For this lesson, you’ll plan your own example of visual storytelling. You can imagine your story as one that uses Holden’s approach, a series of slides that tells a story. If you like to draw, though, you can imagine taking a more old-fashioned approach―using a pen or pencil and paper. If you had loads and loads of time, you could even find and teach yourself to use a computer program that helps you create an animated video, like a cartoon.
Regardless of the format a story takes, it’s a good idea for an author to create the shape of the story first―and to think about how they will show each event. A storyboard is a great tool for creating this kind of plan. A storyboard is like a bulletin board where you arrange the scenes of your story in order. However, most storyboards are much smaller than a bulletin board. They’re usually just a sheet of paper with boxes or “frames” drawn on it.
If you can imagine your story as about the same length as Holden’s, then your plan may fit on one storyboard page. If it would be longer and have more scenes, then you would need more than one page. Just to be sure, print out or download at least two copies of the storyboard template below, and label them 1 and 2. (You’ll see some suggestions for how to plan your story on the next page.)
Question
What is the main purpose of a storyboard?
