Applied Fine Arts: Visual Storytelling
SKU:
$300.00
$300.00
per item
In this 36 week guided and interactive online high school course, students will learn to be visual storytellers by creating and publishing multiple episodes of a regular comic strip, producing and publishing 4 different video advertisements for various products, services, and organizations, and producing and publishing a 4 episode TV series. As more stories are told visually, this course equips students to lead their generational narrative. Please scroll down for more information.
"The wise in heart will be called understanding, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness." -- Proverbs 16:21
Additional resources required:
- Textbook: Making Comics by Scott McCloud (any edition)
- Access to a digital graphics program (commercial or open-source) (we will discuss these in the pre-start materials that will come out)
So, what's the story?
This course started with some parables and an LA hot tub, but that requires some explanation.
This is a course about storytelling: specifically, visual storytelling.
Jesus taught with stories, throughout His ministry. God used visual examples with several of the prophets (Ezekiel, Jeremiah, etc.) to convey His message to His people, Nathan used a story to get through my namesake’s rebellion.
Suffice it to say that people get most of the important things that they remember from stories.
Today, most people get the majority of their stories from the media. This might be either mass media or social media, but the days of sitting around the village campfire telling stories are mostly of a bygone era.
Until relatively recently, the media was governed by powerful people who had absolute editorial power over which stories the public heard (and thereby what they remembered.) That has changed.
Enter, the LA hot tub.
Many years ago, my cousin, his wife, and four of their friends started a worldwide film movement — from their hot tub!
They had all gone out to Hollywood to make movies, and they were working in the industry, but they were not making movies.
So they decided one night, while sitting in the hot tub, to each make a short film every month in accordance with a pre-agreed monthly theme. They would then screen their work for, and critique, each other, thus enhancing their craft. Thus was born the worldwide film movement: “Group 101 Films.”
Frontier Christian Academy focuses on giving students something meaningful to say, so it only stands to reason that we would empower them to say it to the wider audience.
If 6 friends from LA can reach Pakistan, Denmark, London, Chicago, and New York; how far can we get the word? Come, join us, and find out!
This is a course about storytelling: specifically, visual storytelling.
Jesus taught with stories, throughout His ministry. God used visual examples with several of the prophets (Ezekiel, Jeremiah, etc.) to convey His message to His people, Nathan used a story to get through my namesake’s rebellion.
Suffice it to say that people get most of the important things that they remember from stories.
Today, most people get the majority of their stories from the media. This might be either mass media or social media, but the days of sitting around the village campfire telling stories are mostly of a bygone era.
Until relatively recently, the media was governed by powerful people who had absolute editorial power over which stories the public heard (and thereby what they remembered.) That has changed.
Enter, the LA hot tub.
Many years ago, my cousin, his wife, and four of their friends started a worldwide film movement — from their hot tub!
They had all gone out to Hollywood to make movies, and they were working in the industry, but they were not making movies.
So they decided one night, while sitting in the hot tub, to each make a short film every month in accordance with a pre-agreed monthly theme. They would then screen their work for, and critique, each other, thus enhancing their craft. Thus was born the worldwide film movement: “Group 101 Films.”
Frontier Christian Academy focuses on giving students something meaningful to say, so it only stands to reason that we would empower them to say it to the wider audience.
If 6 friends from LA can reach Pakistan, Denmark, London, Chicago, and New York; how far can we get the word? Come, join us, and find out!
Adult accomplishments:
- Created and published tri-weekly comic strip
- 4 different video advertisements for different products, services, and organizations
- A four episode TV series produced as a member of a 4 person production team (class size depending)
- A "pitch package" for the TV series to sell it to a studio
- A published video trailer for the TV series
- Written and signed legal contracts governing their creative process (syndication for the comic strip, various release waivers and accessibility and liability contracts for video shooting process)
Transferable Skills:
- The ability to persuade through visual storytelling
- The ability to create compelling characters that an audience will identify with
- The ability to use lighting and camera angles to enhance the message that they are trying to convey
- A working knowledge of copyright and intellectual property law
- The ability to work as a member of a production team to complete a storytelling project (pending number of enrolled students)
- The ability to sell your ideas/vision to a potential customer
- The ability to write a cover letter
What careers will this course give you a leg up on?
