Hello my name is Ewan, and I recently did a demo at Working Title Films for The London Screen Academy - about Storyboards. It went something like this...
Where do Storyboards come from?
Usually, the creative source material coming from the writer, director or producer, is sketched into thumbnail storyboards that fast-track the idea to represent how it will look in the final film.
For example: David Cameron's thumbnail sketches for Titanic, are pretty close to the sequence we see in the final film.
On a typical mid-budget feature film production, the sketches will find themselves in the art department and be drafted into a storyboard for re-production.
Look at this stylised representation of personnel on set; can you spot the art department?
The art department can be seen 'bringing up the rear'. 38-48, from the Production Designer (head of department) to the accountant (responsible for the art department budget). A storyboard artist would be found at a drawing board along with the draughts persons. NB. this image comes from a book called Anatomy of the Movies, published in 1983.
The final draft storyboard is reproduced and can circulate the entire production, so lay-out and format of text and picture is very important.
The most common format would be landscape 6-frame to one page format.
One page of storyboard roughly equals 1 minute of screen-time, the same as a script. That breakdown roughly to 10 seconds per frame.
Some storyboard artists find their own preferred format: Mike Nicholson has a unique portrait 5-frame lay-out. look at these storyboards he made for the HBO series Out Of Season. Notice how the text boxes on the right have been left empty. This is to invite collaboration from different departments, once the storyboard has been printed. For more of Mike's work and explanation go to his blog at: www.storyboardsitf.blogspot.com Storyboards: In The Frame
OK, now for an activity:
A storyboard needs a story, so here is 'a storyline':
Film is set in a bank. A terrifying character enters. A ring has a missing diamond. A character realises he has been tricked. A character flees.
It's a bit vague, but it's simple; could be an event or an incident - an action scene.
Look at this:
If you print this out, you can draw a line to link the boxes from right to left. to show your suggestion for which shot, angle and movement you would use to to cover the action.
What is important then, is that you number them 1-5, so that you are thinking in sequence like a storyboard.
Now print out the template: landscape 6-frames. Transfer all the text into the text bows (below picture box) describe all the action and camera- shot-size, angle and movement.
For an idea of location and backgrounds, the best way is to conduct a Recce (location scout) and photograph a real location. This is real pre-production work because a location scout will also inform a shooting schedule for suitable times of day/season. Also, set dressing a location as well as permission and logistics.
Now add arrows:
Arrows drawn inside the picture frame illustrate character or object movement. As in this example fro Jurassic Park storyboard: The arrows show the movement of the dinosaurs, and the children trying to hide.
Larger arrows drawn outside, or over the picture frame illustrate camera movement. Here are some more examples:
For more examples go to: belofilms / storyboard camera movements
At this point, you may want to start sketching in the action:
Here is a quick guide to framing shot sizes using action figures:
I'm now going to show you a technique for how to compile a storyboard without having to sketch any thing: Using action figures, a stills camera, a green board and background images from your location scout (or otherwise, probably pinterest or google images).
First, you will need to follow your storyboard to photograph the figures. Shots will need to be taken in front of a green board (as background).
Here is a close up:
To marry this image with a background you will need 2 layers on photoshop. Make sure that your action figure/character/foreground is the layer on top, and your background image is beneath. Now add a chroma key (or ultra key) effect to the image on top, and select the green colour with an eye-dropper command. This should make it disappear and reveal your background image.
Repeat this will all the shots you need for your storyboard.
Here's one I did earlier using a free piece of software called Comic Life:
And, her's a portrait version of the first shot (Shot 3 a-b-c)
And here is a scanned version of one of my old storyboards for a film called The Boondocks, using the same software.
Thanks for watching. Bye.
Where do Storyboards come from?
Usually, the creative source material coming from the writer, director or producer, is sketched into thumbnail storyboards that fast-track the idea to represent how it will look in the final film.
For example: David Cameron's thumbnail sketches for Titanic, are pretty close to the sequence we see in the final film.On a typical mid-budget feature film production, the sketches will find themselves in the art department and be drafted into a storyboard for re-production.
Look at this stylised representation of personnel on set; can you spot the art department?
The art department can be seen 'bringing up the rear'. 38-48, from the Production Designer (head of department) to the accountant (responsible for the art department budget). A storyboard artist would be found at a drawing board along with the draughts persons. NB. this image comes from a book called Anatomy of the Movies, published in 1983.
The final draft storyboard is reproduced and can circulate the entire production, so lay-out and format of text and picture is very important.
The most common format would be landscape 6-frame to one page format.
One page of storyboard roughly equals 1 minute of screen-time, the same as a script. That breakdown roughly to 10 seconds per frame.
Some storyboard artists find their own preferred format: Mike Nicholson has a unique portrait 5-frame lay-out. look at these storyboards he made for the HBO series Out Of Season. Notice how the text boxes on the right have been left empty. This is to invite collaboration from different departments, once the storyboard has been printed. For more of Mike's work and explanation go to his blog at: www.storyboardsitf.blogspot.com Storyboards: In The Frame
OK, now for an activity:
A storyboard needs a story, so here is 'a storyline':
Film is set in a bank. A terrifying character enters. A ring has a missing diamond. A character realises he has been tricked. A character flees.
It's a bit vague, but it's simple; could be an event or an incident - an action scene.
Look at this:
If you print this out, you can draw a line to link the boxes from right to left. to show your suggestion for which shot, angle and movement you would use to to cover the action.
What is important then, is that you number them 1-5, so that you are thinking in sequence like a storyboard.
Now print out the template: landscape 6-frames. Transfer all the text into the text bows (below picture box) describe all the action and camera- shot-size, angle and movement.
For an idea of location and backgrounds, the best way is to conduct a Recce (location scout) and photograph a real location. This is real pre-production work because a location scout will also inform a shooting schedule for suitable times of day/season. Also, set dressing a location as well as permission and logistics.
Now add arrows:
Arrows drawn inside the picture frame illustrate character or object movement. As in this example fro Jurassic Park storyboard: The arrows show the movement of the dinosaurs, and the children trying to hide.
Larger arrows drawn outside, or over the picture frame illustrate camera movement. Here are some more examples:
For more examples go to: belofilms / storyboard camera movements
At this point, you may want to start sketching in the action:
Artists mannequins are good for this, or action figures.
Here is a quick guide to framing shot sizes using action figures:
I'm now going to show you a technique for how to compile a storyboard without having to sketch any thing: Using action figures, a stills camera, a green board and background images from your location scout (or otherwise, probably pinterest or google images).
First, you will need to follow your storyboard to photograph the figures. Shots will need to be taken in front of a green board (as background).
Here is a close up:
Repeat this will all the shots you need for your storyboard.
You can design/lay-out/format the images and text using photoshop, illustrator or inDesign.
Here's one I did earlier using a free piece of software called Comic Life:
And, her's a portrait version of the first shot (Shot 3 a-b-c)
And here is a scanned version of one of my old storyboards for a film called The Boondocks, using the same software.
Thanks for watching. Bye.
Comments
Post a Comment