I Don't Cry, I Create- Digitcal Storytelling

"I don't cry, I create," is a quote from the digital story Don't You Dare created by Vanessa Wolfe.It's a beautiful story about a girl struggling with death, art, and identity. I found it on the website called "Stories For Change," where members can submit there video stories, and some even allow viewers to download them.


Narrator's Voice:

Vanessa's voice breaths life into her story; giving the tone to the piece: sad, yet hopeful. Oral telling may be an old story technique, but its still effective.In books the narrator has to build a relationship with the audience, by expressing emotions and thoughts through words. By hearing Vanessa's voice, me, the viewer am able to actually experience what she feels, and get inside her head, to understand the events that shaped the person she is today.

In my previous blog I mentioned how a character should have their own history, dialogue, and personality.In lonelygirl 15 the viewers get many characters point's of views; which helped in figuring out their personas. In "Don't You Dare," through Vanessa's voice the audience can sense what type of person she is: insightful, dreamy "I lost myself in the sunshine and soap bubbles, and lost sight of the world of my own happiness."

Through the writing device called Model telling (a story within a story) the audience gets to learn about other characters: Vanessa's grandmother and her father who are the inspirations behind this piece. They are mentioned in important events, that have changed Vanessa's life.



Imagery:

The photos of Vanessa's dad, objects of her childhood, makes her world come alive before the viewer's eyes. The images also offer transitions for each part of the story: the tear drop clinging to the edge of the eye lash starts the beginning of Vanessa's story, the glittering soap bubbles is the middle, and the painting of two people holding each other marks the end.

In lonelygirl 15's Resistance, the images in the story connects with its atmosphere. For example in chapter 1 of Resistance the black and white pictures of regular people walking down the street, shows how the "resistance" sees mankind as just objects to be controlled, but reflect the eerie nature of the setting: a city with hidden danger. In "Don't You Dare," photos show the colorful yet non- nurturing world Vanessa had lived in as a child.





Sounds:


In Vanessa's story she has music playing in the background while she speaks. The gentle playing of the guitar, emphasises the emotions, thoughts, and images, like an elaborate cover of a book. Combining the two senses sight and hearing creates a window for different interpretations for the story and its message.

Its amazing how sounds can add such depth to stories. In traditional storytelling the audience has to imagine the voices of the characters and the sounds that surround them. But in digital storytelling everything seems heightened: in lonelygirl 15 there is the pounding sound of drums and static from a T.V. For "Don't You Dare," there's guitar strings, and the faint echoing sound of flutes.


Digital Storytelling gives writers the freedom to present their stories in any format. To "go outside the lines," instead of sticking in the concrete boundaries of books, where you have no decisions of what images are used on your book cover; at the mercy of illustrators who might disregard the physical appearances of your characters, described in the book.

The story "Don't You Dare," gives me new ideas about how I interpret my own stories from paper to video. Questions pop in my head would I have to leave details out, to fit a time limit? Could I tell my story with just words and images on the screen, without my voice?




Check out: http://storiesforchange.net/stories