Thursday 8 December 2016

Digital Storytelling Workshop: Part 2



And now for part 2!

Day 2, and I got to the workshop early to fix up my script.  The first part of the day was spent with a couple of facilitators organizing my ideas of how I wanted things and planning the filming locations and audio.  We had some time to film one of the scenes.  In this scene, we used facilitators and other story tellers as the cast.  It was so realistic that the first take really upset me.  

After lunch, we learned how to use the movie editing software.  It was really frustrating for me and was my most upsetting time at the workshop.  I don’t know how to use a Mac and every time I tried to follow along and do the tutorial, I ended up falling behind.  I knew I had a copy of the tutorial in an email but had not had time to watch it and don’t have a Mac at home to practice on anyway.  Occasionally, someone would come around and try to help me fix whatever I had done, but I was beyond help mentally at that point.  I had pretty much given up.  I didn’t know how I would manage to put my movie together.  

After the tutorial, we had more time to work on filming and recording.  Camera and audio facilitators were busy so I had to wait (time to play my game on my phone!).  I was squirming because I didn’t think I would be able to put my movie together the next day.  I was very anxious.  

Someone had scoped out the perfect spot for my next movie clip and near the end of the day, we went to film it.  One of the facilitators had spent time drawing and cutting out a dragon to be in this scene (you will have to wait until the website is up to see it!).  It was really cool and worked out perfectly in the scene, which we shot at a school across the road.  

We finished right on time at the end of the day.  I know I get over anxious about time and it usually isn’t necessary.  It wouldn’t have mattered if we were late anyway, so I don’t know why I upset myself.  I wasn’t paying attention when I left the building to walk to where I had parked.  I went straight instead of turning at the corner.  It was probably because we had just filmed across the road, so my mind was on that building.  When I ended up at Yonge St., I realized what I had done.  I had to walk down that very busy street (people don’t even give you space if you are using crutches) instead of the quieter one I was supposed to be on.  It added on an extra fifteen minutes to the ten it usually took.  I started to get very upset and panicky.  It’s not like I was lost or anything.  I didn’t know the area, but I did know the direction to go, so I don’t understand why I panic.  I was quite relieved to finally get to the parking garage, though.  I was mad at myself for messing up. 

It was a relief after a stressful afternoon that Micah had managed to keep things going well at home, so I didn’t have all of that to worry about.  I did have to catch up on laundry but that was it. 

Sunday was our final day at the workshop.  I was feeling pretty comfortable there compared to how I usually am in newer places and with newer people.  I tried playing with the editing software but had a bad dizzy spell and ended up putting my head down for a while.  Since I was behind on my filming and audio, those were the first things the facilitators helped me with.  I recorded the audio of my script and then we filmed the last scene.  It was very interesting to see the professional filming and audio work.  I’m used to operating a cheap video camera at home.  

At various times, bits of my story and music clips were uploaded to the Mac that was provided for me.  A little while before lunch, I had to figure out the dreaded editing software.  I started just dragging things down in the order I wanted, which turned out to not be such a good idea.  Every part ended up playing over each other.  A facilitator came to my rescue.  They took everything out and then we put the parts back in the exact spot where I wanted them.   It was pretty fiddly to get things just right.  Music had to stop at the right spot before talking started and film clips had to end before the filler clips.  One specific facilitator had to come in to edit the part of the film where a dragon is following the person.  The clips were taken separately, so it was really cool for me to see bits being masked and then the clips put together.  It was a lot of work and took her a long time to do it.  After lunch our movies were to be exported and then we were to have a screening.  I didn’t think mine would be done.

To make a long story short, it got done with a bit of time to spare!  That meant I had time to chat with one of my facilitators which was nice.

It was really great to be able to screen all of the movies.  Everybody put so much work into them and we learned about our fellow participants and their and/or their child’s journey.

It was sad to leave the group at the end of the last day.  It was a great experience for me.  I did things that were very hard for me- I met new people, went to a new place, did new things.  As scary as it appeared to be, I met some great people and truly miss seeing and interacting with them now that the workshop is over.  It was a well-planned workshop and, as an autistic person, it made me feel like I was accepted and I had value to the project.

When I get a link to the videos, I will post as a separate blog entry.

photo is black with coloured words saying nothing about us without us