Week 1 Notes– Research Foundations & Storyboarding
- Review prior research and align with NbE principles.
- Select two NbE themes for video focus.
- Draft scripts and create storyboards.
- Deliverable: Draft storyboard package.
Monday 08/25/2025: Align videos with Nature-based Education principles
My first focus for this course is aligning the two videos I will be creating with Nature-based Education principles. Then, once aligned, selecting two NbE themes for the 1-minute and 3-minute videos.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) -the premier conservation organization in the world- has the stated their goal is to “make nature the center of education.” Their primary vehicle for doing this is the pedagogy of Nature-based Education. And their focus for implementing NbE is “getting learners into nature.”
However, my approach to NbE is a bit different than the IUCN’s approach. My approach to Nature-based Education is “getting nature into learners.” And my vehicles for doing this is by creating Nature-based Education content in the form of books, lessons, imagery and especially video.
To that end, the core principles of Nature-based Education reflected in the vides should orbit around:
- Cultural resonance (stories, arts, metaphors that deepen meaning).
- Learning from nature (not just in nature).
- Connection (emotional, cultural, ecological).
- Action / Responsibility (empowering learners to act).
- Reflection (seeing oneself as part of nature).
My “alignment” with NbE principles is “nature as the teacher.”
Tuesday 08/26/2025: Select two NbE themes for video focus – Part 1
There are three primary stages in a marketing funnel:
Awareness: bringing initial attention to an product or idea to a selected market
Consideration: showing the value of the product or idea to the selected market
Conversion: members of the selected market takes a desired action on the product or idea based on the consideration
The videos created for this course must follow this marketing funnel with the goal being to:
1) Introduce the concept of Nature-based Education to a selected market
2) Show the value to the selected market of embracing the concepts of Nature-based Education
3) Monitor and track the effectiveness of the videos in selected market conversions -i.e. action
Therefore, to achieve these goals, the two themes selected as the focus for the videos are:
Video 1: Nature Teaches (Panoramic prototype, ~1 min)
Primary purpose: Build awareness. Establish Nature as Teacher.
Video 2: Humans Engagement and Action (Cinematic artistic, ~3 min)
Primary purpose: Encourage response to awareness. This is the action -or conversion- video series
Again, unlike the IUCN focus of “getting learners into nature” the focus of these videos would be to “get nature into learners.”
The role and goal of Video 1 (Panoramic style video) is to generate awareness of the value of “nature as teacher.” This would be done by crafting videos that reflected all aspects on nature including both the elements of nature and the species of nature. My first thought is this could be accomplished not by nature talking, or shouting, or whining about the pain it feels from how humans treat it, but more by “whispers.”
Nature whispering a lesson about life, and also whispering about the plight it is facing.
Possible themes for these 1-minute videos might be:
The Tree – Voice of Patience & Time
Lessons: Growth, resilience, shelter.
Whisper: Rings cut short, stump among saplings.
The Leopard – Voice of Balance & Power
Lessons: Strength, stealth, the balance of predator & prey.
Whisper: Vanishing into shadows, eyes watching from a fragmented forest.
The Seed / Flower – Voice of Potential & Fragility
Lessons: From small beginnings come great forests.
Whisper: Seed struggles to sprout in barren soil.
Around the World in 80 Days: a 1-minute Title Sequence Animation
Wednesday 08/26/2025: Select two NbE themes for video focus – Part 2
Summary: 3-Minute Title Sequence Animations as Conservation Education Micro-learning Modules
The role and goal of Video 2 (Title Sequence Animation style video)is to be a 3-minute Title Sequence Animations which function as Conservation Education Micro-learning Modules, designed to immerse learners in nature’s voice through rhythm, imagery, and poetic narration.
Built on the framework The Welcome → The Whisper → The Warning → The Call, each module mirrors the structure of a cinematic title sequence: an opening invitation, layered teaching, a turn toward fragility, and a final call to act. This format engages both emotionally and cognitively, aligning with Nature-based Education by allowing learners to learn from nature itself, not through facts alone, but through metaphor, rhythm, and reflection.
These modules intentionally play off the 1-minute panoramas, which serve as sparks of awareness — visually striking, minimalist, and designed to catch attention. While the 1-minute pieces are “moving images” that introduce a lesson with simplicity and awe, the 3-minute modules expand into full micro-learning arcs. Together they form a ladder: awareness (1-minute) leads naturally into immersion and reflection (3-minute), creating a seamless flow from curiosity to comprehension.
The ultimate goal of crafting these modules is to provide teachers and learners with memorable, stand-alone lessons that are short enough for micro-learning but deep enough to foster reflection and action. By weaving nature’s lessons into a cinematic, title-sequence form, these modules give conservation education a unique identity, one that is emotionally compelling, pedagogically sound, and scalable as an anthology of voices from the natural world.
Skyfall: a 3-minute Title Sequence Animation
Thursday 08/28/2025: A practice sketch of a 1-min video panorama. It is the first style of video I will be developing for this GIT-590 Independent Study.
This sketch is only 40 seconds, but the idea was to get a panorama image in place scrolling across the screen with some narrative and a sound bed. Then, if this is an acceptable concept, the goal would be to start tweaking this concept for the panorama videos and then use that experience as a foundation for the 3-minute videos.
Again, the narration is not complete, and I didn’t spend a lot of time tweaking the graphic so they weren’t perfect (but are presentable) as I want to know whether or not I am on the right track with this concept so I can then -with your coaching- start perfecting it.
The images -both background and elephants- were created using ChatGPT and Bing Image Creator. The audio bed is from Adobe Stock (which I own license to). The narrative is from Amazon Polly. And the scrolling video was created in Premiere Pro with the “fade-up” titles being created in After Effects.
1-minute video sketch | Premiere Pro editing page | Adobe media encoder page
