Breaking Barriers Community Arts Digital storytelling training 1000 Lives + /Stories for Improvement May 2012
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Contents File discipline 5 Preparing audio for use in digital stories...6! Editing Audio in Audacity..7 Preparing images for use in digital stories...13! Windows Live Photo Gallery..16! Paint...18 Putting digital story audio and images together in Windows Movie Maker. 23! 3
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File discipline and archiving File discipline is crucial at all times in digital storytelling: apart from the need to respect and keep intact each storyteller s work, some of the software works on a pointer system. That means a project will hit problems if the files are not in the correct place. In addition, it s essential to keep each story together so that it can be archived and cleared off the computer once it is complete. The files are relatively large and leaving them on the computer takes up space and slows the machine down. Create one folder, Name, per storyteller with six subfolders: Name Audio Name Original images Name Prepared images Name Projects Name Script Name Movies Place the original audio and images in the correct folders and NEVER save over them. Edit copies of them but keep the originals intact -- it is surprising how often you need to go back to them. 5
Preparing audio for use in digital stories Scripts, spoken stories or interviews? There will be many factors which dictate the NHS s choice in this matter. From the point of view of audio-editing, there are several factors to bear in mind: 1. Recording from scripts: The advantage of recording from scripts is that the content is pre-agreed. Editing the voiceover is simply a matter of tidying it up and takes relatively little time. Tips for recording scripts: To create the best quality voiceover you can: Aim to record several takes of each script.! The first time the storyteller reads their script to the microphone, they are usually! nervous and unfamiliar with the tone of voice they wish to use. The next recording is! usually much better. A third version gives leeway to swap out unwanted external! noises. You can then cut and paste between versions. Alternatively, ask the storyteller to repeat each sentence until they are happy with the! version they have recorded. In this case, you end up with a single long take to edit. In all cases: get the storyteller to go slow.! Many people rush, and it is advisable to encourage them to think of the experience! as telling a story to friends in the pub, or to a child. They need encouragement to! relax so they will use their voice to create natural drama and their audience can! digest their words. Tips for recording stories told live or interviews: Make sure you record a beginning, a middle and an end. Don t speak over the storyteller - signal for a pause if you need to speak.!! Your voice cannot be separated from theirs afterwards. Signal your encouragement with your listening face. Agree the story in advance and only record that story because: It takes a long time to cut a 30 minute interview/narration down to a usable 2-3 minutes. 6
The storyteller remains more in charge of what he/she appears to end up saying. Technical tips: Always wear headphones while recording.!! You ll be sure the microphone is working and manage external noises better. Never set the microphone sensitivity too high.!! It s easy to amplify the volume of a soft recording in the edit, but impossible!! to correct the distortion introduced by setting the volume too high. Always record 5 seconds of background silence in the recording room.!!! The background is never fully silent and is different in every room.!! This 5 seconds is useful for optimizing the spacing of words and phrases in!! the voiceover and for pasting over unwanted external sounds.!! NB: A good way of recording this silence is to count the storyteller in!! for 5 with your fingers before they begin. Choose the quietest possible space. If possible, turn off computers, clocks, TVs etc. Editing the voiceover in Audacity Always keep the original recordings intact and only edit copies of them. Make a copy of the original recordings before you even open the editing software. Opening Audacity:! There may be a Welcome window. Turn it off, but remember help exists out there. Go to File<Open and navigate to the file you want to edit.! You may get a Warning window; just click OK. Save the work as an Audacity project in the audio folder. Tour Audacity: 7
Audacity contains many features not needed in editing voiceovers that we will not cover. 8
