Category Archives: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

GUIDE – Finding Images & Other Media You Can Use in Public Projects

RELATED RESOURCES: The RIGHT Way to Save Images from the Web How to Make Your Images Web-Ready POP QUIZ! Of the following statements, can you spot the only one that’s …

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GUIDE – Examples of Showing vs. Telling

Every writer has heard the phrase “show, don’t tell,” but figuring out exactly what that means can take a while. This guide provides a strategy for deciding what to show …

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GUIDE – Composing Shots and Scenes for Cinematic Storytelling

Understanding Shots and Scenes Understanding Shots In the context of cinematic storytelling, a “shot” is a short clip of visuals in motion that you plan to cut together with other …

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WEB RESOURCES – On Developing Screenplays, Synopses, Storyboards, and Shot Lists

The resources below help you learn more about using writing to plan a visual project. But before you try these strategies, make to explore the variety of cinematic techniques available …

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GUIDE: Rough Cut vs. Final Cut for Video Projects

Criteria for “Final Cut” Quality Definition: A “final cut” is the filmmaking equivalent of a writing project that’s ready to publish and distribute to audiences, which means that it’s gone …

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GUIDE – Borrow Cinematic Strategies from the Big & Small Screens

Before you start thinking about how to bring your story “alive” via multimedia, make sure you actually have a good story to tell. A compelling story told through stick figure …

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GUIDE – Finding Reusable AUDIO & VIDEO for Digital Composition Projects

For the sake of simplicity, I merged the info from this page into the one I originally created for finding reusable images. Follow this link: GUIDE – Finding Images & …

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GUIDE – Making a "Proof of Concept" Storyboard

NOTE: This page refers primarily to making a storyboard that’s meant to serve as “proof of concept” for a visual project you don’t have the time or resources to create …

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COMMENTARY – Writing as a Design Art

I’ve been telling my students that writing is a “design art” for a while now, as a way of conveying that rhetorically effective writing is about more than stringing words …

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GUIDE – Writing Process for Audio Essays

STEP 1: ROUGH DRAFT If you’d like to produce an audio essay, the first step is to write a rough draft the same way you would for any other kind …

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GUIDE – Writing a Synopsis for a Visual Storytelling Project

NOTE: I wrote the material below for a previous semester, when I asked all students to write synopses. If you decide to try writing a synopsis this semester, use the …

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GUIDE – Storyboarding a Visual Project

If you’re planning to develop a project that conveys a message visually, whether it has an audio narration or not, the traditional method of outlining may not be sufficient for …

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INSPIRATION – Quotes on Storytelling

About Digital Storytelling “Telling weak stories with technology is like giving a bad guitar player a bigger amplifier.” “Writing is the primary tool used to plan and create a digital …

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GUIDE – General Tips for Writing & Revising

This presentation isn’t about digital writing, per se, but it does show students how they might use some common digital tools to revise and improve their writing. General Tips for …

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GUIDE – Planning a Cinematic Story

PROCESS Elements of Video Planning The core elements of video planning, regardless of approach, are: a synopsis, a script, an asset and/or shot list, and a storyboard, as described below: …

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GUIDE – On the Importance of Using Planning Strategies

(I wrote this handout to address the value of planning a written project, but the the principles apply equally well to the value of planning a digital composition project.) Sometimes …

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GUIDE – Strategies for Discovering Topics & Getting Started with Drafting

I want to introduce you to some strategies you can use to better understand and relate to material you’re reading about. These strategies can also be used to generate potential …

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GUIDE – Understanding the concept of rhetorical situation

One key concept in the study of rhetoric is the rhetorical situation, which refers to the factors that influence the creation of a message. Broadly speaking, the rhetorical situation includes …

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GUIDE – Approaches to Composing Visuals in Motion

No matter what style or approach you want to use to tell your story, you’ll be following the same basic process that was first invented in the 1890’s: assembling a …

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GUIDE – Strategies for improving the structure of your papers

Try the following strategies to help you improve the structure for your papers or other types of writing. NEW: See these tips in presentation format on this post: General Tips …

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APPROACHES to Educational or Informative Writing

ABOUT: If you’re most interested in helping your audience better understand particular issues or concepts, these approaches might be of interest. These approaches typically fall under one or both of …

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APPROACHES to Persuasive Writing

ABOUT: If you’re most interested in analyzing artifacts from pop culture or in persuading viewers to rethink their ideas about certain issues, the approaches below might appeal to you. Pop …

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APPROACHES to Writing About Personal Experience

ABOUT: If you’re most interested in sharing examples or observations from your own personal experience, the approaches below are your best bets. They’re all based on the genre of personal …

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