Thread Academy

Planning Your Project

Sketch a simple storyboard before you start making anything.

  • Define and explain Planning Your Project in your own words
  • Use key terms such as storyboard accurately
  • Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
  • Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic

Computers are brilliant tools for making things: posters, slideshows, animations and recordings. But great digital media does not happen by accident — it is planned, built step by step, and saved carefully. In this chapter you will plan, create and share your own media like a young designer.

This lesson focuses on Planning Your Project: sketch a simple storyboard before you start making anything.

Definition: Planning Your Project

Sketch a simple storyboard before you start making anything.

Key ideas

Plan before you make

A storyboard saves time and arguments: sketch each slide or scene, write what the words will say, and agree who does what. Changing a sketch takes seconds; rebuilding a finished slideshow takes ages. Professionals in film and games always storyboard first.

Respect other people's work

Pictures and music you find online belong to someone. Only use images you made yourself, or ones your teacher says are free to use — and always say where a borrowed image came from. This habit is called giving credit, and it is the law as well as good manners.

Key term — storyboard: A set of small sketches showing each scene of your project in order, like a comic strip of your plan.

Worked example: Planning Your Project

What is a storyboard, and why do film-makers use one?

A storyboard is a set of sketches showing each scene in order; it lets film-makers plan and fix problems on paper before expensive filming starts.

Answer: A storyboard is a set of sketches showing each scene in order; it lets film-makers plan and fix problems on paper before expensive filming starts.

Common mistakes
  • Starting on the computer with no plan Correction: spend five minutes on a storyboard first — it makes the building stage twice as fast.
  • Using a picture from the internet with no credit Correction: use your own drawings or teacher-approved images, and write down where any borrowed image came from.

Practice

Which is the better file name: 'untitled2' or 'dolphin-poster-final'? Why?
Imagine finding it again in a month.

'dolphin-poster-final' — it describes the file's contents, so you can find it without opening it.

You want music for your slideshow. What is the safe choice?
Remember who owns music you find online.

Use music your teacher says is free to use, or record your own — and always credit the creator.

How does an animation make still pictures look as if they move?
Think about flipping the corner of a notebook.

It shows many slightly different pictures one after another very quickly, and your eyes blend them into smooth movement.

Your slideshow file will not open and you last saved it an hour ago. What habit would have saved your work?
Think about the save habit.

Saving often — every few minutes — so only a few minutes of work could ever be lost.

Quick check

Planning Your Project — quick check

Which of these best defines "storyboard"?

A set of small sketches showing each scene of your project in order, like a comic strip of your plan.

True or false: it is fine to copy a whole story from a website into your slideshow as long as it looks nice.

False — the story belongs to its author; summarise it in your own words and say where you found it.
Key takeaways
  • Planning Your Project: sketch a simple storyboard before you start making anything.
  • Plan before you make: A storyboard saves time and arguments: sketch each slide or scene, write what the words will say, and agree who does what.
  • digital media: Anything you create on a computer that others can see or hear: images, slideshows, animations, video and sound recordings.
  • Watch out for: starting on the computer with no plan
Making Images →Back to Grade 8 chaptersRelated resources →