Starting Again

I’ve started on my third digital story for this year. I have a goal of getting four done and published by New Years Eve. I’m getting behind of my schedule.

This story is going to be titled “Beauty.” Again it will be deeply personal on how God showed me a glimpse of His beauty in an incident last year.

I’ve written the first cut of the story. It came just flowing out. It’s like it is a story that wanted to be told.

I’ll let it rest now for a few days. I’ll pick it back up and then refine it more.

I hand wrote it out in a notebook purchased specifically for this purpose. How do you write out your rough draft?

Digital Story Telling Workshop

I’ve been wanting to make better videos. I’ve known that good technical video technique did not necessarily make a good video. What makes a good video is a good story. This is an area in which I am weak.

The first thing I did was to spent three days at a workshop in Washington, DC, put on by the Center for Digital Story Telling in September of 2008. We went through a quick but intensive time making my first digital story.

I made it about my experience in Bosnia. Here’s my finished story:

My thoughts on creating this

I had a great time making this video. I had great feedback from the instructors and other students in the workshop. We worked hard and we all came away with great videos. I already know the topic of my next video: My Beard and the Great Shave.

Your thoughts on this

So what do you think? I’m interested to know what you think about what I’ve made.

The hardest part of telling a story for me is starting. I’m thinking of the end product and that isn’t what is coming out on paper. I’m learning to keep plugging along and just write.

Here’s Ira Glass’s perspective on starting out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

Ira Glass on Storytelling #3
He’s right; I suck at this so far. But I’m going to keep plugging at it and keep making digital stories.

What do you do to “fight your way through” the resistance to do something?

This is my latest digital story. It is the first that I’ve made that I didn’t do as a participant of the Center for Digital Story Telling‘s Workshop.

I created it to be an entry in the Donald Miller Short Story Video Contest. (donmilleris.com).  He wanted to show that a good story could be told in a 90 second video. So he created the contest had a number of really good submissions.  I didn’t win but I was in the upper 30% of the voting.

Let me know what you think.

Dominoes & The Game of Life from Patrick Bartkus on Vimeo.