Part of Lesson Plan: Beginning Storyboarding

Activity Overview / Details

First, discuss what makes for good story - students should be able to come up with answers such as Plot, Setting, Characters, Beginning-Middle-End, etc.  Hopefully someone comes up with Conflict, but if not, guide them to deliver that response, as all story hinges on Conflict, or Struggle, or something that happens that has to be dealt with. Real Life may not have conflict every moment, but we expect there to be a Problem in narrative, and we want to see the Protagonist deal with the problem, and for it to come to a Resolution of some kind.

Put basic story structure up on a board somewhere:
Beginning Situation - Inciting Action (what happens to put forces into conflict) - Rising Action (attempts to deal with the problem) - Climax (the ultimate battle) - and Resolution

Next, students should think about what kind of conflict might happen in their Picnic setting.  They can add figures-- people, animals, aliens, whatever-- but it should all take place in this one setting. The conflict should be more than losing a sandwich, or falling in the lake and getting pulled out; they need to create a story that would interest THEM and their classmates.

Once they have an idea, they create a Storyboard.  Show them storyboard examples; show them a short video on storyboarding and how important it is. Show them the template they will use and describe what you expect to see.  For this very basic story, they should only need one page for start to finish. They will need to get your approval of their storyboard before they begin creating the animation; that way you can make suggestions for improvement in their stories, or scale them back if the story is too ambitious.

Show them the example of a completed Picnic Story. Then give them time to work on their Storyboards.