Strathclyde Digital Storytelling: Essentials

The following are the main things to keep in mind when creating a digital story at Strathclyde.

Make it worthwhile

We consistently find that those who take advantage of face to face and other support produce the best stories – using people as a sounding board is proven to be an essential part of story development.

Make it compliant

Your story must comply with the University requirements for releasing a video. These requirements are non-negotiable and we have been unable to release stories in the past where an image was not properly credited.

Videos should:

  • Be no more than two minutes long (including credits)
  • Display the Strathclyde crest in the top right corner for the first three seconds (we can help with this)
  • Include the ‘tweety bird’ closing animation (again, we can provide this and help to apply it)

Make it legal

Sounds and images that aren’t your own are covered by copyright. The person who created it has to give permission for its use. The best approach is to use your own material wherever possible. Otherwise, search for items on sites specifically geared at copyright-cleared materials (see below for a list). These will provide the details you need to give due credit to the owner.

You have to provide the following information for each piece of media – image, sound, video – that you use:Creator, Title, URL, Type of licence (if possible link to terms). For example:

NOAA’s National Ocean Service, Broken Sea Ice, CC BY 2.0

Creative Commons

Creative Commonsis your best friend here!It provides a standardised way for people to give the public permission to use their work, with or without certain conditions attached (there are several licenses, each with different conditions attached). tells you more about the various licenses. Tip: avoid Share Alike if possible as it can be problematic when using alongside other licenses.

Finding Images

CC - BY

General

  • Creative Commons
  • Compfight (Flickr)
  • Wikimedia Commons
  • Free Images
  • Google image search (advanced) (change the last search box “Usage Rights” to Free to use or share)

Finding Audio

  • Freesound.org
  • Incompetech: Royalty-Free Music
  • Free Music Archive
  • Vimeo Music Store
  • ccMixter

Make it ethical

Get written permission from anyone who appears in your story – e.g. in a photo (unless they’re part of a large crowd). Let them know it may be published on the web.Pictures of children are particularly tricky – get parental consent. Children related to you fall into a different category (e.g. than a child on street eating ice cream).

Considerations:

  • Will your story involve sensitive issues relating to another person or group of people (e.g. violence, abuse, sexuality, family issues etc) that might cause hurt?
  • Could a statement be libellous or affect someone’s safety?

Make it good

Our top tips for creating a great digital story:

  • Remember: draw the audience in with your first sentence (hook them); make your last sentence one that will resonate and give them a thought to take away with them; if possible use a bit of tension to keep them interested – what’s going to happen, will it be ok?
  • Your voiceover should be natural – you should write as you speak and record it as if you’re telling a story to a friend (see The Babysitter’s Club for a great and funny example).Tip: once you have your draft script read it again to check if it sounds natural, keeping an example like this guy in mind.
  • Your voiceover must also be of a sufficient audio standard – this can make or break a story. We recommend checking in with us when you have done your recording so that you can fix any issues before proceeding. Remember to leave gaps between sentences – that way you can chop out any places where there are issues with the audio and replace them with a new version of that one section.
  • Make all of your images ‘fit to frame’ (e.g. to fill the whole area of the screen) – this provides a much more smooth viewing experience
  • Use landscape-oriented images where possible – their dimensions are more suited to video - but don’t be afraid to include portrait-oriented ones too
  • Stick to simple transitions – e.g. crossfade