Instructional Objectives: Students will brainstorm and utilize previous research create television commercials.

Time Required: three to four hours

Advance Preparation: Remind students that the commercials must be 30 seconds or less. You may want to show or look at a storyboarded commercial example . You should videotape several television commercials and show them to the class. Make copies of the storyboard checklist to hand out to student groups. You may want to view another TeachNet site on making commercials: Vivian Nacionales provides good student storyboard examples at the bottom of her Web page.

Materials / Resources Required: Internet access, a projector, video camera and a television with a VCR.

Focus Questions, Generalizations and Key Points: What makes a consumer want to buy a product after seeing a commercial? Selling is also known as the art of persuasion. Consumers are convinced that the product they are willing to buy offers many benefits for the dollar. A commercial can be funny, dramatic, joyous or combinations of them, but it must always be interesting.

Before commercials are actually produced, they are laid out in storyboard fashion. A storyboard is a sketch of how to organize a story and a list of its contents. 

A storyboard helps you:

1. Define the parameters of a story within available resources and time

2. Organize and focus a story

3. Figure out what to use for each part of the story

A storyboard doesn't have to be perfect, it's just a sketch, a draft.

 Procedures:  

Activities: Commercials are presented to the entire class and are evaluated based on the commercial rubric.

Tips: Remind students that their story's main idea about their product should be clear. If using music, be selective, they only have 30 seconds for the commercial. Running through the commercial before taping will help students see what mistakes or changes need to be made before the actual commercial is made.

Evaluation: storyboard checklist & commercial rubric

 

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