Types of Digital Stories
Content by Maggie Burch, Converted for the web by Amanda Haislip

1. Personal/Narrative Stories

This is the type of digital story assigned by teachers most frequently. These stories can revolve around significant life events, be emotionally charged, and be personally meaningful. If you feel strongly about a certain event or person in your life, you will likely write a powerful script.

Narrative stories are narrated with your own voice. Narrative digital stories are often the source of personal discovery and introspection, where we generally find out something personal about the author. The story “drives” — or takes precedence over — the images; the meaning is expressed through the narrative and supported visually by the images.

A good story has a beginning, middle and end.

• Make the beginning captivate your viewer. Perhaps frame it with a question, dilemma, or controversy. It should compel the viewers to continue watching, and make them want to see how the problem is resolved.
• The middle describes the course of events: What happened?
• The end of a story reveals a conclusion: How did the situation turn out? The end of your story should also reveal your meaning or point. (www.socialbrite.org)

Here are some possible themes for a personal story:

• Remembrance or memorial stories
• Relationship stories
• The genesis story
• Stories of challenge
• Stories about a place
• Stories of adventure, a journey or travel

To see two examples of narrative digital stories, click here.

2. Stories that Inform or Instruct

This type of digital story is used to convey instructional material in many different areas. These videos can serve as how-to help on websites, available any time of day, anywhere in the world.

3. Stories that Examine Historical Events

Digital stories can be created to recount events from history. People may use historical photographs, newspaper headlines, speeches, and other available materials to craft a story that adds depth and meaning to events from the past.

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