The basics Playing the audio:! Click anywhere over the waveform of the voiceover.!! A long black line appear and remains when you move the mouse elsewhere.!! This is the playhead, the point from which the voiceover will play when the!!! play button or the spacebar is pressed. Selecting a section of voiceover: Accurate selection is crucial to all audio-editing procedures. Zoom in to ensure precision. Use the figures above the timeline and the wave shape to make sure you know the location of both the beginning and the end of the section you wish to select. Put the playhead precisely at the start of the section you wish to select.!! Use the arrow keys to nudge it into the exact spot. Move the cursor towards the centre of the timeline until it turns into a hand. Click and drag the hand to the end of the section you wish to select. What you can do with a selection: Delete it using the backspace or delete keys Cut it using CTRL X Copy it using the edit menu or CTRL C Replace it with a previously copied or cut selection using CTRL V. Alter it by the application of an effect from the Effects menu. (Not usually relevant.) 9
The editing Creating a high quality voiceover: Editing is simply cutting a piece out, pasting a piece in or both. Watch out for: Words that begin twice, hesitations, repeated phrases Places where there are inadequate gaps between phrases Background noises, coughs, rustling.! Play along the voiceover until you come to an error.!! Does it simply need to be removed?! Select it and delete it. Does it need to be pasted elsewhere?! Select it and go to Edit<Cut or use CTRL X.! Place the playhead precisely at its new location.! Use Edit<Paste or CTRL V. The pasted material is inserted at the playhead.!!!! Do you need to copy a piece from elsewhere to cover a section over?!!! Locate and select the replacement piece.! Go to Edit<Copy or use CTRL C.! Select the section you wish to cover over.! Use Edit<Paste or CTRL V. The copied material is pasted over the selected section. Checking and completing: Play over the changed area, checking it sounds good, listening for any unnatural sounds you may have introduced: clicks, double breaths etc. Work along the whole voiceover until you are satisfied that it is as good as it can be.! NB: Open other takes to cut and paste between them and get the best mix. 10
Finishing off -- normalizing: Once the edit is complete, normalize the audio. Normalizing helps ensure that the volume of all the voiceovers is comparable, whatever device they were made on, by whoever.! Go to Edit<Select all.! Then go to Effect<Normalize and click OK.!! The peaks of the waveforms grow, representing the increase in volume.! NB: Occasionally you may have such a quiet voiceover that you need to Normalize! it before editing in order to be able to hear it clearly. Final saving/exporting: Once you ve edited a file in Audacity, you have to export the project to a file format readable elsewhere.! Go to File<Export! Navigate to the correct folder to save the file.! Give it the file name it needs.! Save as type: use the menu to select WAV (Microsoft)!! This is an uncompressed, high quality file. Reducing file size comes later on,!! once we ve made the story -- it s easy to compress files, but once!! compressed, you can never regain full quality. It would be a waste if you kept!! all the file sizes tiny, made the story, someone picked it up and wanted to!! send it to someone at high quality and you couldn t provide that version.! Click Save.! Add metadata if you need to and click OK.! A progress window will appear, and the voiceover will be ready for use in the! video-editing program. 11
Editing stories told live and interviews: Editing audio from a script is relatively straightforward, because the decisions as to content have been made previously. However editing audio from an interview or spoken story is much more complex: You have to make the decisions regarding content - you are responsible for creating the public version of someone else s story. There is usually a lot of material to cut out. You will have to shuffle material around!! EG: the end of the story may have been recorded halfway through. The person is likely to have repeated parts of the story.!! You will have to decide which version of events to use. You are unlikely to be able to cut out unwanted background noises. Adding labels to manage a tricky edit: It is impossible to scan through audio-files quickly as you would a written document. To speed up the process of navigating round a long recording, Audacity lets you add labels to the track. Set the cursor where exactly where you want to add the label.!! NB: Always place labels accurately: it makes future editing much easier.!!!! The label will flash yellow when the playhead hovers above it and the!!!! playhead will snap to it.!! The selection hand will also snap to labels, making it very easy to move!!!! whole sections from one part of the track to another. Go to Track<Add Label at Selection (or use CTRL B) Type into the white rectangle so you know what you have labeled. Check Sync Lock (see below) then cut and paste as needed to make the voiceover. 12
