Telling My Story

Digital Storytelling

Kira MacGregor

TITLE: Beautiful Disregard

AUTHOR: Kira MacGregor

Beautiful Disregard is a collection of works by Kira MacGregor. The works are inspired by a personal

passion with collecting old objects and recreating them into new pieces of work. The concept refers to

transforming disregarded objects into objects of beauty and pleasure.

The simple discovery of a single disregarded object has been the inspiration to much of my work and I

will continue to be inspired by ‘the old’ to create ‘new’.

Story Line: This Digital Story is a documentation of the process of a collection of artworks from a

carefully developed concept. The Digital Story follows the journey from the inspiration, through to the

planning stage and finally resulting in the exhibition of the art collection. However, the story is narrated

from the unique perspective of a scrap piece of metal that eventually becomes a piece of the collection.

Story Outline:

Who – a characterized piece of scrap metal

What –the scrap metal becomes a piece of an artwork

When – does not have a particular time setting but is rather the shortened documentation of a lengthy

process

Where – Begins at a local dump, then to an art studio, eventually finishing in a gallery.

Why – to take an audience on a journey through the development of an art collection for an exhibition.

The story includes the concept, the stages and steps and the emotion that encompasses such a process.

Content: All images were originals taken by the author. The Narration was also by the author and no

music was used throughout the story.

The Process:

Step 1: I developed a thorough and

perfected storyline on WORD which

became the narration. This gave me

the planning document for my story

right through the entire process.

Step 2: I then mapped out the images I would need against the planning document. Which I collated into a folder along with all my other material. Step 3: I then edited and adjusted the images to suit the storyline, mood and character of the digital story. Step 4: I then imported all the images into Windows Movie Maker and narrated the storyline all in the same program.

Step 5: I adjusted the image timing to suit the narration and added appropriate transitions between each image.

Step 6: To enhance the story and convey each step and main point, I also used effects on particular images. These included ‘fade’ ‘zoom’ ‘ripple’ etc. Step 7: After reviewing the story to ensure it flowed well and communicated the concept and process successfully, I began to add titles. On significant stages in the story or on particular phrases in the narration I emphasized these parts with text on simple black backgrounds to not inhibit the feel of the story.

Step 8: I then again added an effect that I had previously created on an earlier story which I now use as a ‘trademark’ for interest.

Reflection: For the final Digital Story, I have certainly become more familiar and precise with the

process.

Previously, I would begin taking images rather than planning. By now I have concluded that planning in

the beginning has been the most useful tool to creating a precise and strong Digital Story. Hence, I

began with a perfected storyline and narration right from the beginning.

I also found through this early planning the collection of images was a less time consuming process as I

already knew what images I would need for the digital story. In addition to this, in previous stories I had

used a separate program from the Windows Movie Maker to record the narration. But with the exact

narration already developed, the images selected and the correct microphone, there was less need to

adjust the narration. Consequently, I was able to record the narration directly on to the storyboard in

Windows Movie Maker.

After reviewing the story I still found when I added some ‘effects’ it compromised the quality of the

image which was occasional throughout the story, unfortunately not to the standard I would have

hoped. But I believe this may be due to the saving of the image in fewer pixels which was unable to be

adjusted. In conclusion, I was satisfied with the process overall and certainly enjoyed the entire

production.