Storyboards

[|link] The more we podcast and have our students create video clips or other digital storytelling projects, the more we need to teach storyboarding as part of the process. Being able to pre-visualize how your story will unfold is becoming a vital skill to have for storytellers.  Storyboards are [|defined] as: > Graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity. In the book by Roger Essley "Visual Tools for Differentiating Reading & Writing Instruction: Strategies to Help Students Make Abstract Ideas Concrete and Accessible", he says > Storyboarding, or picture writing, is the origin of all written languages, used by ancient cultures before text evolved and as a natural bridge to text. The Chinese language was built using pictographs. Egyptians used storyboards, or hieroglyphics, first etched in stone and later written on papyrus, to organize a complex society and to rule the ancient world. Pre-Writing is [|defined] as > Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process, typically followed by drafting, revision, editing and publishing.Elements of prewriting may include planning, research, outlining, diagramming, storyboarding or clustering. I have experimented with several storyboarding tools, from the paper and pencil method to iPad apps. Students and I are both finding the creation of the storyboard extremely helpful as we are collaborating on creating podcasts and movies. I created a ** Word Doc **, that is easily edited with the title of the storytelling project and printed out to be distributed to students. ( [|Download the Word Doc Template] )  Storyboarding Template Created in Word We have also asked students to directly use their ** writing journals ** to storyboard their ideas for a script. Students use their storyboard to write their script in sequence and to supervise and help as we edit the movie together.  Individual Storyboarding in Journal  Storyboarding in Journal One of my favorite places to create a storyboard together with the students in on the** SmartBoard. ** We use the Notebook software to draw the different scenes that will need to be filmed and which actors will be participating in each scene.  Collaborative Storyboarding on SmartBoard The following storyboard was also created with the SmartBoard Notebook. This time we used** screenshots ** to illustrate the images we were imagining for the green screen background replacement.  Collaborative Storyboarding with Screenshots <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">We printed the storyboard out for all students to have and to use as they were going to write their parts of the script. It helped them understand their individual role in the collaborative whole of the story. Once we finished recording the script (which often happened to be film completely out of sequence), I made it a point to involve students in the editing process. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">As the storyboard area of iMovie was displayed on the projector, students were using their paper storyboard printout to help me drag and drop individual video clips in the correct order, add sounds, transitions and text. The storyboard made it possible to pull all the individually written scripts and out-of-order filmed video clips into a coherent sequence. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">I am just starting to experiment with storyboard apps on my iPad. I am sure similar apps exist for the Android market or other tablet computers. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> [|Storyboards Premium] allows you to create a background scene, insert actors and text. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> [|StoryPages HD] allows you to draw your own board and add text in a different pane. You can move different pages in order on the page grid and email the final board as a pdf file. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Our Art teacher, Shana Gutterman, collaborated with us by teaching a lesson on storyboarding techniques to the students.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 1.2em; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">For more examples of storyboarding, take a look at the following article and posts: > Storyboarding, or picture writing, is the origin of all written languages. Storyboards are widely used because we know pictures combined with text offer a rich synthesis of information that can entertain and inform. The pictures in picture writing can be simple cartoons, photographs, or sophisticated technical diagrams. This technique can be an invaluable tool when differentiating reading and writing instruction.... > Tips on how to use visual tools, such as storyboarding, to differentiate instruction in a reading program.... > > //Courtesy of []// >
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">R.Alfonso's blog [|EETT & Making Movies]
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;"> [|What Are Storyboards?]
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #2c2c29; display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;"> [|Differentiated Instruction: Developing a Storyboarding Classroom]