Sync Lock: BIG NB: Do not cut and paste a labeled track before checking Sync Lock. If Sync Lock is! not checked, the label will remain fixed at the time on the track where it was placed.! That means that if the waveform shifts (eg because something was inserted or! deleted before that time) the label will not shift with it and the labeling will no longer! be of any value. Go to Track and click on Sync Lock Tracks. NB: Nothing appears to happen, but if you return to Tracks, you will see that there is a check mark beside Sync Lock. Once this is checked, the label will stay with the waveform of the audio that you have aligned it with. Once Sync Lock is checked, cut and paste as needed to make the voiceover. Removing a label:! Go to Tracks<Edit Labels!! Select the label you wish to remove! Click Remove. Transcripts: Consider the transcript option when you have an interview or story told live. Although timeconsuming, transcribing is a useful way of managing the equally time-consuming task of cutting a long piece of audio down and also enables consultation about the final voiceover. If you are transcribing the audio, add labels as you listen and type, edit the written document and go back to do the final audio-edit. 13
Preparing images for use in digital stories: Which images shall I use? When you have recorded a good story, images can make the tale. We have become used to seeing pictures while we listen through film and TV, and images help to focus the listeners attention. However poor choice of images can reduce the impact of what might be a good audio-story. Many NHS stories will not come with photos that relate to their content, and given the potential need for anonymity, finding effective images may be challenging. Image sources Existing prints, digital photos, drawings etc Where these are not available, consider: Taking close-ups...hands, surfaces, scars...anything to create atmosphere Creating mood by altering the colour of images.!!!! E.g: convert images to black and white for a sombre mood. Making funnies: these can be very memorable Drawing stick men with attitude, either on the computer or on paper. Using internet photos and clip art:!! NB: If you choose to use internet images, check for copyright restrictions and!! check that the image is of high enough quality when used full screen.!!!! NB: BBCA has always avoided using internet images because: Some of them are copyright to other users. We might be sued. Their high compression made their quality too poor for our purposes. It s often more effective to find another solution. They are impersonal and look weak compared to the power of the very personal voiceover. 14
Preparing images for digital stories: image size and changing times Technology has advanced. Whereas it used to be essential to resize every image before using it in a video-editing program, this is no longer always necessary. Many photos can be used immediately with no preparation at all. Aspect ratio: When you begin editing the images and sound together, you choose the aspect ratio of the final story. Traditionally, digital stories have stuck to the old 4:3 aspect ratio rather than moving to the 16:9 wide-screen ratio. The 4:3 ratio matches the proportions of most photos better. Cropping photos to a widescreen aspect ratio involves omitting a lot of the photo, cutting off heads and other important features. Image size:!! For this 4:3 aspect ratio, the image size for screens is:! 768 pixels wide x 576 pixels high at a resolution of 150 pixels per inch.! This is small compared to many digital photos because images for use on screen! don t need to be nearly as big as those used to produce good prints.! For wide-screen, 16:9, should you choose to use it, the size is 1024x576 pixels. Checking image size:! Clicking on the image in Windows Explorer to select it.! The bottom of the window shows the image dimensions in pixels. Some guidelines on when to resize: Resize large digital images (over 2 Mb).!! Large images clog up computer memory and may make your video-editing!! software crash. If your program starts going slowly, take it as a warning that!! you re asking too much of the computer and size your images. Crop and resize scans to ensure you ve got a clean edge. 15
Scanning All scanning set-ups differ and you will have to explore your own. It is often easier to bring a scan directly into Windows Live Photo Gallery using the Import command under the Home tab. Aim to scan the print to a size of 3Mb.!!! Achieve this by adjusting the dpi setting displayed in the preview window!! until the size registers 3Mb.! Where is your scanner set-up saving the image files it produces?!!! Find out and make sure they go into the folder you choose. Is the scanner making adjustments to the tonality or other parameters of the photo?!!! Take charge and alter the settings so this only happens if you want it to. 16
