(From my Fall 2013 section of WRTG 3090)
APPROACH
Tell your story through a sequence of about 5-10 still images, from the sources listed below. Deliver the final version in a format that allows viewers to browse or click through the images at their own pace, rather than “auto-playing” them. In other words, the final version should not be in video format.
Options include simply embedding the images into a blog post, attaching them in a PDF, or putting one image per “slide” in Prezi or a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation hosted on Slideshare. The blog option works best for images under 700 pixels wide, but images of any size will work with the other options.
Because some images are more complex than others, here’s another way to think about length: it should take a thoughtful viewer no more than 2-3 minutes to “process” the story you’re telling.
Materials: Software for creating or editing images; possibly also camera and/or scanner
SOURCES
Your Photos
Photos of you and/or friends or family members from your past (as long as you have their permission), or photos you capture specifically for this project (with permission from anyone featured in the photos other than you)
Your Images
Drawings, graphics, or other non-photographic images you made in the past or that you create for this project. That includes original art you draw as well as images you create using digital tools for creating images or comics.
Archival Images
Images or photos from the past, typically available on archival sites that permit images to be re-used or that feature images in the public domain.
Contemporary Images
More recent images or photos created by others and available either in the public domain or under a Creative Commons license that permits you to re-use and modify them. See: What images can you use in your project?
NOTE: Whatever source you use, plan to apply strategies of composition or emphasis to at least some of the photos, using creative cropping, filters, color effects, or other tools for image enhancement.
STRATEGIES
Telling a story through images requires a much narrower focus than than telling a story for audio delivery, partly because viewers need more time to process the story than they might if you simply tell it to them. While visual messages are often more powerful than those composed only of words, they also tend to compress the amount of material the storyteller can convey.
The most important strategy to keep in mind is that your images themselves should tell the story, so that viewers can understand what’s happening by looking at the sequence of images, without needing accompanying text passages to make sense of them. You’re not telling a story about the images, you’re telling the story THROUGH the images.
Unless you create your own images for this story, you will likely need to photo effects and composition strategies so that the photos more effectively tell your story. For example, consider how re-framing an image, changing the lighting or color, or blurring portions might help viewers better comprehend the emotion you intend to convey.