Interactive eBook Publication

Project Brief

Design a digital publication. Use visual storytelling, shot composition and visual narrative to tell a story.

Your visual narrative should include:

A beginning - to establish the who, what and where of the scene/story

A middle - usually a conflict, challenge or issue that must be met

An ending - the solution to the conflict, i.e., and they all lived happily ever after ... 

Learning Objectives

Use storyboarding techniques to conceptualize and visually record scenes, movement and sequencing for animation, video, motion graphics, and interactive media design.

Learn to digitally translate storyboarded scenes in Adobe Photoshop (Motion Workspace) / Animate CC software.

In the production of 2D/3D animation, motion graphics, and audio/video, storyboards and timelines are used to conceptualize, edit and manipulate content over time. This lesson introduces best practices and methods native to multimedia workflows; storyboard development and the manipulation of assets across a sequential timeline.

Preparation

This lesson requires imagination, planning, pen/pencil and paper, and Adobe Creative Cloud software applications; Photoshop and/or Animate.

Conceptualize Time with Storyboards

Storyboards enable you to specify visual and audible content across time during the conceptual stage of 2D/3D animation, motion graphics & digital video production design processes. Storyboards can be thought of as graphic organizers. They are typically illustrations or images, and may contain time codes that denote the duration of an action/scene, descriptive text to denote narration/dialogue, or arrows that indicate the movement of the camera/characters in the scene.

Storyboards are displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, 2D/3D animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence in a linear fashion. 

Actualizing Time with Computer Graphics Software

Timelines are commonly used interfaces, found in most animation and video editing programs. The Timeline enables you to lay a multimedia project out in a linear fashion, displaying scenes horizontally across a computer monitor.

Adobe Photoshop's 2 Timeline Modes: Frame Animation and Video

Adobe Animates Timeline: Frame-by Frame and Tween animation

Deliverables

Use Adobe Photoshop CCs Timeline to draw and produce a simple 2D animation.

Use Adobe Animate CCs Timeline to illustrate and produce a simple 2D animation.

Readings/Resources

Additional Learning Resources

Refer to Blackboard for Visual Storytelling and Shot Composition Learning Resources to support developing your drawn storyboard before creating it in Photoshop /Animate.

The learning resources will guide you in creating dynamic, visually interesting shot compositions.

Create Timeline Animation in Adobe Photoshop
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/creating-timeline-animations.html

Get to Know the Adobe Animate Timeline
https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/how-to/learn-timeline.html?playlist=/ccx/v1/collection/product/animate/segment/designer/explevel/beginner/applaunch/orientation/collection.ccx.js

Reflections

Students demonstrate traditional storyboarding techniques (pen/pencil) and paper to create a storyboard as well as translate  drawn sketches into a digital ePublication in Adobe CC.