The Revelation of Cherishing Life
The journey in producing my digital story was very informative, but also a very emotional one. I began this project by first deciding on the story I wanted to share with an audience that they could relate to. I considered exploring the journey of how my boyfriend and I got together or my relationship with my sister forming; however, I had another idea that was a little more daunting. I recently went on a white water rafting trip with my boyfriend, which resulted in a traumatic accident and has caused me immense emotional distress. This rafting adventure included everything that this assignment was asking, such as a dramatic arc, intense emotions, and exploring larger truths about life. I was resisting using this very personal experience for this assignment because I continue to struggle with the emotions and flashbacks today; however, as I began analyzing this story I started to remember the revelations I had from it. I decided on this story because it could positively affect others’ views on life as it did mine, and perhaps it could have some healing qualities for me too.
Once deciding on the story, I began the process of accessing information about my trip, but because most of it is still so fresh it was mostly in my memory. I did discuss with my boyfriend the accident again to get details, as well as looked at my documentation of the accident, but most of it is permanently ingrained in my mind. Gathering this information alone brought up intense emotions for me as I recalled the events and fear I felt that day, which made me realize I had to be careful with the media tool I chose. I continued the production process by exploring different media platforms to use. I quickly realized that I could not use any media tool with visuals such as an animation, screencast, or Pecha Kucha presentation. This is because if I added images to my description of the event I did not think I would be able to make it through sharing my story; therefore, I decided to create my first ever podcast.
Before creating the podcast, I wrote my script that outlined the dramatic arc using the literacy plot elements of introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. By using this format for my script I was able to pinpoint the most important aspects of the story to share. I did an extensive amount of editing while writing the script to ensure that all the details included were important to my specific story and experience. For example, I decided to cut out the bus ride to the top of the river because it was not relevant to the accident that I was basing my entire podcast around. Once the production of my script was complete I decided to practice reading through it before I began exploring the podcast platform.
I moved on to the creating process of the podcast, and I decided to use the same platform that I have heard other podcasts from: podcasters.spotify.com. As I started recording, I found out that the recordings only went for five minutes so I needed to make multiple short recordings to combine at the end into the episode. I had to be purposeful in how I broke my story apart into sections, so that it made sense with my background music. Deciding the audio background was another learning experience for me, because I had to ensure that the music coincided with each part of my story. I listened to multiple different tracks and examples with my audio, such as whimsical, ominous and calm genres. I eventually decided on music that emphasized the mood and emotion I was feeling at each point in my story, rather than music that would simply draw someone’s attention.
Through this process I encountered the highlight of learning how to create a podcast and the benefits of it as well. It allowed me to express my feelings through only words with purposeful use of intonation and tone, rather than using the support of images. I also learned how to use background music to compliment my audio, so that it added substance to my story. I had to be very purposeful with music and exploring the music options was very enlightening to me, as it showed me how different music can change the emotions of the recording. A lowlight was very clearly the content of the story. I had an intense emotional journey creating the script and podcast, which led to difficulty in ultimately finishing the assignment. It was extremely wearing for me to experience my emotions all over again, but it also allowed me to tell my story to a wider audience. My audience now is able to feel these emotions with me and experience my journey, as well as connect with the larger realization of cherishing life. I hope that others can also find the larger truth about life from my story, and also begin to cherish every second as I do now.
References:
Hobbs, R. (2017), Create to Learn. Malden: Wiley Blackwell.
Lambert, J. (2010). Digital Storytelling Cookbook. Center for Digital Storytelling.
