There were quite a few links for digital stories, so I just hopped around and found a few with interesting looking thumbnails and titles. The first one I wanted to share with you all was called “Training Wheels” (I apologize if I was supposed to italicize the title). I decided to share this one because there isn't anything I didn't like about it. I thought it was pretty awesome. The short is set up similar to the ones we watched in class from CDS. The narrator tells a story about she and her father and just like “Sofas”, the creator centers her whole story around training wheels. I don't want to give a spoiler because it's really good and you should go watch but the story eventually goes full circle. She tells her experience with training wheels then talks about her dad and his experience and then it becomes a metaphor. I really liked that. The creator does narrate the story with a voice over but she doesn't use any other audio. She relies on the rhythm she is speaking in to keep your interest and keep the story flowing nicely. Her narration is almost like poetry maybe spoken word. Her voice was smooth and not overpowering. I also really liked her images. I guess it was the good quality that caught may attention. I couldn't tell if the images were live action or still photos. I know some of them were still photographs but they were edited together beautifully I think. Her fades and zooming in and out were all timed nicely.

I couldn't decide which other digital story to talk about. I was really torn, but in the end I chose “What Are You?” (There is Spanish in the title, but I couldn't figure out how to type it. I apologize.) The short is by Jason Zapata M., the moment he spoke I was hooked. In the beginning he reenacts his parents trying to decide what his name will be and the words he chooses along with the images immediately lets you know whats happening. You don't have to read between the lines of his reenactment because he has pictures to kind of show you what isn't being said. The story is about his struggle with being mixed. For a long time he didn't know where he belonged. Jason narrates his story with no back up audio. He plays with his audio a tad bit though because his voice gets stronger and certain parts. It's like he wants to grab your attention. He mixes personal photos with images he probably got off the internet as his visual aids. He doesn't zoom in and out on his photos as many others have. The audio and video work well together because at some points he stops talking and lets you read what he doesn't say. In the video he speaks the hurtful words that people have thrown at him, but will not speak others. They appear on the screen which I think could be another way he keeps your attention. It also could be out of respect which is nice too.

Also, I really liked one image from a digital story by this guy named Javier. He was under the link entitled Frisco Kids Tell It How It Is. This one image says a lot to me and when I saw it, I knew exactly what he was trying to say.