Rationale and ObjectivesThis learning unit will focus on helping students develop story boards for their communications technology productions, especially in the areas of sound and video, or computer animation.
Another term for a story board is a sequence of events or putting things in their proper order.
While the learning unit meets only one of the Learning Outcomes for Communications Technology: Students will identify and describe the principles related to lifelong learning .
The technique of putting things, or events in a sequence, once learned can also be used in any course or situation, all through an individuals life. So it is not limited to Communications Technology. Putting things in a sequence is a valuable skill for any students, whether they are in JK or 12, post secondary or at work.
Putting things in sequence also falls under what Ontario Ministry of Education calls a "transferable skill".A major objective of broad-based technology programs is to provide all students...with programs that emphasize the learning of transferable skills rather than job-specific skills.
Research also indicates that putting things in their proper order or sequence also helps students, no matter what their age, develop their spatial skills.
Higher level thinking
Putting things in their proper order or in a sequence also fits into the higher order of thinking that the Ministry of Education wants us to teach our students. Putting thing in order corresponds to level 4 in Bloom's Taxonomy.
Level 4 is called the Analysis stage and the following are the key components: seeing patterns; and organization of parts. The following words are suggested to help teachers and students recognize level 4 of Bloom's Taxonomy: separate; order; connect; classify; arrange; and select.
Handouts
The student page should be handed out on the first day. It describes the activities and provides an overview of the what the students will be doing.
The hand out for story boards and flip books can be handed out with the individual lesson
Teacher Instruction
This Learning Unit contains the following: student overview sheet
sequence lesson
story board lesson, with accompanying student handouts
flip book lesson, with accompanying student handouts
rubric
power point presentation
Student page
Over viewSequence
A sequence is a series of individual events that are put in a proper order. It is a road map of events or steps to follow. Examples include:
Alphabetical and numerical order; a recipe, assembly instructions, a table of contents, a class list, a production flow chart, block diagram, and a story board.)
Before any recipe, cartoon, commercial, or TV show is made, the chef, cartoonist, or film maker needs to know the proper sequence or what order to put things in.
Story boards
A story board is special type of sequence. It provides a visual description of the shots, in their proper order or sequence, of your production.
Each scene should have its own story board, which contains information on graphics, video, sound, text, audience interaction, colour, type fonts, type size, etc. In other words, everything necessary for crew members involved in the production to do their jobs. Story boards do not have to be works of art. As you start your video or computer animation project, you will have to produce a story board.
Flip books
Another way to think about story boards and apply movement to them is to create a flip book. Your assignment is to draw one. You can choose from almost any topic, but keep drawings simple as they will flip by very fast. Use subject like a person raising his or her arm, a ball bouncing, or a volcano erupting. Stick people are OK.
Draw pictures in this order:
∙ the first and last picture
∙ the middle picture
∙ the remaining picturesYou will make two versions of your flip book:
a practice version
a final versionOn both version, keep drawings on the bottom half of the page, as the top will be stapled together and the anything above the centre-line will not be visible.
When your final version is complete, show it off. Sequences. Teacher instruction
Process/Action
Demonstration: removing a vest or a sweater. Remain silent. Do not describe what you are doing.Six steps:
1. Using left hand unzip or unbutton vest or sweater.
2. With both hands slip garment off both shoulders.
3. With left hand, grab hold of right sleeve and pull out right arm.
4. Take right hand and place on left arm of sweater or vest and pull it off your left arm.
5. Place left hand on back centre of the sweater's neck and hold sweater in left hand.
6. Take sweater in right hand and fold over left forearm.
You may have a slightly different order to remove your vest or sweater.
Script Time: 40 minutesToday, we are going to look putting things in a sequence.
Questions for discussion:
Describe a sequence?
What is another name for a sequence?
Alphabetical, or numerical order
Why is it important to put things in proper order?
To follow instructions
Do thing in their proper order
I will now remove my vest and I want you to write down at least five steps.
What I am doing is a series of individual steps combined to form a sequence.
