Media Arts Creation: Designing a Short Digital Narrative

Media Arts Creation: Designing a Short Digital Narrative

Grades 9–12 · Media Arts · NYS Arts Standards MA:Cr1.1.HSa · 55 Minutes

NYS-Aligned Standard

MA:Cr1.1.HSa — Visualize and generate original ideas for media artworks through exploration of technologies, theme, and/or context. NYS Learning Standards for the Arts (2017)

Learning Objectives — “I Can” Statements

• I can explain how media artists make choices about technology, framing, and sequence to tell a story.
• I can generate original ideas for a short (30–90 second) digital narrative using a storyboard.
• I can describe how my media art choices connect to a theme or emotional intention.

Essential Question

Every image, cut, and sound in a film is a choice. How do media artists make those choices on purpose?

Lesson Sequence

Hook / Warm-Up (8 min)

Show two versions of the same still image:

• Version A: wide shot of an empty hallway (neutral)
• Version B: close-up of a door handle being turned slowly (tense) (Teacher creates or selects copyright-free stock images)

“Same location. Two completely different feelings. What changed? Why?” Introduce: framing, angle, and context are creative choices.

Direct Instruction (12 min)

1. Elements of media art:
   • Framing: Wide (establishes context), Medium (connects viewer to character), Close-up (emotion and detail)
   • Angle: Eye level (neutral), low angle (subject seems powerful), high angle (subject seems vulnerable)
   • Sequence: The order of shots changes meaning
   • Sound: Silence, ambient sound, music — each creates different emotion
2. The concept of INTENTIONALITY: every choice serves the story
3. Short media forms: mini-documentary, photo essay, short narrative, public service announcement

Storyboard Development (22 min)

Students select a theme from a provided list (or propose their own):

• Identity and change
• A place that matters to me
• Something most people don’t notice
• A moment of uncertainty

Students create a 5–8 panel storyboard on a provided template:

• Each panel: sketch of what the camera sees + angle label (close/medium/wide)
• Below each panel: 1 sentence — what does this shot MEAN or FEEL?
• Final panel: What is the emotional/thematic payoff of this narrative?

Peer Feedback (8 min)

Partner feedback using “TAG” protocol:

• Tell: “What I think your narrative is about is ___.”
• Ask: “What does panel ___ mean? I wasn’t sure.”
• Give: “One idea: what if you tried ___ for panel ___?”

Closure (5 min)

Exit ticket: “What is ONE media art choice you made and why? What effect do you want it to have on the viewer?”

SDI & Differentiation Block

Supports for MLLs/ELLs

Entering/Emerging (NYSESLAT Levels 1–2):

• Storyboard is primarily visual — all students can draw their ideas
• Provide shot type reference card: wide (long rectangle), medium (medium rectangle), close-up (zoom icon)
• Sentence frame for exit ticket: “I chose ___ (close-up/wide shot) because I want the viewer to feel ___.”

Transitioning/Expanding (NYSESLAT Levels 3–4):

• Media vocabulary: framing, angle, sequence, narrative, intentionality, theme
• Allow student to describe their storyboard in home language first, then translate key terms

Supports for Students with IEPs

SDI Adaptation Dimensions: methodology, delivery

• Methodology: Reduce storyboard to 4 panels; provide pre-drawn panel frames with angle labels already filled in; reduce theme choices to 2
• Delivery: Provide a storyboard template with explicit prompts (“What does the camera SEE? How does it FEEL?”); allow extended time; allow verbal description of final panel instead of written explanation

Suggested Placement: ICT

Alignment Record