- Movie producer - Average Salary: $70,950 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
- Videographer - Average Salary: $55,080 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
- Marketing Manager - Average Salary: $131,180 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
- Multimedia Artist and Animator - Average Salary: $65,300 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
- Intellectual Property Lawyer - Average Salary: $118,160 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
- Entertainment industry professional agent - Average Salary: $62,080 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
- Photographer - Average Salary: $34,070 (https://www.careeronestop.org)
General Syllabus (subject to change as needed)
- Course Start: 22 August 2022
- Week 1:
- Basic plan for comic strip
- Choose a product for Video Ad #1
- Week 2:
- Script Video Ad #1
- Comic Strip Model Sheet with stick figure characters
- Week 3:
- Storyboard Video Ad #1
- Short stick figure stories with comic strip characters
- Week 4:
- Shot list Video Ad #1
- Create comic strip #1 (Stick figures for now)
- Week 5:
- Critique classmates' Comic Strip #1
- Shoot Video Ad #1
- Week 6:
- Revise Comic Strip #1
- Create YouTube Channel to publish course video ads
- Edit/Publish Video Ad #1
- Week 7:
- Critique classmates' Video Ad #1
- Choose service for Video Ad #2
- Create Comic Strip #2
- Week 8:
- Critique Comic Strip #2
- Script Video Ad #2
- Week 9:
- Revise Comic Strip #2
- Storyboard Video Ad #2
- Week 10:
- Create Comic Strip #3
- Shotlist/Planning for Video Ad #2
- Week 11:
- Critique Comic Strip #3
- Shoot Video Ad #2
- Week 12:
- Revise Comic Strip #3
- Edit and publish Video Ad #2
- Week 13:
- Create Comic Strip #4
- Critique classmates' Video Ad #2
- Choose Organization for Video Ad #3
- Week 14: Thanksgiving Week
- Critique Comic Strip #4
- Script Video Ad #3
- Storyboard Video Ad #3
- Week 15:
- Revise Comic Strip #4
- Shotlist/Planning Video Ad #3
- Week 16:
- Create Comic Strip #5
- Shoot Video Ad #3
- Edit/Publish Video Ad #3
- Christmas Holidays: 13 December 2022 - 2 January 2023
- Week 17:
- Critique Comic Strip #5
- Critique Video Ad #3
- Script Video Ad #4 (for Frontier Christian Academy)
- Week 18:
- Revise Comic Strip #5
- Storyboard Video Ad #4
- Shotlist/Planning Video Ad #4
- Week 19:
- Create Comic Strip #6
- Shoot Video Ad #4
- Edit/Publish Video Ad #4
- Week 20:
- Critique Comic Strip #6
- Form Production Team(s)
- Intro to Screenplay (create some small examples, with stage direction, based on examples)
- Week 21:
- Revise Comic Strip #6
- Written basic script for entire 4 episode TV series
- Week 22:
- Create Comic Strip #7
- Screenplay for TV Episode #1
- Week 23:
- Critique Comic Strip #7
- Storyboard for TV Episode #1
- Week 24:
- Revise Comic Strip #7
- Shotlist/Planning TV Episode #1
- Week 25:
- Create Comic Strip #8
- Shoot TV Episode #1
- Week 26:
- Critique Comic Strip #8
- Edit/Publish TV Episode #1
- Week 27:
- Revise Comic Strip #8
- Critique TV Episode #1
- Screenplay for TV Episode #2
- Week 28:
- Create Comic Strip #9
- Storyboard TV Episode #2
- Screenplay for TV Episodes 3 & 4
- Week 29:
- Critique Comic Strip #9
- Shotlist/Planning for TV Episode #2
- Storyboard for TV Episodes 3 & 4
- Week 30:
- Revise Comic Strip #9
- Shoot TV Episode #2
- Shotlist/Planning for TV Episodes 3 & 4
- Spring Break: 11 - 17 April 2023
- Week 31:
- Create Comic Strip #10
- Edit/Publish TV Episode #2
- Week 32:
- Critique Comic Strip #10
- Shoot TV Episodes 3 & 4 (extended deadline)
- Week 33:
- Revise Comic Strip #10
- Week 34:
- Prep Comic Strip for Publication/Syndication
- Edit/Publish TV Episodes 3 & 4
- Week 35:
- Comic Strip Advertisement for TV Series
- Video Trailer for TV Series
- Week 36:
- Final comic strip portfolio
- Final TV series
- Socialize video trailer for TV series
- Socialize comic strip
- Video advertisement portfolio
- Course End: 27 May 2023
Expected work load
- Typically one or more tasks that you must perform to move your project iteratively "down the road"
- One or more discussion questions from the teacher to answer
- Responding to classmates' answers to the discussion questions
- Ensuring that you go through any of the learning activities for skills where you are not yet proficient to help you in future weeks' tasks
***All of this is designed to take you about 5 focused hours per week, which is less than you would have if you were attending class in a traditional school.
How do I write this course up on a high school transcript?
- As a Fine Arts elective, given the amount of visual storytelling that the student has had to do through multiple videos and the bi-weekly comic strip
- As a Business/Marketing elective, given the video commercials and the legal contracts that the student has to develop as part of the process of creating the videos and the comic strip
- As a Creative Writing elective, given the story development that the students have to do to complete their various requirements