Sheyla F., Valentineʼs Day, grade eleven.

Rachel Wintemberg

My design students start the year taking photos and end the year creating their own hand-drawn comic books or animatics (animated storyboards). If you want your students to create art that communicates, my advice is to have them take lots of photos with their cellphones (both in and out of the classroom) and read comic books. This is a quick and fun way to improve an artist’s sense of visual composition.

Discussing Camera Angles
I start the year by teaching my visual design students the following camera angles: rule of thirds, over-the-shoulder shot, full shot, close-up, medium close-up, extreme close-up, wide angle shot, leading lines (or one-point perspective), up shot (or worm’s-eye view), two shot, down shot (or bird’s-eye view), reaction shot, and Dutch angle tilt.

Itʼs possible to understand a story without reading the words, relying solely on visual cues.

We look at examples of each camera angle and discuss how it furthers a story narrative. For example, a Dutch angle tilt might be used to convey speed, motion, action, falling, or disorientation. An over-the-shoulder shot might be used to convey an interaction between two characters, or even between a character and a book. Instead of telling my students how to use each shot in a story, we look at examples and start with the question, “What is happening in this picture?” This engages students by asking them to both look at pictures and make up stories about them.

Jeffrey Chico U., cellphone photo, camera angle: leading lines.

Camera Angle Exercises
I have students look through their cellphone photos and put them into albums according to the camera angle. Most people take photographs of things they are interested in without even thinking about the fact that they are creating art. This exercise will help students become more intentional about the images they create and will provide them with a path to taking more visually engaging pictures.
Each year, I select a film for the class to watch, and we identify the types of shots used in the film and discuss how each angle draws viewers into the story. Last year, I chose The Red Balloon. In this film, available for free on YouTube, the entire story is communicated visually.

I teach students how to make quick thumbnail compositional sketches of each shot and have them write a brief description of each scene. Teaching students how to actively look at, analyze, and respond to art helps them to become confident creators.

Bryanna C., Where the Rabbits Hide, grade twelve.

Storytelling Challenge
I divide the class into groups of four or five and give them their first major assignment. Using a camera, they are required to tell a story using a minimum of eight pictures (no captions allowed). Each image has to use a different camera angle. They are required to present their stories to the class without explanation and see if their work alone conveys the narrative. Since the audience has to guess what is happening, each group gains a clear understanding of how well their visual narrative communicates.

Last year, the prompt was “Create a story about a person your age facing a moral or ethical dilemma.” The story had to have a beginning, middle, and end. Requiring students to follow an open-ended prompt like this at the beginning of the year introduces them to the structure of effective storytelling without restricting their creativity.

Moving to Comic Books
The same camera angles used in photography are used by comic book artists. Becoming an avid comic book and graphic novel reader can improve your visual storytelling craft tremendously. I introduce comic books by showing students the 1929 graphic novel God’s Man by Lynd Ward, and we discuss the visual imagery. Like The Red Balloon, this story relies on images to convey meaning.

Ask students to pick up any comic book or graphic novel and scroll through the story. Before they read it, ask them to look at the compositions and determine how many different types of “camera angles” they can identify. Ask them to notice how each subsequent image uses a different shot to invite the viewer into the story and draw the eye to the important details. Itʼs possible to understand a story without reading the words, relying solely on visual cues. Artists throughout history have utilized this language of composition.

Conclusion
By the end of the year, my students gain the skills necessary to become confident visual storytellers. As a final project, I have them create and illustrate their own original stories, either in the form of an animatic or a graphic novel. It all starts with asking them to look at their cellphones and read some comic books.

Rachel Wintemberg teaches design and animation at Perth Amboy High School in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. rachwintemberg@paps.net
Cellphones and Comics: Keys to Visual Storytelling