Lesson 9: Storyboarding

**will take two days**

Objective
● Students will be able to develop a plot using dramatic structure and staging choices by creating a shot list for a 3-5 minute silent film with a logical story and potential camera angles.

Standards

● Utah

• ○  Standard 7-8.T.CR.3: Use form and structure to create a scene or play with

  a beginning, middle, and end that includes full character development,

  believable dialogue, and logical plot outcomes.

• ○  Standard 7-8.T.CR.4: roles, identify responsibilities, and participate in

  group decision making. ● National

• ○  TH:Pr4.1.6.a. Identify the essential events in a story or script that make up the dramatic structure in a drama/theatre work.

• ○  TH:Pr4.1.7.a. Consider various staging choices to enhance the story in a drama/theatre work.

  Materials needed

• ●  Pixar Storyboarding Mini Doc
• ●  Cinematography - Language of Film

• ●  Blank Storyboard (DOK 3).pdf

  Warm-up

• ●  Warm-Up Question

  • ○  What’s your favorite form of potato?
  • ○  Where is your dream vacation spot?

• ●  Get them in their groups and have them review with each other what their genre/premise is. Then they will have 15 minutes to decide on a basic storyline—review dramatic structure. Draw the structure on a paper and label exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution with quick descriptions of their story.

  Hook

● Show the storyboarding video from Pixar to give them a taste of what they’ll be doing today to further develop their silent film.

Instruction

● Storyboarding

• ○  Part of storyboarding for a film is, as we saw, having an idea of what the

  shot will look like.

• ○  When you’re onstage, the whole stage can be seen. When you’re on film,

  you can choose what the audience is seeing. I’ll be showing you a few camera angles using the PowerPoint to give you an idea of some camera angles you can use to convey particular meaning.

• ○  Recommend that they take notes that way they can remember when they’re storyboarding.

• ○  Move your way through the PowerPoint—pace yourself, it may take time. It’s a long PowerPoint!

  Practice

• ●  Give them time with their groups to start storyboarding - day 2 will likely start here!

  • ○  Demonstrate what a storyboard might look like prior to giving them time to work on it using a story they might be familiar with, like The Three Little Pigs.
  • ○  There is a handout for them to fill out with the pictures and notes to write under. The notes should include clarification on what is happening in the picture and names of certain camera angles/shots/ The handout only has six spots. You will need more since this is a 3-5 minute video.
  • ○  Divide up in your group so not one person is doing all the storyboarding. Have one group member storyboard the exposition/turning point, two more do the rising action/climax, and one more do falling action and resolution.
  • ○  Include any of the subtitles you use as part of it - remember, the subtitles should only be used if ABSOLUTELY necessary. Use them very sparingly; think about how often The General used them. This is a film, not a book.

• ●  If they finish early, they may take a hall pass as a group to go location scouting and add to their storyboard where exactly they will be filming this.

  Assessment

● Have them turn in their storyboard. Staple pieces together so the whole story is in order. There should be an extra “cover” stapled to the front with the movie title, all the group members' names, and their characters. They will have it back the

next class so they can start filming. They will be graded based on staging and correct story structure from 1-4.