The focus for 2015

I learnt some important things while Producing for ABC Open

• how to run a workshop
• how to teach
• the key elements of storytelling
• which apps work best for digital storytelling on mobile devices

These skills are sharpened by 20 years of experience making documentaries, TV commercials, corporate and community videos. I like to think that now, I'm well rounded.

Between 2009-14,  I've worked on staff with Parks and Wildlife, Screen Territory and the MAGNT, Desert Knowledge Australia and ABC Open. I've seen the rise of the social web from within. I've seen social media policies rewritten. I've seen what works.

In 2015, I'm a gun for hire. Digital Storytelling workshops for mobile devices are currently very popular. But don't let that confine your imagination. Give me a call to discuss what I can do for you.

Kind regards,

David Nixon

transmediant@gmail.com

Wadeye Digital Storytelling Workshop Review

Wadeye mobile media workshop from David Nixon on Vimeo.

'Goodbye'

Goodbye from David Nixon on Vimeo.

Made for the 2014 Lens Flair 24 hour film festival in my home town of Alice Springs:
• produce a (less than) 5 minute film in 24 hours
• include several items from the List of Special Things
lensflairalicesprings.com.au/

This version of the film is different to the one submitted to the festival; Cy has added missing images, I've massaged them into place, Cy has added credits, and I've fiddled with the sound mix and mastering.

Some things are the same however: the instagram images are from the exhibition 'Verisimilitude' : a gallery of haunted, melodic and abject images, curated by Navid Dixon. 

This film was shot on an iPhone 5s using Filmic Pro. Edited on an iPad 2 then an iPad Air using Pinnacle Studio. 

Cy Starkman and I have collaborated before: vimeo.com/album/2952252

Thank you to all the Instagrammers and Musicians who contributed to this film.

Music in order of appearance:
• Hen Ogledo by Lee Patterson
• Raptor Lovers by Trokai
• Quiver by James Beaudreau
• The Sun Is Scheduled To Come Out Tomorrow by Chris Zabriskie
• I Am A Man Who Will Fight For Your Honour by Chris Zabriskie

Writing 'Goodbye'

Writing 'Goodbye' from David Nixon on Vimeo.

While waiting for Cy Starkman to finish the script for the film we were making for the LensFlair 24hour film festival, I amused myself by shooting this film.

After the event, I showed him what I had edited. His reaction was priceless - as if I'd held a mirror to his most intimate moment, up for him to see. 

I invited him to narrate it: to share his thoughts on the process of writing poetry. Instead, he used snippets of the voice over we later recorded for the film, to good effect.

This film was shot on an iPhone 5 using FilmicPro, an X-shot monopod and Glif, and an iStabilizer table dolly. It was edited on an iPad in two stages: the pictures were edited in iMovie, then the audio edit and credits were edited in Pinnacle Studio.

The music was created by Josh Woodward and sourced from the freemusicarchive.org

The colour of motion

As you scroll through the length of the film, you can watch the narrative arc unfold in colour swatches. http://thecolorsofmotion.com/films

Using colour for emotional impact

Good blog about using colour for emotional impact in film making.

http://blog.storyandheart.com/blog/2014/9/29/grade-for-purpose-color-as-a-visual-language

What makes a hero?

Totally awesome and gorgeous explanation of the 'Hero's Journey' story cycle
What makes a hero? TedEd resources here

Mapping Media to the Common Core

And here.



Mapping Media to the Common Core » What do you want to CREATE today?

iPad Media Camp

Lots to learn here David



iPad Media Camp | hands-on workshops for iPad wielding educators!

Fibre on a copper budget

Self serving 'independent study' released today has me shouting profanities at the radio. All you have to do to save a few billion dollars and still deliver fibre is change the termination box inside the user's premise.

Watch this 20 minute video presentation

Bloom's 'Digital' Taxonomy

Since its publication in 1956, Bloom's Taxonomy has been a foundation of most modern education systems. While the overarching principles have remained the same, changes in understanding, experience and technology have seen the Taxonomy take on a number of different forms, for a number of different purposes and applications.

The below overview shows the progression of Bloom's Taxonomy, how each thinking skill applies in practice, and examples of activities using digital tools.

