Image above is a screen shot from searching "anorexia story through pictures" on YouTube
Content & Form: YouTube Digital Storytelling
In terms of content, the first telling theme in the videos is to state that they want to create awareness. Danielle said, “this video is meant to show you the physical and mental atrocities of anorexia” and Phoebe said, “As I have mentioned before that this is not for attention, support or sympathy but full for awareness of this horrible disorder. To be aware that it is not just a phase. but most importantly, to be aware that there is hope.” The second theme is expressing symptoms of #ana by declaring their need (or past need, assuming they are on the road to recovery) for exercise and diet. Phoebe said, “I started to work out. Read magazines about fitness, diet, weightloss. I lost a few kilos and felt better in myself and received complements. This urged me not to stop.” Sarah similarly stated, “I swimmed in my pool for 2-3 hours daily. to the point where I was so drained of energy I couldn’t get up ladder”. Also, they posted their weight in sync with a photo during the video, a theme I suspect is closely related to the trend of Instagram “bios” containing their past and prospective weight. The third theme is including photos with their family and noting the support of their families in the process of rehabilitation.
All three videos leane towards Joe Lambert's accomplishment stories in terms of content and form. Within their digital story, the teen age girls referred to the event, their relationship to the event, with whom they experienced the event, how they felt, what their defining moment in the event was, what did the event teach them, and lastly, how this event changed their life. None of the three teen age girls referred to participating in a digital story training, however, many of the videos I saw mentioned that they made the videos as a therapeutic tool. The stories also followed the 7 components: self-revelatory, personal or first person voice, about a lived-experience, photos, sound track, length, and intention. The only instances where the three videos deviate from this form is Sarah's six minute video and Danielle's silent video, which although silent, still establishes "meaning" like a sound track.
As a digital story, the only suggestion is allowing the audience enough time to read the words on each picture. By approaching digital story making as a therapeutic tool that I am almost certain the teenage girls made on their on and not at a center, the results are probably a bit on the looser side but certainly full of "intention". In his 7 components under "intention" , Lambert suggests that "the CDS workshop privileges self-expression and self-awareness over concerns of publication and audience. Process over product. The products may achieve a larger impact or audience, but the honoring of each individual's process of authorship, and resulting control over the context of the story being shown, is critical (2010, 38).
Lambert, Joe. Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
All three videos leane towards Joe Lambert's accomplishment stories in terms of content and form. Within their digital story, the teen age girls referred to the event, their relationship to the event, with whom they experienced the event, how they felt, what their defining moment in the event was, what did the event teach them, and lastly, how this event changed their life. None of the three teen age girls referred to participating in a digital story training, however, many of the videos I saw mentioned that they made the videos as a therapeutic tool. The stories also followed the 7 components: self-revelatory, personal or first person voice, about a lived-experience, photos, sound track, length, and intention. The only instances where the three videos deviate from this form is Sarah's six minute video and Danielle's silent video, which although silent, still establishes "meaning" like a sound track.
As a digital story, the only suggestion is allowing the audience enough time to read the words on each picture. By approaching digital story making as a therapeutic tool that I am almost certain the teenage girls made on their on and not at a center, the results are probably a bit on the looser side but certainly full of "intention". In his 7 components under "intention" , Lambert suggests that "the CDS workshop privileges self-expression and self-awareness over concerns of publication and audience. Process over product. The products may achieve a larger impact or audience, but the honoring of each individual's process of authorship, and resulting control over the context of the story being shown, is critical (2010, 38).
Lambert, Joe. Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Video/Story Descriptions: Another avenue to examine these digital stories is through their video/story descriptions. One of the commonalities that stood out between the three videos is the journal-esque forms their texts in the videos took. They were not aiming for any sentence structure per se, but mostly followed a free flowing path that sometimes had punctuation marks and sometimes did not. The font that was chosen for Danielle's and Sarah's video also looks like free hand writing that could be found in a journal. Perhaps their videos were drawn out from a journal entry during their rehabilitation. Within her description, Danielle again mentioned awareness to the outside community as her goal, and more details that could not be expressed in her video, like her hair falling out. In Phoebe's there was a voice of hope within her description, and at one point stated that #ana is "completely like being controlled by a robot".
Danielle: "I hope my story gives you hope. It is just a small insight of struggle that millions go through every day. However, this is not who I am anymore. The concerns listed in the video are no longer concerns of mine now. That being said, I do hope that awareness is raised on this issue. You can watch this video and get a glimpse into my life when I was anorexic, but this video doesn't even begin to tell the story or the struggle of thousands of other girls... or my own. Speaking from a personal basis, you cannot see the cold, purple, numb hands, the lanugo covering my shivering body, my hair falling out in clumps, the cold, dark hands. I just spoke with an old teacher who had me when I was at my worst, and she told me I look miserable, had no friends, that the only conversations we had had were about food, that I was very hostile when asked if I had anorexia, would wear several layers of clothes at any time, including sweatshirts in the summer, spoke very, very fast due to OCD and being on the edge I guess, would zone out in class, etc. There are so many horrible memories I have from anorexia, and I hope to help girls suffering and also encourage eating disorder awareness.. hopefully to prevent the onset of this horrible disorder which becomes your life. If you have any questions, please contact me through formspring. It will ensure a response. If you message me, I may not be able to respond for a month.” |
Phoebe: “Just a brief personal view of how simply something so horrible can be so huge in someone's life. To show awareness to the people who do not understand.
It's not a choice someone has, it's not how the person wants to feel, it's completely like being controlled by a robot. Most importantly to hope and for people to never give up no matter what situation they may be in. To remember that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. There is so much help available out there and people that are willing to reach out for you to offer support. It's never too late, be you, be happy”. Sarah: While Sarah had no description and in her “about” tab only wrote, “My journey through anorexia.”, looking at her story presented a theme. While to some extent we could assume that all of their struggles resulted from a desire to be "beautiful", Sara explicitly says "beautiful" four times through out her story. As a text, to see a word come up so frequently usually means there is an underlying meaning. This time, I suspect may be due to her continuous struggle to grapple with what "beautiful" is.
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Username: Danielle Woodward
“Anorexia Story Through Pictures” Views: 1,953,508 Published: February 1st , 2009 Videos published: 5 Subscribers: 929 |
Username: Phoebe Merryfull
“My story- eating disorder recovery” Views: 90 Published: August 26th, 2013 Videos published: 1 Subscribers: 0 |
Username: Sarah Francati
“From 115 pounds to a lifless 80.” Views: 10,944 Published: September 14, 2013 Videos published: 1 Subscribers: 16 |
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