“I will take my two children on this expedition later on this month. Will either tweet or blog on the experience!”

“That’s so cool that the library is involved.”

“All of the stages were a lot of fun, and I met some really nice people working in the libraries along the way. I got my picture taken at the final stage while holding the log with my name at the top - very cool!! I read To Kill a Mockingbird in the summertime when I was a teenager, and it still ranks in my top fifteen best books ever read. I was so jazzed about finishing the cache that I checked out a copy so I could re-read it and celebrate. Thanks so much for setting this cache up - I had a blast!”

~participants

Machinima

ImaginOn, The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, Charlotte NC

The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) serves a population of 850,000 in 24 locations.

During the summer of 2008, ImaginOn offered a five week program for teens on making machinima, or films of 3D environments, using Teen Second Life. The goal of the program was to give teens a way to tell digital stories by using a videogame-like interface to do so.

Running the Program

Youth were asked to register for all five weeks of class, as each session and participant would build on the others. The classes ran for two hours, four days a week in the PC computer lab.

The “Take Six: Elements” of digital storytelling from Bernajean Porter’s book, DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories were adapted for the class.

• Living in Your Story. The teens were shown examples of machinima and given writing tips on how to make the reader feel they were a part of the story.
• Unfolding Lessons Learning. The teens needed to have a point to their story, especially since it was only a few minutes long. Inserting what lesson they learned was a good way to make it concise.
• Developing Creative Tension.This element wasn’t a problem with all of the scenery and prop options as well as the types of stories the teens seemed to want to tell.
• Economizing the Story Told. Writing and filming tips were given to make a complete story in the short amount of time they had to tell it.
• Showing Not Telling. Machinima was a great medium for this element.
• Developing Craftsmanship. This wasn’t explored too much, as the course went by very quickly in the five weeks, but participants did view many examples of various machinima.

Literacy Connections

In order to record their films, teens needed to first write the story they wanted to tell. Next, they needed to storyboard their stories, to break down frame by frame the text and visuals depicting their scenes. Thirdly, they needed to organize and label any files including music and images they wanted to include in their video.

Building or acquiring already built materials for their scenes and costumes required texting with others to see who had what they wanted. They needed to learn a few skills on building 3D objects themselves, which required both reading and math. The filming required understanding the terminology of the program they used (FRAPS) and what settings to have to achieve the speed, lighting, and look and feel they wanted.

Marketing

Program information was available on our online calendar and flyers within the library. Word of mouth publicizing helped spread word about the program.

Impact

About ten teens signed up for the class but only one completed his film all the way through. Some teens came periodically but their skills did not build off each other if they only came once a week. One participant admitted he was only 11 and wasn’t able to continue because Teen Second Life stipulates a minimum age of 13. The teen’s completed video can be found in YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVsyI0D5xOU.

After having the class, staff felt that offering machinima as a regular service with other videogames and then growing it into a series class might help with building an interest group.

Funding

Materials: $640.00
FRAPS recording software: $40 per machine

Resources

Child Soldier Machinima. YouTube. August 21, 2008. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVsyI0D5xOU. February 4, 2009.

Porter, Bernajean. DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories for the Class.bjpconsulting, 2005.
Covers aspects of digital storytelling.

Teen Second Life. Linden Lab, 2004. teen.secondlife.com/. Feburary 4, 2009.
3-D digital multiuser virtual environment for teens ages 13-17.