5.2 Instructional Video Part 1: Pre-Production

INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS PART 1:  Pre-Production

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the benefits of storyboarding as an instructional planning tool.

Overview

Step 1: Pre-Production (Scripting, Storyboarding, and Collecting Materials) 

The best videos and podcasts are well thought-out prior to recording. A project that isn't planned well will typically drag, run long, be boring, and actually make learning more difficult. Thus, the first part of your assignment is to create a plan for what your project will include.  Your plan will typically include the following elements:

1. A script to plan what the audience will hear.
2. A storyboard to plan what the audience will see.

Scripting and storyboarding are actually great teaching strategies you could use in your own future classroom. Requiring your students to create a script and/or storyboard gives them a chance to think critically about their project and engage in a writing activity; and it gives you a chance to provide feedback early on in the project creation process--sort of like an outline for a writing assignment.

Script Writing Transcript Download Script Writing Transcript

Please watch these two short videos to better understand why scripts and storyboards are important and how you can get started.

One thing these videos did not cover is that storyboards often include details about characters' movements and actions as well as camera angles, camera movements, and shot composition.  These details may be included via arrows on the storyboard (which may be labeled and/or color coded for clarity) or simply written into the shot description on the storyboard.  Depending on your project, you may or may not have a lot of live action from characters, but if you have more than a few seconds of live action footage in your project, please check out the following supplemental resources.  They will really help you with your storyboard!

Possible Storyboarding Methods 

Consider the following storyboarding possibilities and choose a method that is right for you.

1. This Google Slides template Links to an external site. from us is a great way to incorporate both your script and your storyboard into one digital document.  Doing the process electronically will also allow you to easily incorporate any digital images you will be using in your movie.
2. This website Links to an external site. provides a wide variety of printable storyboard templates, if you prefer to sketch out your storyboard by hand.
3. You could also explore these 18 Free Digital Storytelling Tools for Teachers and Students Links to an external site., which may be useful for creating your storyboard digitally.  (P.S. if you choose this method, you could get a head start on the Digital Storytelling Badge Links to an external site., which will be one option for your future projects in this class.)

Scripting & Storyboarding Process

1. Determine the project idea.
2. Complete a script & storyboard for the project. You can create your script and storyboard in any word processing or presentation tool, or use one of the methods/templates linked above. The critical things you need to put on your storyboard before you turn it in are 
   • your instructional objective (what do you want your students to know, feel, and do?).
   • visual representation of what will happen in each scene of the movie (stick figures, clipart, whatever). If you are using photos, you should have these collected and embed them in your storyboard. If you are using live video, include some notes, arrows, etc. about what you want the actors to do in different scenes.
   • a script for what the narration will say, or what the actors will say. Make the script concise and to the point so your project is more engaging!
   • A plan to include all required elements on the Instructional Video Badge Links to an external site..
   • A complete list of credits including the Author, Title, Source, and License ("TASL") for any multimedia you plan to use that you did not create yourself.
3. Collect images, video, and music for your project.  Store these in a folder on your thumb drive or computer (remember to back them up!). Remember Creative Commons sources, which are often great places to get material you can use for free and without worrying about typical media use restrictions. However, if you follow the Fair Use guidelines discussed on the previous module page, you can also use copyrighted materials. You may find the following resources to be particularly useful to you as you begin to search for media:
   • Creative Commons Links to an external site. - click on license, and then search licensed content
   • Flickr.com Links to an external site. (use the advanced search, scroll down, and click on “Creative Commons”)
   • Wikimedia commons Links to an external site.
   • Freeplaymusic Links to an external site.
   • Fotolia Links to an external site. (regular copyrighted stock photography, but cheap enough that you can afford to use it)
   • Free stock photo exchange Links to an external site.
   • Links to an external site.YouTube Links to an external site. videos (do a search, click on filters, and then creative commons)

Instructional Video Examples

Many students find it helpful to see examples of previous students' work to get ideas for their own projects. While you may not see a video example for your specific content area, viewing some of these videos may still be helpful. We’re still building our collection, so if you do well with your projects, we’ll add them to the list for future semesters!