Tools for digital story creation
When you and others involved in the storymaking process are happy with the story’s content, rhythm, tone of voice, and so on you can start turning it all into a digital story. There are various tools available to help you. If you go, for instance, to alternativeto.net and search for ‘digital storytelling’ or to includedeurope.eu/tools-for-digital-storytelling, a long list of options will appear, some of which are free of charge. And don’t forget your mobile phone, which is also well suited for audio and video recordings. Before you record the whole story, check the quality of the recordings. If – for instance – there is too much reverberation in the room, you’d better use a microphone with echo canceller, or choose another room.
In this part of the process of creating your digital story you may find out that the quality of some of the image or sound material you want to process is not good enough. This can often be solved with the help of free software that can be found online when searching for “improve quality of image online free” or “improve quality of sound online free”. (We found programs like cutout.pro, canva, podcastle, media io).
In this phase of creating the story, stay as close as possible to everything you have included in your storyboard. Remember that you have given the construction phase and your storyboard a lot of thought and attention. If nevertheless it turns out that some things are not working as well as you thought, you can still update or replace them now. But don’t be tempted to wander; keep your focus and don’t forget the purpose of the story!
The end of the story
At a certain point the creation of the digital story has come to an end. Did you credit all sourcers and contributors? This you can do at the end of the story by means of visual or audible end credits.
Suppose you suspect that your story needs contextual information, then it will depend on the dissemination tool you choose whether that information will be part of the digital story itself or is stated separately. If it will be part of the story, now is the time to put together this contextual information and add it, for instance by means of an introduction. (Not so much an introduction of the story, but an introduction of – for instance – the project in the scope of which the story is shared.)
The topic of the tools you can use to reach your target audience with your digital story will be covered in the next module, number 5, ‘Technical aspects of digital narratives’.