The Ken Burns Effect

Here is a good tutorial about how to use the iMovie Ken Burns effect.


Take a look at this video that captures Ken Burns' effects in one of his documentaries: And hear what Ken Burns has to say about story, particularly about how all stories are manipulation:

Storytelling

"This is Water," by David Foster Wallace's commencement speech

 

 Ira Glass on Storytelling, Part I

 

How to approach your stories

If interviewing multiple people, watch "What Does America Stand for?"

If talking about race, families, parenting, and/or survival, watch "A Conversation with my Black Son"




If writing about traveling abroad, watch "Adele's India Video Diary"

If writing about a concept, watch "Art & Copy"



If writing about how to tell a story, watch "Ken Burns: On Story."

 


If writing about a memory using mostly voice over narration with video, watch "Disneyland 1990."


Disneyland 1990 from Chris Zabriskie on Vimeo.

Inspiration

1. Present something horrifying in a funny way.




2. Tell the story of the most challenging thing in your life.

 

 3. Help us understand a political or sociological problem by using a specific story from your own experience.

 

 4. Take a moment in history or a subject you're interested in and illustrate it in an unexpected way.

https://www.makers.com/documentary/womenwhomakeamerica

 5. Surprise the reader with a story that you've never told anyone before.

 

6. Create a story that makes someone laugh, or be scared, or feel in a particular way.

7. Write a profile about a person who has impacted your life.

From The Moth

Many, many excellent examples of nonfiction storytelling from The Moth.

Here is Timothy Bell on revisiting his mother's space after aging out of foster care.

The birth of writing

I like the video below because it's two things: a short history of writing, and a clear example of how to visually marry words and pictures in a video form.