Documentation:DIY Media Old Toolkits/Stop Motion/Script

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CHECKLIST:
  • Chunk your content into 3-6 minute segments.
  • Review principles for learning, instruction and multimedia development.
  • Create a script.
  • Design your slides for presentation.


Every minute you spend planning your project is worth two or three minutes of designing, recording, and editing. Before you do anything else, download and fill out this worksheet. Here's the completed worksheet for an example presentation. Try to be as detailed as possible: it'll make life easier later on.

Chunk content

One of the most important features in the planning worksheet is the 'Generate Concepts' section. Going through this will help you break your content down into easily digestible sections. This is called chunking content, which is an instructional design technique that involves breaking down large themes into manageable chunks or concepts. For example, if you intend to cover 4 concepts in a single video of 20 minutes, four five-minute videos might be a better strategy. Recent research indicates that the optimal length for student engagement seems to be be 6 minutes or less. (Guo, 2013).

Review principles

Carnegie-Mellon's principles for learning, Merrill's First Principles of Instruction, Gagne's 9 events of instruction and Mayer's principles for multimedia development are useful references for helping you think about how to approach your presentation as a learning resource. Points 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 from Mayer's Principles are especially pertinent.

Storyboarding

After you've selected one chunk to start with, you can fill out this storyboarding worksheet. Here's the completed storyboard for an example project. You can fill this out however you want to: for more traditional video projects, storyboards usually include sketches of each scene with notes attached, but you can feel free to use text, draft your script, sketch diagrams you might use, or some combination of those and other techniques. Try to be complete: having a mental and physical image of each scene will help you put everything together.

Create a script

Writing a script will save you time in the long run. Include what you want to say, and when you want to say it, with respect to what's happening on-screen. Once your script is complete, you'll get a sense of the flow of your project and can be able to make decisions about editing more easily.

  • Before you go to record audio, make sure to rehearse your script(s) in order to avoid unnecessary pauses and interjections.
  • Time your script to ensure it fits within the 3-6 minute timeframe you should be aiming for.
  • Try to read and write naturally: not only will people learn better (Mayer's 10th principle) but it'll be easier to read from: encountering the words it is when you'd usually say it's is distracting, and can throw you off.
  • Review your script and storyboard for extraneous material, and remove it: stop motion is hugely labour-intensive, and the shorter your video is, the likelier it'll be watched. Staying focused on your topic is important. (Mayer's 1st principle.)

Pre-Production Resources

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TIPS:
  • Try to keep to the 3 minute mark per concept with a total video length of not more than 6 minutes.
  • Planning will save time later. Take time to prepare a script which include slide transitions.
  • Keep it simple and remember your objectives.