Digital Storytelling Tools

Storyboarding

If you want to create a digital story, a storyboard which helps you unfold the story in sequential order may be needed. You can use sketches and short sentences to be used as a guideline for you as you go along the elaboration of your story. So start off with your narration, then put one or two sentences in each section, and then think of an image or moving fragment that represents your words and aligns with them.

storyboard image

Example storyboard provided to entrants of the BBC’s ‘my place my space’ competition Source:: http://bbc.co.uk/myplacemyspace

The storyboard is a visual representation of how a story develops, scene by scene. It is made up of a chronological series of images/texts, with accompanying notes. A storyboard communicates your vision. It sets out how you want the story to flow. It simplifies the entire creative process.

There are a number of online digital storyboarding tools that can help develop your story. The next section looks at how you can find the tools that best suit your needs/objectives.

Digital Storyboarding

canva logoAn example of digital storyboarding is Storyboard Creator (Storyboard Creator) from Canva, a free tool that allows you to create storyboards for digital stories. Storyboard Creator also allows the use of the Canva Image Library as well as uploading your own images and graphics.

More information about using this tool to create a storyboard can be found at: https://www.canva.com/learn/how-to-build-a-storyboard/

<< Storytelling Processes

Making your storyboard

Activity: Follow these three steps to make and develop a storyboard for your story

Step 1: Create a storyboard template either using a piece of blank paper, divide it on large blocks with room for captions beneath, or download the blank storyboard template, or use Storyboard Creator.
Step 2: Start by writing or drawing an idea, a subject, a thought. As soon as you think of something, you see images of it.
Step 3: Add ideas and content as necessary to create a story that meets your communication objectives.

Read more tips for storyboarding

Alternatively you can download the blank storyboard template <link to file storyboard-template.doc>

Finding digital tools for storytelling

There are different ways to explore tools for digital storytelling. A number of blogs regularly provide updated lists of the best sites and apps for digital storytelling.

Activity: Examine the suggestions provided by TechLearning
The European Project Included Europe also has a useful list of available options

AlternativeTo (https://alternativeto.net/) is a platform offering a comprehensive list of applications and Web sites, with crowdsourced recommendations about many of the different alternative digital tools available. It is a free service that can help identify, check and analyse the many digital storytelling tools and then select the most appropriate ones depending on the specific context and needs.

Alternativeto screengrab image

Searching the AlternativeTo website for “digital storytelling”, it provides a long list of apps, which can be refined by the type of platform (phone, tablet, computer or Web) and whether the apps are free, commercial or open source.

You may also want to try out AlternativeTo Crowdsourced software recommendations

Activity: Explore the Web and identify digital storytelling apps and tools that you would like to use in your fundraising.
Identify at least one app to help you create digital stories for fundraising for cultural heritage.

Using storymaps >>