Organizing a MicroMentary Project

While there are many ways to organize a MicroMentary Project, one way is to follow a model similar to that followed in the production of a movie:

• Build a cooperative team--By establishing and assigning roles and responsibilities for each team member, less time will be spent on determining who does what.
• Brainstorm--Teams are given time to generate ideas and build team spirit.
• Design a storyboard--This step helps teams organize and focus creative ideas and encourage team members to focus on the quality of content rather than just special effects.
• Collect or build resources--Organize and divide the labor so that everyone gets a chance to contribute and classroom resources can be shared equitably.
• Develop a first draft--A first draft done on the computer helps to define what works and what does not by translating words and ideas to see how they look on the computer.
• Produce a final edit--This is called "the deliverable." At this point, students should be prepared to let their work stand on its own and share it with others.

Storyboards

A MicroMentary starts with designing storyboards. Storyboards are a "pencil and paper" representation of the MicroMentary students want to produce. It outlines the text, images, sounds, and special effects that will be used to create the computer-based presentation.

If your school doesn't have the equipment to produce a MicroMentary, students can still design and present storyboards. The best storyboards can be passed on to the principal or a school board member with a note: "If only we had the equipment..."

The final version of the storyboards (after peer-editing) are used to create the MicroMentary. Therefore, it is important to spend enough time writing and revising the storyboards to insure that the final product is of an acceptable quality.

Tip on Optimizing Resources

Once storyboards have been approved students should begin to collect and create the images, music and narration that they will need to build their presentation. It is suggested that you have one computer dedicated to collecting images from the video microscope and have students schedule time to collect their images. If you are on a network you can set up a library of images that students can have access to to download and edit as needed. If you have a CDRW drive you can make copies of the library of images on CDROM discs for students to use at their computers.

Samples

Animation of Hydra capturing a Daphnia. Built from images captured with a Swift Microscope and a SwiftCam.

Resources:

• Storyboard Template
• Sample Storyboard (1 page)
• Curriculum Administrator Article on MicroMentary Project