[Tracy Hern]

I teach 3 day long Digital Storytelling Workshops, most often to people with no NLE experience and sometimes with no computer experience. In the old days, if we got to the 3rd day and somebody didn’t have a rough cut on their timeline, I would walk out the door for a minute to catch my breath and maybe keep myself from puking, knowing it was going to be a frantic day. Further, there was no way I could handle a group of 5 or 6 people by myself. Now, I can do it by myself and if on the third day half the group doesn’t have a rough cut laid out, I don’t even sweat it as I know there is time to get it done and add traditions and music as well. The person who starts fine cutting on day 3 will have a better piece, but my goal is minimally to get everybody out the door with a story. I find, in particular that keyframing is faster, selecting a range for audio transitions is faster, working with images and music from built in browsers is faster, and the visual cues even make laying down the timeline faster. At least for neophytes, but also for me because I also know if somebody “freezes” and can’t believe they could possibly edit, I can hop into a chair next to them and slam their story into the timeline Lickety split.