling stunned, hurt, insulted, and wondering, “do I really look like a boy?”
As her mother, I knew we needed to sit down and have a discussion, before this drop has a negative ripple effect on her self-confidence.
My Approach
Me: “Do you think that girl was out-of-line to call you a boy?
Renée: “What do you mean?”
Me: “Think about it. Look at the other girls your age. What do most of them look like?”
Renée (still unsure where I’m going with this).
Me: “Don’t you find that most girls nowadays are working hard to look like digital filters?”
Renée (wide-eyed and jaw dropped): “YEEEESSSSS!”
Me: “So if most teenage girls are walking around, looking like their “filtered” version, and then someone like you comes along, again, can you blame that girl for assuming you’re a boy?”
I could honestly go on, and share NUMEROUS similar articles. The facts are there and the results aren’t great.
In The End
I applaud Renée for her self-confidence. To not cave into the trend of looking like the digital-distorted version of herself and for showing up as herself.
I love everything about her, inside and out, and I’m super proud of the person she is.
My, oh my what an experience this was! I admit, I am new to the videography realm of the technological universe in which we live and, I was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
I didn’t know what to expect. How was a mere mortal such as myself going to construct a video worthy of this fantastic course? *insert wild-eyed look of sheer panic*
Me at about 6pm on Friday, March 18th, 2022
Ok, enough of the melodrama; it WASN’T that bad. Seriously. Once I roped in my partner and we roughed up a sketch of what we wanted, it was as easy as maneuvering down the slip ‘n slide in the heat of July.
Anyhoo, after bouncing back and forth between Canva and Adobe spark, I did settle on Canva (I had a premium membership, why was I even debating with myself?). Still a total rookie at it, but at least it was somewhat friendly with me.
My projects…I have projects, can you believe it?
My journey through this process is relayed through my YouTube Video. Enjoy my teeth-gritting monologue while I wait for my ‘movie’ to fail to download again. Sigh.
I guess I shouldn’t be quite so much of a Debbie-downer; it was actually fun to shoot the footage and watch it come to life. I wanted to tell the story of Chad and I as we start to prepare for our journeys that lay ahead. Perhaps it was a bit ‘orchestrated‘, and a wee silly, but it still is a tale of our excitement of the new ‘hotel-ement’ (#camperlife, #hondaelement), and we are SUPER excited for our adventures to come. Canva helped me bring it to fruition, and I am super grateful for the chance to do it.
Canva WAS neat and tidy to use, and allowed complete rookies such as myself to create a video to tell my story. The great gifs, hokey music (LOVED) and easy to use transitions was fun for all. Delightful.
My first attempt at emulating George Lucas or Judd Apatow. Fell short, but managed to squeak by 🙂
Below is the link to my actual movie. I hope you enjoy it, and see the silliness that ensues in our household on a daily basis!
It was a typical Thursday when the notification on my phone made my palms sweat. The gallery had finally arrived in my inbox.
Excitement and dread fought for centre stage as I pressed the “open gallery” button. Why did I feel like I pinned my hopes on this one simple task? Why was I afraid of failure?
Videos are a great way to tell a story. With unlimited combinations of graphics, text, video clips, photos, and audio, videos really give users the creative freedom to show a story in every way possible. But how do you create a video anyways? Below I include how I created a movie trailer (you can check it out on Twitter here), however these techniques can be used for any video you are looking to make. Let’s dive in!
First, what platform should you use to make your video? There is really no right answer to this, as different tools all have their own functions that could benefit users in different ways. However, my favourite is Canva. It is a super easy and simple tool to get started in design, including video making. What is great about it is that it’s free, and includes lots of great free graphics, photos, video, and more that you can use! I loved it so much that I even bought the premium version for $150/year (note this may have changed), which gives access to additional features such as easy resizing and even more graphics and footage.
Once you have gone to canva.com, you’ll notice the giant “create a design” button in the top right corner. Click this and choose/search for your creation format (in this case I chose video).