Ask students to write the steps you have taken.
Sequences
Process/actionAfter you are finished the demo, review with students
.
Discussion on the importance of sequences
Note: If students have difficulty expressing themselves in writing, they can do a cartoon or a graphic organizer. ScriptAsk students to describe what they wrote.
Ask for examples of sequences?
Recipe, assembly instructions, table of contents, a class list, a production flow chart, and a story boardReflection: Have students write in their journal a paragraph on the importance of sequences and where they can be used.
Students can also describe how they use sequences.
Story Boards
Process/ActionDepending on the nature of student projects, this could be an ongoing activity.
Discuss story boards and their use.
Review examples of story boards from hand out.
Student Activity
Discuss the 90 second computer animation project you have planned. The topic can be the students choice. Have students start to prepare their story boards from their treatment.
If you are not doing animation, select your own topic, commercial, music video, etc.
Students can work in groups or individually, again, the choice is yours or theirs. Script Time: 20 minutes
Before any cartoon, commercial or TV show is made, the author, cartoonist, or producer needs to know what the subject is and what order individual shots have to be put in.
What are student's favourite cartoons, favourite commercial or movie?
Any idea how they are made.
Introduce concepts of story boards.
A story board is a road map of events. It provides a visual depiction of the shots of your production in the proper order or sequence.
The story board contains information on graphics, video, sound, text, audience interaction, colour, type fonts, type size, etc. In other words, everything necessary for crew members involved in production to do their jobs.
Remember, a story board does not have to be a work of art.
Remember the criteria we have set and each scene needs a story board.
Handed out for students
Story Boards
Your treatment that you handed to your teacher described information on the overall mood and feel of the final product. The story board you will now produce is a roadmap of events that takes the information from your treatment and builds it into a detailed description of each scene of the final product.
The story board contains information on graphics, video, sound, text, audience interaction, colour, type fonts, type size, etc. In other words, everything necessary for crew members involved in production to do their jobs. Again, it doesn't have to be a work of art. It needs to be detailed enough so each crew member knows what to do and the everyone gets a clear picture of what will be happening throughout the whole program and exactly what it will look like.
Several story board formats are included as examples that you can print and use for your project. You may choose the one that best suits your needs or make up your own. Below, you will also find another checklist for you to use as you design your story board. The check list will be collected and marked.
No matter which story board format you choose, the following information must be included:
A sketch or drawing of the screen, page, or frame.
Colour, placement, and size of graphics, if important.
Actual text, if any, for each screen, page, or frame.*
Colour, size, and type of font, if there is text.
Narration, if any.*
Animation, if any.
Video, if any.
Audio, if any.
Audience interaction, if any.
Anything else the production crew needs to know.
*Narration or text for individual story boards may be written on a separate sheet of paper, but you must reference the corresponding story board number.Production Story board Checklist - see category on rubric
The check list will be collected and marked.__ There is a story board for each page, scene, or frame.
__ Each story board page is numbered.
__ All relevant details (colour, graphics, sound, font, interactivity, visuals, etc. are indicated.
__ All text or narration is included and cross referenced to its corresponding story board number.
__ Each crew members has a copyNote: The above information is taken from the web site of Maricopa Community College located in Arizona. Here is a link to their story board web page: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/studio/guidebook/storyboard.html
Story board Example 1 Hand out for studentsThe upper part shows a layout of the screen. The two middle boxes provide space to describe the interaction of buttons and text fields. Comments are added to detail the colour scheme, text attributes, audio, and details for the programmer. Note: The example is taken from the web site of Maricopa Community College
Storyboard Example 2 Hand out for students
In this example, you see two screen representations, one for the computer and one for a second screen that would detail a video (this was typical for multimedia where video was shown on an external device such as a VCR or a laser disk player). Again, there is space to define the interactive features, and the nature of additional media. Note: The above information is taken from the web site of Maricopa Community College.