Get your printable hi-res version at https://www.fractuslearning.com/2014/08/18/blooms-digital-taxonomy-overview/

Beyond Knowing Facts, How Do We Get to a Deeper Level of Learning?

As educators across the country continue to examine the best ways of teaching and learning, a new lexicon is beginning to emerge that describes one particular approach —deeper learning. The phrase implies a rich learning experience for students that allows them to really dig into a subject and understand it in a way that requires more than just memorizing facts.

The elements that make up this approach are not necessarily new — great teachers have been employing these tactics for years. But now there’s a movement to codify the different pieces that define the deeper learning approach, and to spread the knowledge from teacher to teacher, school to school in the form of a Deeper Learning MOOC (massive open online course), organized by a group of schools, non-profits, and sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation.

Read more at MindShift: blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/02/how-do-we-create-rich-learning-opportunities-for-all-students

MOOC lecture archive: http://dlmooc.deeper-learning.org/live/archives/

The Ultimate DIY Product Photography Tutorials

Are you running an online shop and want to display your products in the most appealing manner? Are you considering hiring a professional photographer for that purpose? Well, if your answer is yes, we would request you to first take a look at this compilation where we are sharing 40 excellent tutorials that will teach you how to shoot perfect product photos for your online shop. After going through these tutorials you will not need the help of any professional photographer.

Read more: http://www.smashingapps.com/2014/08/18/the-ultimate-diy-product-photography-tutorials-for-your-online-shop.html#ixzz3BALRacHv

Peer to peer network app allows group chat

FireChat is a group chat application that works without cell service

Read more at http://gigaom.com/2014/08/21/firechats-new-update-makes-it-easier-for-burners-to-chat-their-friends-in-the-wifi-less-desert/

RØDE microphone for smartphones and tablets

Highly recommended although I wish the cable were another metre longer 

http://www.smartlav.com/

Inexpensive boxes could help bring mobile coverage to the billion people who lack it

The innovation comes in a gray box roughly the size of a microwave oven. It has solar panels on the outside to power cellular equipment inside, along with the software for management functions like billing and analytics. Secure the box somewhere and link it via satellite to a voice-over-IP network, and you’re ready to open shop as a mobile service provider. 

Read more at www.technologyreview.com/lists/innovators-under-35/2014/humanitarian/kurtis-heimerl

Mobilise Your Workplace

By example, the transformative power of digital media in the workplace. If you'd like to talk about mobilising your business, leave a comment below.

http://www.zdnet.com/plumber-flushes-away-paper-blockage-with-mobility-tools-7000032412/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral

Four ways to prepare literary stories for oral telling

Four ways to prepare literary stories for oral telling | Limor's Storytelling Agora

The Table of Truth: Re-imagining the Dinner Table as a Digital Media Storytelling Tool

This idea melds the classroom, debate, dining and digital tools over a dinner table which, as far as we can tell, is the first that digitally records, captures, inspires, and transmits stories.

Read more at Flip the Media

How to tell a story that stands out in the digital age

There are a lot of reasons this story works very well in the digital age. Generalising these into lessons to apply to all stories in the digital age, I find four:

1. The story is really unique and unexpected. Unexpected content is one of the three ingredients for a successful viral according to Kevin Allocca in his great TED talk on what makes videos go viral on YouTube, a lesson that also works for other forms of content.
2. The story is told in the public space, in ‘active communities’. The streets, Facebook, general media: all the places where the story happens are easily accessible for most people and designed to foster discussion. Unlike your own website or Tuesday night discussion group people come to these places for stories and are, therefore, more likely to respond to them.
3. The story is about the audience. The most important lesson I took from Nancy Duarte’s brilliant book Resonate is to treat your audience as a hero whenever you tell them something. People should not only be involved and directly addressed, it should be their story, the thing they are telling, to make it stand out. People usually listen to themselves.
4. The story helps create real life connections, has a physical component. The most heavily discussed issue in Leuven, I believe each great story in the digital age needs a physical element to really turn people from simply interested into highly enthusiastic.

Read more at The Museum of the Future