Windows Live Photo Gallery Windows Live Photo Gallery is the Windows 7 version of the Microsoft program Windows Photo Gallery that was included with Vista and XP operating systems. Use whichever you have access to. The tools are the same, they are just in different places. Open an image in Windows Live Photo Gallery by using the Open With command in Windows Explorer. For digital storytelling, we want to use the Edit features of Photo Gallery: resizing, and altering the colours and exposure to create mood. These are found under the tab next to Home. However, since digital stories are shown on many different screen set-ups with varying colour, brightness and contrast parameters, fine adjustment of images for quality is usually pointless, unlike when preparing images for print. The top bar shows numerous automatic features for image improvement. The Fine tune button offers manual versions of the same adjustment options,!! NB: Windows Live Photo Gallery keeps a record of changes made to images and! you can re-open the program and revert an image to the original version using the! button on the top right. 17
Resizing and renaming: Go to the Properties button, which is in the organize section, and scroll down to Resize. Select Small: 800, which is not much larger than the 768 px required. Browse to locate the Prepared Images folder.! Windows Live Photo Gallery makes a smaller copy of the image, keeping the! original in its old location.! Saving resized images in a new folder ensures you will use those versions for! making your story rather than the old ones. Click Resize and Save The crop tool: The crop tool is used: to eliminate something from the edge of an image to bring out an object that is lost in a mass of background. Click on the arrow beneath the crop symbol to choose the proportions of the crop.! Use 4 x 3 for a full screen crop, rotating the frame as necessary! Use Custom for a portrait image. Drag the cursor over the image Adjust the position of the resulting frame to include all you wish to retain. Click again on the small arrow and click Apply crop to make the crop actually happen. Click Close file once you have finished editing. Converting an image to black and white: Under the Effects section, there are a range of photo filters, including one for black and white. For more control, and a wider choice of options, use the Adjust Colour and Adjust exposure options under Fine Tune. And don t be afraid to play around, you can always revert the image to the original. Again, click Close file once you have finished editing. 18
Paint Versions of Paint have come with every Windows PC for years. For digital storytelling, we ll use it for creating new images and adding text or other objects to photos. Making a new, plain black image: Resize the default white canvas. Go to Resize. Select Pixels rather than Percentage. Uncheck Maintain aspect ratio Type 768 in Horizontal Type 576 in Vertical Click OK. 19
Altering colours: Color 1 is the foreground colour, and is applied to text, brushes and the outline of shapes. Color 2 is the background and is applied to backgrounds, the middle of shapes and the fill tool. The Fill Tool! Select this tool to replace an area of colour.! Left click to replace an area of colour with Color 1.!! Right click to replace an area of colour with Color 2.! Select the sort of fill required from the drop-down Fill menu. The Shape Tool: Click to choose the shape of the area you want to alter using the Shapes palette. Select colours 2 & 1 for the middle and the edge, or choose No Fill for a transparent shape. Drag the shape over the canvas to fill it as required. Save the image in the prepared images folder as a.jpg file. NB: Experiment with the curve tools. For these, you initially draw a straight line, then click and drag over it to control how it bends. 20
Using text: Select the Text tool from the Tool box. Click where you want the text to appear in the image and type into the text box. Click and drag over the text to select it and click on Color 1 to alter the text color. Adjust font style and size using the standard options on the menu bar. Adjust the text box background by choosing Transparent or Opaque.! NB: For Opaque, choose the background color using the Color 2 button. Click on another part of the canvas to complete and render the text uneditable.! Save your work. 21
Moving an object in Paint: Locate the selection button and choose a shape from the drop-down menu. Drag or draw the selection marquee round the area you wish to move.! NB: Adjust the background colour, which will appear as the object moves. Move the selection when the cursor displays crossed arrows. Use the double-headed arrow at the corners to enlarge/shrink it while maintaining its! proportions. Use the double headed arrow on its sides to enlarge/shrink it while distorting its shape. Exercises: 1. Resize a large dslr image in Windows Live Photo Gallery, crop it and convert it to black and white. 2. Use Paint to make a black spacer image. 3. Create a moody stick man in Paint and prepare him/her for use in a digital story. 4. Draw and scan in a moody stick man and prepare him/her for use in a digital story. 22
Putting digital story audio and images together in Movie Maker 1. Open movie maker. By default, it will open on the Tasks window. 2. Click the button indicated to reveal the Collections window.
