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Storytelling
Course: Storytelling > Unit 1
Lesson 1: Getting startedAbout this course
Imagineering in a Box course and lessons summaries.
Welcome to Imagineering in a Box!
Imagineering in a Box is designed to pull back the curtain to show you how artists, designers and engineers work together to create theme parks. Go behind the scenes with Disney Imagineers and complete project-based exercises to design a theme park of your very own.
Lesson 1: Build your own world
This lesson addresses the question: where do you want to go? It introduces the idea of experiential storytelling and the difference between an amusement park and a theme park. We’ll explore how storytelling and theme impact every decision made in the design of a land and how they engage all senses.
You'll walk out of this lesson with a theme and high concept for a land of your own design along with a mood board and map that conveys the land.
Material requirements: All activities can be done with physical materials found at home.
Time requirement: 2 hours minimum
Lesson 2: Build your own attractions
This lesson addresses the question: what do you want to do in your themed land? It introduces students to the range of possible attractions within a themed land with a focus on dark rides. It exposes the importance of theme and storytelling in attractions in general. Following the creative development process at Walt Disney Imagineering, students envision and design their own dark ride. This includes both the artistic (beat sheets, models) and engineering (throughput, footprint) aspects of ride design.
You'll walk out of this lesson with a beat sheet (bullet point summary), a digital layout and a physical model of your attraction.
Material requirements: Includes activities that are computer based and activities that require the use of physical materials found at home.
Time requirement: 2 hours minimum
Lesson 3: Build your own character
This lesson addresses the question: who do you want to meet in your land or attraction? (Who lives there?) The lesson introduces a variety of ways that Walt Disney Imagineering brings characters to life and explores the process of character development through character sheets, performance, costume design, armatures, actuation and control (with a focus on animatronics).
You'll walk out of this lesson with a character sheet, a costume, a simple physical armature design and a digital actuated armature.
Material requirements: Includes activities that are computer based and activities that require the use of physical materials found at home.
Time requirement: 2 hours minimum
List of Materials:
We made sure these lessons are easy to do with typical materials found at home:
- Paper
- Pencils, pens, colored pencils, crayons, markers ( all you need is a pencil, but any of the rest of these materials would be fun to have)
- A notebook (but just plain paper is fine too)
- Collage materials (magazines, printed materials from the internet, etc.)
- Scissors
- Tape
- Cardboard and/or styrofoam (but if you don’t have these paper will work)
- Lego, tongue depressors (or cardboard paper) & pins
However, keep in mind you can get as fancy as you'd like, such as using robot kits or minecraft, if you have access to it.
Want to join the conversation?
who built the first mickey mouse?(4 votes)
ub lwerks and walt disney(2 votes)
I am so happy to be finding this course on Khan Academy! Before I get started, I would like to ask if it's better to write in 1st or 3rd person. I've seen great books written in both styles, but I'm wondering which would be easier and the benefits and drawbacks of both.(1 vote)
Neither style is particularly better than the other. Each style has its own distinct flaws and positives, and which one you want to use ultimately depends on how comfortable you are with each and which feels more appropriate for your story. It's like choosing between a minivan and a pickup truck--which are you more comfortable driving in?
For first person stories, you ultimately end up with narratives. You basically are the main character in the story. Because the story is only through the eyes of the main character, you will need to convey emotions and actions rather well, especially when it comes to other characters. You can't just jump into the minds of other characters, per se. Plus, you can't change scenes easily. You need to stay strictly in the character. For instance, if you were writing a story about Batman, you can't just cut to a scene with the Joker. In order to have the Joker be there in the scene, Batman has to be there as well in order to maintain first person.
As for third person stories, you have more options. You can either go limited or omnicient. Limited is similar to first person, but rather than being the main character, you are an observer who happens to know their thoughts. Omnicient, on the other hand, is when you (the observer) happen to know the thoughts of every character. You can have more freedom to move around and change scenes, as you are not stuck to one character. However, it is easy to fall into the trap of telling things instead of showing them. "Show, not tell" is the golden rule of storytelling--the more you show, the more engaging and vivid the story will be overall.
Again, neither perspective is better than the other. Find the one you are most suited with, and try that first.
Let me know if you need more help.(9 votes)
Is this similar to pixar in the box animations coding and programming(3 votes)
No, not really. It focuses on how a story can be told through an explorable environment.
If you are looking for coding and programing, they would mostly be located in the Computer Science section. (I recommend the more advanced sections of the Javascript one if you are looking for one to do animations)(3 votes)
- Why was Disneyland made?(2 votes)
There was not a lot of theme parks back then and Walt Disney wanted a theme park so people can feel like they are in a fantasy land or like they are in the story.(4 votes)
do we have to make on of thows parks(3 votes)
Imagineering is technology that creates fantasy and wonder.(2 votes)- How did Disney first started a long time ago.(2 votes)
- go on you tube and look up the story of the maker of Disney it's free(2 votes)
whoa. I wanna make Mickey Mouse.. but I dont know how?(2 votes)
If Ursula's face was a bird, she'd be a pelican(2 votes)