Moving Images, Understanding Media

70 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

Project: Visual Storytelling

Now you will develop your skills in visual storytelling, although you may use

some dialogue. Th e trick for this project is to fi nd out a way to tell your story

with images even though the characters can speak. Th e scene has three characters

(you can use those from the Writing exercise or create new ones) and takes

place in one or two locations.

A. Individual preparation – Before the class period when you meet with

your group to share ideas and decide on a story line, consult these

guidelines to write a two to four sentence summary to propose an idea

for the scene. Here are the instructions:

1. Characters – Th ree who are all part of a class, team, business,
   or family.


2. Narrative – choose one of the following ideas to begin your story:
   a. A secret
   b. A project that needs to be completed
   c. A desired item


3. Location – Th ere need to be at least two separate locations.


4. Dialogue – You may have up to six lines of dialogue in
   the scene, although you can also make it completely non-
   dialogue. Follow these requirements:
   a. You cannot express any emotional aspect of the scene
   through dialogue (Such as “I think you’re so cute!”).
   b. Characters cannot ask or answer any questions.
   c. Th e gist of the sequence must be understood without sound.
   If we turn off the sound, viewers will comprehend the scene.
   d. When you write the script, you do not have to write
   out actual lines of dialogue. You may indicate that one
   character says something to another character without
   saying the exact words.


5. Length – Th e scene should last between three to eight
   minutes. Run through the scene in your head. Imagine the
   events unfolding in your mind.

B. Writing/Brainstorming – Th e instructor will organize the class into

production groups for unit two. Th e producer will lead the meeting of

the production team. During the fi rst meeting:

1. In your assigned production group, members present the
   ideas they have formulated.


2. Members discuss the ideas considering the following factors:
   a. Ability to cast the roles from available people
   b. Accessibility to locations

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