Week 15 Digital Story Critique - The Speech that Made Obama President

I am critiquing The Speech that Made Obama President a digital story related to the power of great storytelling.

Throughout this course the anatomy of good storytelling has unfolded. Digital tools are our vehicle. However, the engine has to work.

Can people fold their story into your story? Is the storyteller finding common ground? Does the story use contrast to convey the message? Does the story touch your heart conveying that you matter to the storyteller? These are all elements of great storytelling and artfully illustrated in this digital story.

This is my last critique for this class, Learning with Digital Stories, and I have learned as much about the anatomy of great story as I have about the digital tools available to convey them.

I critiqued this digital story on flow, organization and pacing, story, and originality, voice, and creativity.

Flow, Organization, and Pacing

At the beginning of any story the viewer doesn’t know whether they will like the story. They say digital storytellers have 20 seconds or less to grab the audiences attention. The organization, flow, and pacing of a story is a critical factor in that dynamic. This digital story starts with how President Obama was introduced to America. The story intersperses clips of experts weighing in on why this speech/story was so captivating. Robert Lehrman, Chief Speechwriter for Vice President Gore and Michael A. Cohen, Author, Live from the Campaign Trail weighing in on the anatomy of President Obama’s speech. Their thoughtful insights move the story along and the viewer with it.

Story

President Obama no doubt makes a great character story. It always helps to have an interesting subject. What made this 6:12 minutes about his amazing explosion upon the political scene is the story of why he resonated so profoundly at the Democratic National Convention of 2004.

Originality, Voice, and Creativity

This was an electrifying moment in American history. They could have just used the speech and it would have been a good story. The way the producers interspersed communication experts along with the powerful voice of President Obama made this story work.