The Seven Elements of Digital Story Telling

Week Three Discussion 1

The Seven Elements

The seven elements of digital story telling are Point of View, Dramatic Question, Emotional Content, The Gift of Your Voice, Sound Track, Economy, and Pacing.

Element 1- Point of View- It is important that as you prepare a story that you remember who your audience may be.  This is important so that you can better help your  listeners and viewers to understand the message you are sharing.  Is it a personal story or it is a more instructional story?

Element 2- Dramatic Question- This reminds me of what speech class called the "attention getter".  Maybe it is a question that you begin with and as you share the answer unfolds.  It is also what holds the audiences attention throughout.  They want to know the answer to the question.

Element 3- Emotional Content- We as humans experience similar emotions when faced with different situations. Emotions are a wonderful component to our human nature- so of course when we are telling a story we often try to insert our own emotions into it so that our viewers may see and feel them as we are. 

Element 4- The Gift of Your Voice- When we are able to use our own voices within a video- it makes it much more personal to those watching.  It also helps the audience to understand the context that they are listening to.  I have always been told I sound like a little girl when I am speaking on a recording and so I have always avoided it- but I feel that when you personalize a story with your voice it brings yet another side that draws the viewer in.

Element 5- Sound Track- An appropriate piece of music or soundtrack with a video is amazing.  This is an area I am usually jealous of others for being able to find and create.  Often when viewing others videos I am envious of their choices.  Music sets the mood for a video and often builds and creates anticipation for what is coming next.

Element 6- Economy- This has to do with sequence and order of your story.  When creating a digital story, you may not be able to include each and every step or all the pictures you may need to show so that the viewer sees everything.  You may have to choose due to the length and do it in such a way that the viewer is able to fill in the blanks with what you did choose.

Element 7- Pacing- Pacing is the rhythm of the story- you have to work it out so that your pace is just right- you do not want to go to slow or too fast.  Sometimes it is important to take a moment and breath and think- it will give both the creator and the viewer a moment to really look at the story.