FULL : Telling Stories of Spirit and Struggle

Workshop number: 
31
Tony
Heriza
Lori Fernald
Khamala
Audience
Who may register: 
Open to All (adult & high school)
full-time attenders only
Time breakdown
Worship/worship-sharing: 
10%
Lecture: 
20%
Discussion: 
20%
Experiential Activities: 
50%
Description
Leader Experience: 

Tony:
I have taught filmmaking for many years in both the community and academic settings, most recently at the University of Pennsylvania. At AFSC, I have collaborated in digital storytelling projects, as an assistant and supporter, and have provided media-making workshops for interns and other young people.

Lori:
While I have never led a workshop at the Gathering, I have been leading interactive workshops on social justice issues for the last 10 years, mostly related to immigrants and farmworkers. I have co-created and co-led participatory classes on digital storytelling, and have led other groups in similar workshops. Through my work with AFSC and previously with the National Farm Worker Ministry, I have led many discussions and workshops not only with Quakers, but with groups of many denominations and faiths, as well as interfaith groups and secular groups including students and community groups. I am a birthright Friend and always look forward to sharing with Friends.

Short Description: 

Combine traditional storytelling techniques with basic computer-based image and sound editing skills to create compelling short films about your spiritual life and/or engagement with social issues. Harnessing both the “power of story” and the “power of technology,” we will practice effective new ways of communicating our lives and values.

Long Description: 

Expectations and objectives for the week.
During the week, participants in this hands-on workshop will learn basic principles of crafting and writing a personal narrative, choosing still images, sound and/or video clips to enhance that narrative, and recording and editing the materials into a short digital film. Each participant will complete a 2-3 minute personal “digital story” in the workshop. Through this process, participants will also share their spiritual journeys with the rest of the group and build a community within the workshop. Participants will get daily feedback from others on the production of their digital stories.

In this workshop, we will:
1) screen and discuss examples of effective audio-visual stories – particularly those exploring spiritual or social justice themes. (Stories produced as part of AFSC program work will be highlighted.)
2) participate in reflective and interactive story circles to share spiritual experiences and refine story ideas;
3) learn basic skills for recording and manipulating images, sound and video clips with computer software;
4) discuss various ways of sharing completed stories with others.

Additional topics that may be covered are:
1) using digital storytelling in your youth work or other social justice efforts;
2) collecting the stories of others, e.g. community interviews or oral histories;
3) building community through story sharing.

Format
The daily workshop will begin with 20-25 minutes of silent worship, worship sharing and journaling, followed by a brief presentation of new material by the workshop leaders. Workshop sessions will include individual and group activities to encourage deep sharing, develop and refine personal stories, tutorials to learn essential technical skills, and as the week progresses more time working on individual projects, assisted by the leaders.

Recommendations for advanced reading:
Digital Storytelling Cookbook (available in PDF for $10 from http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.html)

Participants may want to familiarize themselves with Windows Movie Maker (or Apple iMovie) and the free sound editing program Audacity. We will teach basic skills in these programs during the workshop. There are some tutorials available in AFSC's digital storytelling manual: http://afsc.org/document/storyology-student-manual.

Participants should bring:
1) Laptop computer
2) several ideas for personal stories that could be elaborated into a short film (poems or short essays, could also be used)
3) related still photos, preferably in digital format (historical and current family photos, photos of the social justice activities, etc)
4) (optional) Digital still camera or video camera
5) If possible, your computer should have Windows Movie Maker 2.6 (or iMovie on a Mac), Audacity audio editing software, and LAME (companion to Audacity) installed. They are all free downloads. If you have difficulty with this, feel free to contact workshop leaders in advance, or it can be done on-site prior to the beginning of the workshop.