Lesson video

Hello, it's Adam here again from Oak Academy with a second lesson in this unit, all about storytelling using puppets, masks and storyboards.

In today's lesson, we are going to be creating a storyboard of our own based on the story of Noto Hanto, which we looked at in the last lesson.

You will need a couple of things for today.

You'll need a notebook or some paper.

You'll also need pencils, pens, or crayons that you can write and draw with.

So pause the video now, go and get those things and then press play when you're ready to carry on.

We do have some key words for today's lesson.

A storyboard is something used by movie makers or animators to help them to plan their story.

They're also used as part of creating a play for the theatre and writers often use them as they're writing a novel.

It's a series of images or keywords that plot out the sequence of events in a story.

They were first used by Disney in the 1930s.

Back then, animators making films like "Snow White" or "Cinderella" had to create thousands of images, one by one, all by hand.

So using a storyboard helped them to see what was going to happen and help them to not make mistakes along the way.

Something else we're going to be doing today is using image theatre.

This is when we create images using our whole bodies and our faces, not just using pen and paper.

Throughout this unit, we're going to be working on the legendary story of "The Drums of Noto Hanto," which I introduced you to in the last lesson.

In this lesson, we're going to make a storyboard using drama.

A traditional story board would be a series of pictures which would show what would happen in a story.

So imagine taking out all the pictures from one of your story books and putting them all together, like a comic book or a graphic novel.

But as this is a drama lesson, we're going to do things a little bit differently.

Before we carry on, I have a quick warm up for you just to get you moving and to ramp up your energy a little bit.

We need to stand up and make sure we have a clear space around us so that we can move freely without bumping into any furniture.

So, pause the video if you need to do that, and then press play when you're ready to carry on.

Okay, for our warm up, I want you to stand tall, hands by your sides, and make yourself as big as you can , and make yourself as small as you can.

And big , and small, uh.

And big, but with a really big face , and small with a screwing of your face, really small, as tight as you can.

Great, well done.

Now, can you run on the spot for 10 seconds as fast as you can? 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one and stop.

Again do some star jumps for five seconds.

Five, four, three, two, one and stop.

Now take a big deep breath.

Very good, now, imagine that you're standing on something which is a little bit unbalanced and wobbly.

And it keeps moving from underneath you and you're trying to balance yourself and get your.

Use all the muscles in your body.

Very good.

And balance.

And now pretend that you are fishing.

You are throwing out some big nets and balancing on your wobbly boat at the same time.

Very good.

And now, try to pull them back out of the water.

They're really heavy now coz they're full of fish and try not to fall into the water.

And you're going to pick them up and pull it onto the boat.

That was a bit tough.

Good, now, can you be as strong as you can and as tall as you can.

Up on the tip toes.

Now as quiet as you can, as if you're playing hide and seek.

And now can you pull some really ugly, scary faces? Crikey.

That was very scary indeed.

Now, let's put a few of those things together.

Can you be a big, scary giant, as if like a big giant troll coming out of the woods? Roar if you want to.

Excellent, now you're ready.

That was a really good warm up.

Well done everyone.

Okay, now that we've caught our breath back, we're going to create some images using our whole body and our faces just like we've done, to create some different characters and key moments from our story of Noto Hanto.

So, these are going to be still images, which are like pictures we make with our bodies, as if we're statues or if someone is going to take a photo of us.

I'm going to do some of these images with you but it's really important that you do some of them by yourself to help you explore the creative process.

As we go through those, you need to make sure you pause the video if you need time to create your image, okay? If you want to, you can also get a grown-up or a sibling to join you as you make your images of the key moments, or you can just create the few images by yourself, which is what I'm going to do.

In a storyboard, sometimes we need something to help us understand what a character might be thinking or saying in a particular image.

Have a look at this picture here.

Here we can see some farmers in a rice paddy field harvesting their crops.

Look at the person on the left.

He's just thrown something.

So what do you think this character might be thinking and saying in this picture? Imagine that there is a big thought bubble coming out of his head, like this.

And inside it, we can see his thoughts.

Could there be a difference between what he's thinking and what he's going to say? Pause the video and make some notes about what you think this character might be thinking and saying in this image, then press play to continue.

Welcome back.

