Storyboarding & Storytelling

Class Description

We all love to watch film and television and many of us like animation. Ever wonder how people develop the stories we see in film and animation? In this course that’s exactly what we’ll cover! When animators and movie makers are mapping their ideas, they plan out the story like a comic book to visualize their concepts more concretely before going to production. In Storyboarding and Storytelling, we’ll cover topics including plot structures, character design, as well as layout and staging. Students will finish the course with at least one complete storyboard for a short “film.” Starting off with drawing simple panels for sequential imaging exercises, we’ll spend the bulk of the class with each student engaged in developing a story for their film. Students can draw their story out on paper, and they will also have the option to digitize drawings themselves and edit them in software like iMovie. Every session will have a simple lecture and an assignment for the students which will build upon the previous assignments. At the end of each session students will share their work with the class. No previous experience required for the class! Students should come with a rudimentary drawing ability, but storyboarding does not require someone to be an excellent draftsman. You just need to be able to convey an idea, whether in a detailed drawing or by using dynamic stick figures, to start the visualization process of the story you want to tell.