The Movie Maker workspace: First of all, save your work in the Projects folder. Importing the images and voiceover: Create a new collections folder for each storyteller by going to File<New Collections folder.! NB: Movie Maker displays the folders of every project it is engaged on.! Delete the folders of completed projects to keep the program tidy. Import the images and voiceover by clicking the Import Media button, navigating to the correct folder, selecting the required items and clicking Import. The images and voiceover will appear above the timeline, beside the black viewer window. Storyboard: Getting the images in the correct order: Click the button to the top left of the timeline and select storyboard.
Here you can arrange the images in the order!you want to use them. Drag and drop the black or title image into the first space. Then drag the other images into the remaining spaces in their correct order. Revert to timeline view.
Putting the voiceover into the timeline: Drag and drop the voiceover in so the waveform begins about 8 seconds in. This allows both space for a title and a gap before the story begins.!! NB: BBCA always allows a 3s black and silent space before the title of each story.! This ensures that when stories are shown together there is adequate breathing! space between them. When recording the voiceover, we allowed some silent space at the start to help in the edit. Now we need to create a smooth fade from total silence into the storyteller s voice. Click on the left edge of the voiceover until the cursor becomes a red arrow. Drag it to the right to reduce, but not eliminate, the silent space. Repeat at the end of the voiceover. Right click the voiceover to reveal a menu where you can fade the audio in and out. Do both these actions.
Previewing the story: Click on the timeline - creates a green playhead. Pressing the spacebar or using the play button under the monitor window. Listen to see if the audio is fading in too late. If the first few words are not at full volume, stretch the voiceover back until they are. Aligning the images with the voiceover: NB: Use the zoom tool to get close in to achieve precise alignment of the images with particular words and phrases. Stretch the first image out so that it ends where the waveform of the voiceover begins. Slide the second image back over the first image to create a fade between them.!! A blue slider indicates the size of the overlap between the two images. Preview it. Work steadily along the timeline from the beginning, stretching and shrinking the images so that each one matches with the sound it accompanies, listening and relistening continually, and adding any fades you need.
NB: Shrinking or stretching an image makes all the subsequent images shuffle along as well, altering their alignment with the voiceover. Aim to get the best match you can before moving on to the next image, to avoid image shuffle disrupting editing decisions you have already made. Background information: More advanced tips and tricks Movie Maker works on a pointer system. The images and voiceover are not really in Movie Maker, the program simply knows where they are from the Import action. That means two things: If you alter any file Movie Maker is using, Movie Maker will use the new version. If you move any file Movie Maker is using, Movie Maker won t be able to find it.
Precise voiceover/image matching with the Split tool: It can be really fiddly to get an image to match with a precise moment in the voiceover simply by stretching and shrinking. At moments where you feel a very precise match is called for Stretch the image beyond the voiceover moment you want it to end. Click to select it. Use the split tool to cut the image at the playhead. Delete the bit you don t want. Adding a title: Go to Tools<Titles and Credits Zoom in and place the playhead at 3.00s. Select Title on the selected clip. Adjust the wording, animation and font to suit. Click Add Title.
Replacing an image without altering any other editing decisions: Hover the mouse over the image you want to replace and note its duration (arrow). Click on the image, press delete and drag the new image into its place. Zoom in and adjust the new image so its duration matches the duration of the old image. Transitions: Movie Maker offers many transitions apart from the Fade we have already used. Explore these options if it seems appropriate to the story.
Effects: The most commonly used effect in digital storytelling is a gentle ease in to the image. This is particularly useful when relatively few images are available; it makes a single image being on-screen for quite a while visually acceptable. Our eyes are used to seeing moving images and get restless when the image doesn t change. You can gain extra-powerful effects in Movie Maker by applying the same effect two or more times. Drag effects down from the Effects window and drop them on the image in the timeline. Remove them by right clicking on the image and selecting Effects.
