Digital Storytelling Kit List Suggestion Updated: 1 May 2012
1. Handheld Recording Device. An essential piece of kit for Digital Storytelling (DS). Handheld recorders offer much more flexibility, ease of use and are much less intrusive than the more traditional condenser mic/audio interface setup. Although these pictures might look like the units are a bit complex, it’s exactly like using a dictaphone but with very high quality results. At GEECS we have one each of the following: ZOOM H4n RECORDER Approx. £299.00 (inc vat)
This is a great piece of handheld kit. The quality goes up to 96kHz recording, although for DS purposes you’ll only need 48kHz (DVD quality audio). Records onto SD card (not supplied) and connects directly to your computer via USB for easy file transfer. Over and above it’s audio recording capability, the H4n offers simultaneous 4 track recording plus mixing and effects; essentially meaning you have a basic hand held recording studio if you intend to explore music production too. Can also record as .mp3.
Zoom H1 Approx. £80.00 (inc vat)
This is a no-frills version of the H4 but for the purposes of DS delivers on quality at a fraction of the price. If you want a recorder that just does voice capture at high quality this is the one for you. Records onto SD card (not supplied) and connects directly to your computer via USB for easy file transfer.
SD Cards You will need SD cards for these devices. We suggest an 8GB SD card, which will give you plenty of recording time (each unit can tell you remaining space and time on the card via the LCD screen). e.g. Kingston Kingston 8GB Micro SD HC - Class 4 Approx. £ 17.36 inc VAT
2.
Laptop
The Digital Inclusion considerations of our project means that we recommend Window based computers for Digital Storytelling. They are cheaper than the more traditional Mac, but are still as capable. Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 15.6" Widescreen Laptop Approx. £359.97 This is very similar to the laptops we are using for the project at GEECS. It’s pretty much a catch all type set up that has good speed and widescreen display. There’s an absolute raft of laptop choices out there at the moment so the choice is yours but I would recommend the following spec: • • • • •
2Ghz Processor 2GB RAM Memory
250 GB Hard Drive Widescreen Display (around 15”) Wireless Connectivity
There is an issue with many of these laptops around Bluetooth connectivity; as in they don’t have it! If the laptop does not come with Bluetooth as standard (as in the Toshiba model above) I’d recommend getting a Bluetooth adaptor: Belkin Mini Bluetooth Adapter Approx. £7.79 each Using Bluetooth is a great way to get data (pictures etc.) from mobile phones and offers a much more creative route to digital inclusion work as many mobile phones do not use generic USB connections. In this way, people are free to
capture content for DS with their phones and then easily transfer it to computer for editing. 3.
Software
GEECS FREE software recommendations can be found here: http://geecs.tumblr.com/dsfreeware, but there are some relatively inexpensive software packages that can broaden the scope of your media projects if you want to invest in some paid-for software. For computer based video editing and photo manipulation that can produce good results whilst being approachable and easy to use I’d recommend the following: Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 & Premiere Elements 8 Bundle £99.99 Great bundle that includes photo editing and design package along with easy to use video editor that will also export your films straight to DVD.
4.
STILLS CAMERA Canon IXUS 95IS: Approx £117.99 This is a typical example of a good stills camera that has a rechargeable lithium battery, and is the type we use for our workshops at GEECS, but any point-and-shoot digital camera will suffice. We’d always recommend a lithium battery as the LCD displays on these cameras will go through AA
batteries at an alarming rate.