Story board Example 3 Hand out for studentsThis example provides a larger area for the representation of the computer screen, but provides plenty of room for describing what is needed. By having these areas on both sides, the story board artist can also use arrows to link descriptions to parts of the screen. Note: The above information is taken from the web site of Maricopa Community College
Flip Books Teacher instructionProcess/ActionDrawing flip books.
To re-enforce the concept of story boards and the concept of movement, have the students design and draw a flip book.
Limit drawings to 10 scenes.
Distribute 3 sheets of letter size paper and have students fold it in quarters. This is to practise on.
Script Time 40 minutesIntroduce flip books. Many of us may have drawn flip books when we were kids.
Flip books can be a valuable tool in giving us a preview of our finished video or computer animation project. And today, we are going to produce one.
A flipbook is a series of still images that you draw in a sequence and by flipping them with your thumb, you can get an ideas of what your finished video or computer animation project may look like.
Animation and movies are really a series of still images that flip by very fast in a sequence and your eyes/mind think of it as a continuous movement
This is a very important to remember, so I will repeat it again.
Animation and movies are really a series of still images that flip by very fast in a sequence and your eyes/mind think of it as a continuous movement.
Another way to look at flip books is to think of it as an animated story board.It is important to remember that with each drawing, the position of each element should be slightly different from the previous page. As a guide, each new drawing should change position or An element of it should move between two and four millimetres.
Flip Books
Process/ActionDescribe what you want them to draw.
Final copy.
Distribute 10 pieces of post-it-notes to each student
When complete (to your and their satisfaction) ask students to assemble their flip books and do a show-and-tell
ScriptAsk students to keep drawings simple, like a person raising their arm, a ball bouncing, or a volcano erupting, etc.
Students are to draw pictures in this order:
∙ the first and last picture
∙ the middle picture
∙ the remaining picturesRemind students to keep the drawing simple as they will flip by very fast.
Stick people are OK.
Drawings should be kept to the bottom portion of the page, as the top will be stapled together and the anything above the centre-line will not be visible.
When students have finished their practice drawings and reviewed their flip book, tell them they can start on their final version.
It is show timeReview with students how putting things in a sequence can be applied to many subjects besides Comm tech, ie: English, math
Discussion and any final questions
Extensions for flip book activityStudents who finish early can do the following activities.:
Help other students who are having difficulty
Add colour to their flip book
Add extra things that move
Search the Internet for other examples of flip books (ie. Drawings that Move at http://home.att.net/~RTRUSCIO/FLIPBOOK.htm
Finish their story boards for their video or computer animation projects.
Note: This activity can also be delivered in art class and is ideal for some students with special needs.
Hands outs are not included because they could not be copied. The link to Drawings that Move is provided instead. If that web site is not available, there are a lot of other sites on the Internet. Just use any search engine.
Sequence, Story Board, Flip Book RubricStudent Name ___________________
CATEGORY Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs ImprovementRequired Elements (see checklist)
contained all elements
contained most elements
contained some elements
contained a couple of elementsClarity and Neatness
completely clear and easy to follow
mostly clear and fairly easy to follow
hard to read with hard to follow
not clear and hard to followUse of Time
used time well during each class period
used time well during most class periods
poor use of time
wasted own time and that of othersCooperation
worked cooperatively all the time
worked cooperatively most of time
worked cooperatively some of the time
did not work cooperatively.Understands concepts
completely understood concept of sequences, story board, flip book
mostly understood concept of sequence, story board, flip book
understood some concepts of sequence, story board, flip book,
understood a few concepts of sequence, story board, flip book
You may want to have a rubric for each section, sequence, story board and flip book.Rubric created with the help of Rubistar. Here is the link:
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3Blooms Taxonomy
In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that over 95 % of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level...the recall of information.
Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation. Verb examples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed here.
Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,
Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
Taken from the OfficePort web site. Here is a link. http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm
Sources
Story Boards
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/studio/guidebook/storyboard.htmlFlip Books
http://home.att.net/~RTRUSCIO/FLIPBOOK.htmRubistar - rubric maker
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3Bloom's Taxonomy - levels of thinking
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