Words into Pictures

Read the following passage.

You arrive late for a field trip to the Museum of Nature located in downtown Ottawa, because you had a doctor’s appointment. The museum is located at the intersection of Metcalfe and Elgin streets, in the heart of the nation’s capital, near the Ottawa Police Station.

You enter the museum and pay your admission, unless it is tomorrow, when you get in free. Next, you race to the dinosaur hall so you can catch up with the rest of your class.

As you turn the corner, you see a duck-billed hadrosaurus on display. Wait a minute, you think, something is wrong. It is standing on its two hind legs. Just yesterday, you studied the duck-billed hadrosaurus and your teacher told you that it never stood on its hind legs. It waddled around on four legs foraging for food and buried treasure.

As you approach the skeleton, you hear a rumbly, raspy voice asking for help. You turn slowly around and imagine your surprise when you see the dinosaur’s jaws moving. It is speaking to you.

It complains about how sore its back is from having to stand on its hind legs for over 60 years, since it was first dug up at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, and been on display at the museum. It also mentions very quietly that it knows where a hidden treasure is buried.

And then you....

Your job

Turn this piece of prose into a storyboard, and shot list, so a video crew could shoot an advertisement for the museum.

There are a few extra details in included. You can leave some details out. You can also add details if it will help your story. If you leave some out, or add others, be able to tell me why. You can also include a surprise or unusual ending to the story.

For extra marks, you can show both your point of view (pov) and that of the dinosaur.

You are going to create the following:

1. A shot list – at least 9 shots – make sure you include a short description of the action in the panel different CAST, shot types, any movement you want the camera to make, such as zooms or pans and the length of time each shot is on the screen.

2. A 9 panel story board and/or comic based on your shot list. (Stick people are fine).

You can work in groups for inspiration but this is an individual project.