How did you do? I think this character might be thinking, "He's not looking" after just throwing a big bundle of rice to his colleague.

So what he might be saying is, "Catch!" Possibly.

Whatever you've written down is absolutely fine because there are no wrong answers with this.

Is whatever you think is correct.

So, our first image is going to be of the villages just going about their daily business.

Can you remember what jobs they did? They could be tending to the rice fields like the farmers in our last picture, they could be fishing, looking after the animals, teaching, learning to play the drums, cooking, there are lots of different possibilities.

I want you to create two images here for two different characters in the village.

For example, I'm going to make a still image of a person fishing.

Casting out their nets like this.

Then I'm going to create an image of someone cooking over an open fire, like this.

It doesn't matter what you do, whatever you do is fine.

Have a think about the characters you're going to be doing.

You're going to create your images, make sure you make notes about what they're thinking and saying, draw pictures of those images or get someone to take a photo of you as you create them.

Pause the video while you do that then press play to carry on.

So, what happens next? That's right.

They learn about the warlord's attack.

How do you think the villagers feel? What words would you use to describe them? Remember, there are no wrong answers here.

Can you create a still image of their initial reaction when they hear about the rumours of the warlord's attack? I'm going to create an image about fear and panic like this.

Can you create your image? Good.

Now, imagine that your friends and family from the village are with you.

You're going to turn your still image into a bit of action.

I want you to think about creating a plan of how to stop all of this from happening with your friends and family.

Do you remember what ideas they came up with? Good.

So you're going to start with your first image.

Then you're going to start moving as you begin to improvise or pretend to be one of the villages that you've created an image for.

And you're coming up with a plan to save everyone.

When you have your plan, I want you to freeze again, which is called a freeze frame, and to try to think about how your new image is different to the one you started with.

Pause the video while you do that then press play to carry on.

Amazing work.

Now, it's really important that you make notes of the two images and what your characters felt for each image.

So, jot that down, draw a picture of the two images and perhaps of something from the middle bit during your improvisation.

You can also do it again and take some photos of those images that you created.

Pause the video again while you do that then press play to continue.

You're doing an amazing job, well done.

There are just a couple more images that I want you to create, and they're all listed here.

They include making masks from wood and seaweed, making music with drums, making big puppets of monsters or giants, and lighting fires on the beach and hillside to scare away the samurai.

I want you to do these images by yourself.

But make sure that you make notes after each one about what your characters are thinking and what they're going to say for each image, make sure you do drawings of your characters once you've made it with your body, or take photos of the images that you create.

Once you've done that, you can arrange all of those images into your storyboard.

You're not the only one who's been doing this today.

I've been doing it as well.

Here are some images that I've taken photos of to tell the story of Noto Hanto.

Here's my first one.

If you remember this, of my villager feeling panic and fear when they hear the rumours of the warlord's approach.

You can almost see a great big thought bubble or a speech bubble going, "No!" The next one is my villager.

Once he's come up with a plan of what to do to save everybody.

Finally, I've got my villager being a big, scary monster, almost merging a big mask made of wood and seaweed and looking all ugly and scary.

You can almost hear a roar.

If you could draw that in a big speech bubble.

And finally, I've got a picture of one of the warriors, one of the samurai running away with their tail between their legs, scared away by the villages and their masks and puppets.

If you've arranged all of your pictures into a storyboard, you can start to see how you can tell the story of Noto Hanto, or any other story, just using pictures.

It's a really good way to explore a story and plan it ahead.

Excellent work guys, that was amazing.

And I'm really looking forward to seeing some photos and videos of all of your hard work.

Give yourselves a round of applause for a job well done.

Before we finish, I do have a quick quiz for you, just to make sure you fully understand what a storyboard is.

So, a storyboard is a hard backed copy of a story, true or false? Shout it out at the screen.

If you are saying true, then you are wrong.

The answer is false.

A storyboard is not a hard backed copy of a story.

A storyboard is a plan of a story using images.

I hope you got that right.

As I said, it would be great to see some photos or videos of all of your hard work.

So if you want to share it, please do ask your grown-up to share it on Twitter, where you can use the tag @OakNational or the hashtag #LearnwithOak.

I'll see you again soon for another lesson where we'll be making puppets and masks.

Bye for now.