Creating a slow fade out: Insert the black image and create fades around it as desired. Publishing/sharing the story: The story is now ready for the voice and images to be tied together as a movie file that can be burned to DVD, shared between computers put online. Originally, we chose not to compress and reduce the quality of the audio-recording. Now we are going to make several different versions of the story for different purposes: A maximum quality version for archive purposes. Large file size. A desktop playable, powerpoint friendly version. Compressed version. A small emailable version. Highly compressed version, small file size NB: Although you may think you only want an email-friendly version of the story, always make and archive a full, maximum quality version of the story. It is quick and easy to do and ensures you will always be ready should somebody want the story at full high quality for prestigious events. It can also be used to make new compressed versions of the story as technology develops. To make the maximum quality version: Go to File<Publish Movie Select to publish the movie for This Computer.
Name the story and select the appropriate save location. Choose More settings<dv-avi PAL!! NB: The file size will be several hundred Mb. Click Publish.
To make the computer playable/powerpoint friendly version: Repeat sections 1-3. 4. Choose Best quality for playback on my computer before clicking Publish.!! NB: The file size will be 10-30Mb. To make the email-friendly version: Repeat sections 1-3. 4. Choose Compress to... and type in the size you are permitted for email attachments. 5. Click Publish.!! NB: You can simply select to Publish the movie to Email, but that asks to use!! your email program, which may or may not be available. Burning stories to DVD: Some windows based computers have software that burns playable DVDs. An alternative is to download the free program DVDstyler, but check that your computer has a DVD burner. DVDStyler - Download.com Digital Storytelling and Housekeeping: Image, sound and movie files take up space on the computer. Archive all projects to hard drive and remove the originals from the computer to keep the machine functioning fast. However there are some files that may be stored in back departments of the computer and may slowly clog up the system without you being aware of it. If the computer is used regularly for making digital stories: Go to Tools<Options and click on the General Tab.! Select where Movie Maker stores temporary files.! Alter the settings to save them in the project folder.! Delete them before archiving the project. NB: In the Advanced Tab, you can also alter the project settings from 4:3 to 16:9 should you need to.
Further comments about software: Audio editing: Versions of Audacity have been available for all Windows operating systems, and hopefully still are. Image Preparation: Windows Live Photogallery is very similar to the Windows Photogallery installed on earlier Windows based computers. Paint has been installed for many years, although the number of features it offers has increased with time; early versions may feel limited. Microsoft Office has a Picture Manager section which will do many of the things Photogallery does. Although not strictly speaking a free program, it is installed on many computers, so is worth looking out for. Commands and menu items such as Fix and Resize, may lead you to the right part of a program. Video-editing: The version of Windows Movie Maker used in this manual is Version 6. It is the smoothest version of the program and works well for making digital stories. It was installed routinely for many years, but from Windows 7 onwards it has been dropped by Microsoft. Despite this, it is still free to download and works well in Windows 7. The latest Microsoft offering, Windows Live Movie Maker, works in a completely differently and is reputed to be difficult to use for making digital stories. We have not explored it fully because the Movie Maker 6 option works so well. A previous version of Movie Maker was Windows Movie Maker 2.6, which is also still downloadable. This version is compatible with older computers running Windows XP. The main differences between 2.6 and version 6 are that 2.6 does not allow separate collection folders for each story, and there are fewer effects available. The Ease in effect may be absent.
All contents copyright Breaking Barriers Community Arts 2012 Breaking Barriers Community Arts St Illtyd s Resource Centre, Llanhilleth Institute, Abertillery NP13 2JT 01495 325210 07582 075352 info@breakingbarriers.org.uk www.breakingbarriers.org.uk Twitter: @bbcommarts www.facebook.com/bbcommarts www.youtube.com/bbcommarts