Next you’ll be given a blank video screen. Although I won’t be going through every single feature here, I’m going to highlight a few of the main ones that will allow you to create a video. Likely, you will want to upload some of your own videos, graphics, photos, or music. This can be done with the upload tab on the left hand side. Click “upload media” to chose your file, or drag and drop it in. You can then click on the added media to place it on your video screen.
You may want to add some text into your video too, which can be done with the “text” tab. I find it easiest to click “add a heading”, which will add some text to your screen. Then, I adjust the font, colour, and size by clicking on the text, causing these features to appear at the top of the screen.
But what if you don’t have graphics/videos/photos/etc. to add and you need some? This is where the amazing “elements” feature comes in. Here you can search for footage, graphics, shapes, frames, and more! Canva is nice as it doesn’t trick you into paying for anything, making it clear which features cost money by placing the premium logo on them.
Another great place to look for free images and video is Pixabay, a stock photos website with a decent amount of free content. I used Pixabay to search for video clips as well, although most of mine came from Canva.
What about music though? Unfortunately, Canva doesn’t supply free sound, but you can access a bunch on Upbeat, a sound service with many unique tracks! One handy feature they have is allowing you to favourite songs. This lets you easily browse for music, save the ones you like, and compare them later!
My last video tip is to experiment with animating your images and text, as well as including transitions between your scenes. This really helps the flow of the piece, and can make it more dynamic and less jarring when scenes switch. You’ll notice the “animate feature” on the top of the screen (if it isn’t there try clicking on an element first, such as text or an image). This allows you to adjust how images/graphics/text/etc. appear and disappear. The transition button is the tiny plus sign in-between scenes at the bottom of the page (they look like infinity loops once the transition is added). Once it is clicked you will notice a variety of different transition options to play with! I used fade for my video clips.
And those are my simple tips on how to make a video! I hope you enjoyed and be sure to check out my creation on Twitter to see just what is possible with these few simple tools!
I experimented with live-tweeting a story in real-time, with a day ski trip with friends. My live-tweet story highlights the 8 point story arc and includes a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The first tweet of the day is the Statsis our trip started the same as any other trip we have taken we planned where we were headed, met up with my friends, and grabbed a cup of coffee before hitting the road.
The second tweet expressed the Trigger of this story, we hit a speed bump and the check tire pressure symbol came on. We had no choice but to pull over and figure out if the tire was just low or if we were going to have to turn around. We set out on a Quest for a gas station and to buy a tire pressure gage.
The third tweet was a positive Surprise a kind lady at the gas station let us borrow her pressure gage which was important because the station didn’t have any. We looked over the tire and much to our relief it was low but the tire did not have any holes. We were able to fill the tire up and get back on the road to the ski hill.
The fourth tweet featured our arrival to the hill we got a good parking spot and maintained our quest for a good day of skiing and bonding time.
The fifth tweet is when we got put in a Critical Choice the thing is when we made the choice I didn’t in fact know it was the “choice” that would affect the story. When we got off the top of the chair life we chose the easier path of skiing straight down rather than hiking all the way over to the right of the lift.
This led to the Climax or tweet six, we were lost. When we arrived at the bottom of the hill we had no idea where we were and came out on the opposite side which was far from the chair lift. We made the ultimate choice to head into the trees and figure out the unknown area.
Tweet seven showed us hiking uphill in ski gear, as a result of choosing not to hike at the top of the mountain we got lost and then had to walk and hike to get back up and into the parking lot. Tweet eight explained we had planned to do another run before taking a break but the direction we chose to ski down changed the plan for the day. We ended up having an early lunch.
Tweet eight and tweet eight nine featuring a photo of the map of the mountain was the Resolution of the story. We reached a new stasis, we learned from our mistake, and when we got to the top of the mountain referenced the map before making a choice.
Tweet ten is the completion of the story and a reminder that more adventures and stories will take place in the future.
EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog 