Data Storyteller

The world is awash in data. It often falls on video editors and producers to find ways to communicate that data in documentaries, news programs, commercials, and corporate work.

Data Storyteller is a data visualization plugin set designed to easily turn data into animations. It lets you explore small or large data sets, making it easier to enhance the stories you’re telling with data. By working directly in widely used video editing apps, it’s easier than ever to integrate it into your production. There’s no need to manually animate elements or try and wrangle a chart from Excel or another source not designed for video production.

Select from five charts: Bar, Line, Scatter/Bubble, US Map, and World Map. Setting up your chart works much like creating graphics in Excel or Apple Numbers, with the advantage of all features being tightly integrated with the video editing platform. After uploading a file, users can choose what data to include in the animation, how color or size of the data elements change, how the elements animate on/off, transition effects, position on screen, and more.

Key Features:

·        - World and US Maps: visualize world data (countries) or US data (states and counties). Use names or FIPS to link data to regions on the maps. The World Map offers different projections, including a 3D globe.

·        - Traditional Charts:  create Bar, Line, and Scatter/Bubble charts. Because Data Storyteller is built on the robust charting library of D3.js, we will continually be adding other types of charts after the 1.0 release.

·        - Automated or Manual Animation:  You can create animations by setting a few parameters, such as Draw On Time or Fade Off. Or you can manually keyframe many settings for more complex animations that are timed to the rest of your production.

·        - Simple or Complex data handling: Imported CSV or Excel files can be simple spreadsheets or more complex, with multiple sheets or large data sets. Users can also export/import Json files to use the same data settings, visuals, and titles/legend choices in their next graphic.

·        - Built-in Spreadsheet and data reload mechanism: a built-in spreadsheet to see and select all of the data or highlight specific cells, rows, and columns you wish to include in your visualization.  You can see all your data inside of the app and use the “Reload Files” button to refresh the in-app content after editing the data in a spreadsheet app.

·        - Single and Multi-file data animation options:  upload one or multiple data sets and choose how your data will be animated on the screen in both cases. Data Storyteller has two panels dedicated to setting how you want your data to play on the screen, allowing users to apply video transitions, control the animation interval time, select Fade or Draw, and more. 

·        - Range/Filter Animation:  choose to slowly reveal or hide data by keyframing the spreadsheet selection or filtering values that are higher or lower than a user-defined threshold.  By using keyframes that determine when and where each new data point appears, it is possible to create animations that are timed to other aspects of your production for more impact.

·        - Map Data Values to Color, Size, Position, US Map, and World Map: Data values can affect many aspects of the Charts and Maps, allowing you to create interesting visualizations that connect with your viewers.

- Preset Templates and Test Files: A wide variety of templates help users get started on creating beautiful data visualizations. Data Storyteller also offers built-in test files: simply choose one of the data sets available to try the plugin. There’s no need to have your own spreadsheet set up to get started.