commercialprojectcamp

=Commercial Project=

Activity 2: Developing a Storyboard for a Commercial
When students finish the first activity, they often wish they had had more time to plan. This second activity helps students understand the importance of the storyboard. In this activity, the students come up with a great idea for a commercial, plan it, and present it (pitch it) to the class. The best idea is storyboarded.

Divide students into small groups and have each group come up with about 15 1. keywords to get them started with developing movie ideas for a class commercial. From there, they should come up with a short outline or treatment of three ideas. This process usually takes about one hour.

The next class period, have students pitch all of their ideas to the class. Write the 2. ideas on the board while students present them. Assure the class that there are always a lot of great ideas that don’t get selected and that these ideas might be used for great projects later in the course. Once all of the ideas are discussed, have the class vote to narrow the choice down 3. to the top three ideas.

Divide students into three groups and have each group storyboard one of the ideas 4. that was chosen (stick figures are fine). Encourage students to utilize different shots to help illustrate the key points. Make sure they understand the different types of shots: wide, medium, close up, and extreme close up. (See Lesson 5 for more information.) Also, point out to students that a 30-second commercial should have at least 15 storyboard frames. You can also introduce the ideas of pacing and editing by using the beats from music included in a piece. Rhythm is key in editing. Sometimes the beat of the music can help the editor indicate where to make the edit or transition.

Once the groups finish the storyboards, have the students pitch the ideas again. 5. Advise them that if they like their idea, they need to sell it to everyone else. Some groups may want to act out the pitch, while others draw on the board. Either way, it is up to them to get the message across. Once the storyboard pitches are finished, have the class select one as the basis for a commercial.

Next, have the class work together to recreate the story on the whiteboard to 6. produce a more detailed storyboard for the commercial. The more artistic students could be asked to create the drawings on the whiteboard. = =