4 Weeks
Level 1
1-Credit Tuition
$515In Digital Storytelling, we’ll guide you through the dynamic journey of crafting compelling audiovisual stories using digital tools. The course is designed to immerse you in the fundamental concepts and essential skills of digital storytelling, taking you from the initial stages of preproduction, through the creative processes of production and postproduction, and culminating in a finalized digital story. Whether your goal is to create a personal narrative, promotional content, experimental work, or educational materials, you’ll learn about different narrative structures, explore diverse storytelling examples, and develop audiovisual production skills for realizing your vision.
This course embraces a broad definition of digital storytelling, encompassing both personal and professional narratives told through digital technologies. This approach ensures that you can create digital media stories that align with your skills and available equipment, regardless of your current expertise level. Through exercises, discussions, and analysis you will gain proficiency in utilizing various tools and techniques for all stages of the storytelling development process, including scripting and storyboarding, basic audio recording and video production, and editing and postproduction methods across multiple platforms.
By the end of this course, you will not only understand key narrative concepts and digital storytelling strategies but also stretch yourself creatively through the powerful act of crafting your story.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Identify core concepts and frameworks for digital storytelling
- Integrate research and ethical practices into storytelling development
- Develop technical and creative postproduction skills
- Create scripts and storyboards for audiovisual digital projects
- Conceptualize a story using diverse narrative strategies
- Effectively utilize audio and visual media to enhance storytelling
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Finding Your Story
- Introduction to Storytelling
- Scott McCloud’s Six Steps: A Storytelling Framework
- Process: Finding Your Idea, Your Voice, and Your Path
- Creative Styles and Strategies
- Research
- Assignment 1: Idea/Purpose, Form, and Idiom
Lesson 2: Preproduction: Scriptwriting and Storyboarding
- Principles of Scriptwriting
- Ethics of Storytelling
- Citing Sources and Copyright
- Storyboarding
- Saving and Archiving Your Work
- Assignment 2: Preproduction: Narrative Arc, Script, and Storyboard
Lesson 3: Production
- Shot Lists
- Recording Audio
- Recording Video
- Stock Footage
- Graphics and Other Media
- Assignment 3: Shot Lists and Production
Lesson 4: Postproduction
- Video Editing
- Audio Editing
- Graphics and Other Media
- Titles and Credit
- Next Steps
- Assignment 4: Culminating Experiences: Postproduction and Delivery
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
Students should have:
- A basic understanding of storytelling concepts and a willingness to engage with digital tools
Textbook(s)
- Recommended: Digital Storytelling Cookbook by Joe Lambert (Digital Diner Press, 2010)
- Recommended: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (William Morrow Paperbacks, 1994)
Recording
- Students are required to submit edited video recordings along with accompanying audio
Software
- Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) or multi-track audio editor/recorder. Free options, such as GarageBand (Mac), Cakewalk by BandLab (PC), or Audacity, are acceptable.
- Video editing software. Students are encouraged to use the video editor that best suits their needs and existing skills. Recommended options:
- For students new to video editing: Adobe Premiere Rush (free)
- For students interested in more advanced video editing: Adobe Premiere Pro
Hardware
- Digital camera capable of recording video and audio, such as a smartphone
Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author & Instructor
Lori Landay is a professor of cultural studies at Berklee College of Music and an interdisciplinary scholar and new media artist exploring the making of visual meaning in twentieth- and twenty-first-century culture. She is the author of two books, I Love Lucy and Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture, in addition to articles on topics such as virtual worlds, digital narrative, silent film, and television culture. Her creative work includes animation, graphic design, creative documentary, machinima, interactive virtual art installations, and music video.
Landay has been awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence in the Professional Education Division at Berklee, a Newbury Comics Faculty Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Enduring Questions Grant. She has consulted on and appeared in Finding Lucy, an American Masters documentary airing nationally on PBS and internationally, in addition to serving as the Information Technology Officer for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies from 2002–2005. Landay holds a bachelor's degree from Colby College, which included a year abroad at the University of York in England, master's degrees in American Studies and English from Boston College and Indiana University, respectively, and a doctoral degree in English and American Studies from Indiana University. Read Less
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
