Aren't storyboards supposed to be cartooned?

One of the things that I do here is help instructors with video assignments in their classes and one of the components of those assignments is the requisite shot list and storyboard. I have noticed something interesting this term (and in previous terms as well, but this is the first time that I've had a chance to blog about it). Students will almost invariably write out the storyboard - so they have each of the main shots, and there are textual details but there are no pictures. Why could this be an issue? The issue could be present for younger students. Part of what the storyboard gets the students to do is to think visually. And that will help them convert what is on the page, to what is on "the stage". Perhaps it is my luck with the university students that I work with, but so far there haven't been any real failed assignments from text based storyboards. Maybe students these days are versed enough in visual media that all they need are the text cues and they can "see" the shot that they are needing to make. Granted, none of these movies are very long or that complex, so that may be another confounding factor. Has anyone else noticed this? We are certainly more visual these days as a society, and the video assignments are an attempt to acknowledge this. But maybe it's time that we rethought the constructive steps involved in this process. Technorati Tags: Video, Technology Integration