We have many ways of telling a story—through words, plays, movies, etc. One way that is particularly descriptive, visually rich in information, easily understood, and interesting to view is the storyboard. A storyboard as a series of cells (drawings, photographs, paintings, etc.) physically arranged to tell a story in a specific sequence. Storyboards can tell the story of what we envision happening, or they can relate events that have already happened. Storyboards can use images as simple as stick figures or as complex as a film frame. They may also incorporate text Storyboarding is gaining wider acceptance for business as people in professions outside the movie industry— usability, for example—begin to acknowledge its potential as a powerful communication tool.

Storyboarding is great for:

1.       Visually presenting an idea

2.       Comprehensively showing activities—including timing and sequence

3.       Involving different audience groups

4.       Removing international and language barriers

5.       Facilitating audience recognition of an idea

6.       Enabling immediate audience feedback

The movie industry is still the biggest user and proponent of storyboards. DVD releases of movies often contain bonus features that include the storyboards the director used to plan the movie’s events and the characters’ reactions to the events. These behind-the-scene glimpses show how simply, yet comprehensively, storyboards communicate all the different aspects of a scene to diverse personnel—the director, actors, the cinematographer, and myriad designers and coordinators—who must work together to ensure planned events happen as envisioned.

ACTIVITY

Imagine someone being chased by a snarling dog. Use the blank storyboard sheet and create a storyboard of the scene.  In the first box, draw a stick person running. In the second box, draw the stick person running again but farther over...etc.  Create at least three scenes.  Add observers or details to the scene.  Consider how you could best convey, visually, your “story.”  Refer to the sample storyboard and be sure to identify:

·         Type of shot/camera movement

·         Description of the shot

·         Any sound you’d include.

Excerpted from:

Sova, Ron and Deborah Sova.  “Storyboards: a Dynamic Storytelling Tool.”Tec-Ed. 2009. Tec-Ed, Inc. 09 March 2009 <http://www.teced.com/PDFs/upa2006_storyboards_a_dynamic_storytelling_tool.pdf>.