When making an animated eLearning video, a full-of-text script is not enough. You need a storyboard to visualize your script first. Storyboard saves you a lot of time in the production process: control all scenes, arrange frames, cut the unnecessariness, and more. This article will provide a guide to create an animation storyboard for an educational video for 2 purposes :
- Help you to create one if you make an animation educational video yourself.
- Help you to know what the animation studio is doing and track its performance (if you hire an animation studio).
If you are an instructional designer then storyboard must be a familiar term. The eLearning storyboards for animations are pretty much similar to those produced while designing a course. There you have the project title, the text, the audio, and also the graphics. Basically, it is the visualized version of your script that includes everything the learners are going to see on screen with extra information for your team members to work it.
How to do animation elearning storyboard for educational video
1. Get yourself a template
You can google to find a huge source of animation storyboard templates. Generally, a storyboard has 2 parts:
- The boxes: the frames to draw animation’s scenes
- The captions: the zone below the boxes used for note-taking (effect, audio, music, etc.)
The F.Learning‘s below simple eLearning storyboard template is a basic and easy-to-use storyboard.
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2. Break down your eLearning script
Like a comic strip, break down the eLearning script into several parts and choose the most important scenes to fill in the boxes. With voice, music, effect, and so on, note them down under different frames.
How many frames should you have? It all depends on your story but one minute of animation should contain 6-10 frames.
3. Start drawing your eLearning storyboard for educational video
Should the storyboard go deep into the details with background and color? No, the simple sketch is enough.
You don’t need to be too detailed in the visual design, leave it to the production process. It is more important to let your team understand the story progression first. The stick figures with simple arrow navigations work as long as they illustrate the story enough. Take a look at this example:
Another method is to use supporting tools like Storyboardthat. This tool offers pre-defined illustrations like characters and backgrounds for users.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The more complicated of the script is, the higher requirement of the storyboard needs. Do it yourself storyboard and storyboard tools only present basic storyline. For difficult subjects that contain abtract stuffs or unfriendly techniques, you should hire a professional animation studio to do storyboard for educational video.
For example, if you want to create an animated video explaining how a drone works, then it would result in a conversation describing the process. If you want to actually show learners how it flies, you need professionals. The below storyboard from F.Learning will answer you, this is our work for Aviassist:
4. Collect feedback
Now it’s time to seek feedback and approach new perspectives from different people. They will help you ensure that the animations bring better engagement and closely follow the learning objectives. The animations are not something just to entertain, they must have clear purposes as everything else in your course.
Here is the list of useful questions to collect helpful feedback:
- Is your storyboard easy to understand?
- Are the abstract parts visible?
- Does your storyboard deliver knowledge correctly?
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Conclusion
Creating an eLearning storyboard is a very painful and time-consuming process, especially when you are not an expert. To save your time and energy for other important tasks, it’s better to contact an eLearning video production company. At F.Learning, we start with your learners first, then create eLearning animated videos that fit in. The F.Learning storyboard will ensure the customized illustration and the quality level before jumping into the animating step.
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Sean Bui, the founder and creative director of F.Learning Studio, is a respected leader in the e-learning and multimedia production industry. With over 10 years of experience, he has dedicated his career to helping organizations create engaging and impactful learning experiences.
Under his leadership, F.Learning Studio has grown into a trusted partner for organizations in the education, healthcare, and corporate training sectors, producing over 2,000 minutes of educational animation.
