Once upon a time, in a city where cars drive and streetlights hummed all night, there lived a tiny crow named Shiver. His feathers were blacker than wet asphalt (it’s pretty dark) and his eyes glistened under the streetlamp’s light. Shiver was no ordinary crow. While his siblings fought over bread crumbs and potato chip bags, Shiver spent his days hopping from alley to alley searching for treasures. Not just treasures like golden coins or necklaces (though he’d happily take those too) but anything shiny that caught light. Sometimes it was a soda can tab that sparkled brightly with contrast against the concrete. Other times it was a shiny candy wrapper. Shiver kept each treasure tucked away under the old stone bridge he called home, a little place lined with foliage and dried grass where cars rumbled over the bridge and the rain water gently streaming below. Each shiny thing he found made his chest flutter with pride!
One morning, everything changed.
Shiver was hopping along the sidewalk, avoiding shoes stepping on him and vehicles when he saw something that made him pause midway. There! Stuck between the cracks of the sidewalk, there was a glowing silver pendant. Its glow was so soft, not bright like the usual treasures but warm. Shiver blinked. Once. Twice. His tiny heart thumped hard. He rushed over and pried it free with his beak. He expected to feel that usual spark of joy he felt with every treasure he found. But instead… a heaviness sank into his chest. It felt like… sadness? Why? A longing for something he couldn’t name. For the first time, Shiver felt that this treasure wasn’t his to keep. So he wore it around his neck, preened his black feathers, and got ready to set off. He didn’t know where he was going. He just knew that… he needed to find whoever lost this glowing thing. Because if it made his chest feel heavy, it must make the person who lost it feel even heavier.
First, The Forest Biome
Shiver flew beyond the city’s rooftops, leaving behind honking cars and blinking traffic lights. Soon, pine needles brushed his wings and fog rose around his tiny body. The forest felt mystical, filled with whispers only trees knew (it’s the sound of wind brushing through the tree branches, I just wanted to word it fancy for style points). As he glided between thick trunks, his eyes caught something small and silver half buried in the moss. A silver button, contrasting among the green foliage. He swooped down, picked it up with his claws, and felt a pang in his chest. It was another emptiness he didn’t understand. Whoever lost this button… missed it. Deeply. Maybe it fell from someone’s coat on a boy scout mission. Shiver tucked it into his feathers. He felt a bit heavy but his heart felt a bit more fulfilled. Well, he fluttered on. Before he left the forest, he happened to find a thick piece of paper caught in some branch. It appears to be some sort of promotional film poster. It looked oddly familiar to him. He didn’t think much of it and moved on.
Second, The Ice Biome
He flew north. The trees started to thin out and snowflakes clung to his feathers. The world turned silent and white and stretched endlessly under the white sky. He soared over frozen lakes that gleamed like mirrors, his wings echoing across this vast emptiness. As he flew, something bright red caught his eye, standing out boldly against the white snow below. Curious, he swooped down and landed softly near it. Peeking out from under the snow was a small folded card decorated with hearts. He pecked at it until it slid free from the icy grip.
On the front was a little image of… a crow? Its feathers were black and it had wide eyes just like his.
Shiver blinked. Once. Twice. The card felt oddly familiar though he couldn’t place his feathery fingers as to why. Maybe it was because a shiny silver pen was used to write the words or maybe it was just the way the little crow drawing looked so proud and clueless. He tilted his head, shrugged his wings, and tucked the card into his wings along with the button. His body was growing even heavier with these lost memories but he kept flying north through the chilling winds, wondering what “Shiver” meant to whoever made that strange red card.
Third, The Lava Biome
Finally, Shiver reached the blazing red mountains where smoke rose upward into a sky suffocated in orange with heat. Molten rivers bubbled and hissed below like angry fireballs from Super Mario, trapped underground. Shiver landed on a cooled black rock, the heat radiating through the cracks and reaching his tiny claws. There! Glimmering under ash and soot laid a cracked ruby marble. The glow was pulsing weakly. When Shiver picked it up, sadness seeped through his feathers. Deep and old sadness… like forgotten dreams of someone who once held it tightly before letting it slip away. Maybe it was won in a childhood game. Maybe it fell from a pocket on the way home. But how did it reach the lava biome? Well, he told us to not think too much about it. Shiver tucked it into his feathers along with the others. His small body felt heavy under the weight of these treasures.
The Old Town Street
At last, as the sky turned gold and purple in the evening, Shiver reached a quiet old street on the city’s edge. Small brick buildings lined both sides with their windows glowing softly with lamplight. Some were tiny shops with handwritten signs, others were narrow homes stacked close together with flower pots on their balconies. Electric powerlines crisscrossed the sky.
Shiver fluttered down and perched lightly on one of the power lines, his claws gripping the cable as it hummed softly beneath him. Below, people walked home with tired expressions, stuck in their busy thoughts. He scanned every face, hoping and hoping that someone would pause and look up, then say “That’s mine” as they saw the pendant around his neck.
But no one did.
The sky deepened in dark color as shopkeepers closed their shutters and turned their signs to “Closed.” A delivery bike rode past, a stray cat stretched its body under a parked car, distant train noises ran beyond the buildings. He knew he might never find who the pendant belonged to. But as he closed his eyes for a moment, he felt peace settle into his chest. Because along the way, he discovered something he’d never known. These treasures were not just shiny things. They were pieces of someone’s life which carried stories he would never hear but could still feel. He opened his eyes, looked at the glowing pendant one last time, then lifted his wings and took off into the sky. As he soared above the shops and rows of rooftops, he didn’t feel sad anymore. Even if some questions never find answers, he realized the journey itself is what makes life feel full for him.
Final Weekly Summary
At first, I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this class. I thought it was just going to be writing short stories and posting them, but as soon as we had to make audio and video projects, I realized digital storytelling is a lot more layered than that. I learned that storytelling isn’t only about what words you choose but about how you present those words through sound, visuals, design, and pacing. This prepares you to become an effective online storyteller, blogger, influencer, you name it. This course really puts the “digital” in “storytelling”. I think the audio assignments were the most surprising for me. Before this class, I always thought sound was just background filler to keep videos or games from feeling empty. But after learning about War of the Worlds and The Moth stories, I realized sound itself can be the story. It carries emotion and builds suspense even if there’s nothing to see. The Rough Morning assignment was honestly fun to play and experiment with. With the idea of a rough morning, layering all the sound effects like the alarm, the rustling, the fall and crashing nose… it felt like making a comedic scene for a movie. The Calling Totoro audio was a really calming process. It was a nice contrast to the panicked sounds of the previous assignment. I spent time carefully picking and layering peaceful forest noises, acorns dropping, quiet rain, and flowing streams. It felt relaxing. Totoro might actually appear. The design assignments felt the most enjoyable overall. Reading The Vignelli Canon made me realize that good design is really about asking what’s appropriate for what you’re trying to say and not just decorating for the sake of it. Small choices like typography, color, or what to leave out completely change how someone feels when they see it. But even though I got the idea, actually implementing it in such a short time proved to be a challenge. One part that surprised me was how even everyday things like a cereal box or a watering can are designed with so much intention as the DesignBlitz really opened my eyes to that. Making the One Memory in Color photo was absolutely my favorite piece. It felt good seeing how a simple edit like just leaving one apple and a butterfly bright while the rest faded led me come up with something deeper about how memories work. It was one of the first times I’ve ever altered a photo like that, and this assignment made me pretty proud. Some of the playful edits were fun too. The Valentine’s Day card for Shiver was silly but made me see how even a simple card has to balance humor and clarity if you want it to feel right. The Lion King Paid Escort was trickier. I had to figure out how to make the joke land without losing the darker meaning behind Scar’s betrayal. If anything drove me crazy, it was copyright. Finding a replacement for my original pigeon image (I really want to share it…) after learning I couldn’t use it wasted so much time but it taught me a real lesson about checking licenses early. Copyright was definitely quite a hassle with this class.
If I had to take this class again, I’d manage my time better, especially with copyrighted material. Next time, I shouldn’t be taking four summer classes in the same semester. I spent so many extra hours searching for replacement images or sounds because I didn’t check licenses early on. I’d make sure to confirm usage rights before starting an edit so I wouldn’t waste time redoing things. I’d also try to plan my assignments earlier in the week instead of pushing them closer to the deadline to do other assignments form other courses. That way, I’d have more space to experiment with my ideas instead of rushing to finish just to submit on time. My favorite project was definitely this final story about Shiver. I enjoyed expanding the lore for Shiver and putting everything together into one narrative, adding each media piece like a puzzle piece revealing more about his journey. Even though the ending is open-ended, I feel it’s still the most meaningful story I’ve made. I’m glad Shiver got to explore three biomes, picking up some lost memories along the way and still carry his pendant home under the sunset. Overall, this class turned out to be one of the most creative courses I’ve taken so far. I never expected myself to be this imaginative before. Each module pushed me to think in different ways, whether it was creating sounds to tell a story, designing images with meaning, or bringing a character’s world to life through writing and video. It made me realize that digital storytelling isn’t just about editing skills or fancy tools. It’s about finding ways to express ideas that I didn’t even know I had inside me. That’s something I’ll carry with me for a long time.
Digital Assignments
(2) Draw it. – Assignment Bank
(3.5) Promotional Flyer – Assignment Bank
(4) Valentine – Assignment Bank
(2.5) Create a Warning Poster – Assignment Bank
(3) Sound Effects Story – Assignment Bank