We will have a visitor from St. Louis join the Media-Communications department here in Vienna for a short visit and we are proud to kick-off a new event (symposium) that we hope to repeat annually. Michael Long, a storyboard and animation artist and faculty from the main campus will teach a 1-credit course on storyboarding on Friday 24^th and Saturday 25^th of February. It will also be offered through the Professional Development Center. The course has no prerequisites. Michael Long is a great teacher and besides that a charming magician! Storyboarding is a skill that is extremely helpful when translating a process, idea or a story into a visual representation, like a film, a presentation or an event. Such skills can benefit every students and the course is open to all Webster students (1-credit).

Course description:
EPMD 2000 Introductory Topics: "Storyboarding"
with Michael Long (St. Louis faculty) on Fr. Feb. 24th - Sa. Feb. 25th 2012  (10:30 - 5:30 each day)
This workshop covers principles and techniques useful for drawing storyboards. Storyboards provide an ideal way to plan film or video narratives by freely exploring creative choices in pre, rather than in post, production. Participants  will learn to stage dramatic action in telling poses and close-ups by using frame composition to create moods and emphasize themes. They will use editing techniques to control focus, incorporate parallel action sequences and will develop clear, thematic transitions between images and scenes. During the workshop students will work individually and together to create short storyboards which demonstrate the techniques and principles covered. The development of any scripted event, no matter if it might be audio-visual work, live events or a presentation can benefit very much from a clear visual plan that can be planned and tested best by using storyboards.