Storyboarding Primer

Hello All,

I wanted to write a quick note about storyboarding or at least about the strategies and theories employed during the task.

Part of the movie watching experience, almost all IMHO, is the image, the visuals of the film. I've studied and produced animation and it's helpful for me to develop the script into images if I think of the characters as abstractly as I would a drawn or 3D character. The camera is a character in the film too and has a language all of it's own. The camera is your best friend in telling your story as it has an exclusive look into your world.

For Example: You can isolate someone, good or bad, by isolating them in the frame. Further isolating them with selective focus, with color, with a Close-Up. The list can go on but I think you get the idea. You could also do the reverse to achieve the opposite result.

If the character needs to be scene as part of a group, you could include several of his friends with him in a shot. They could dressed similarly, style or color or both.

I use over-the-shoulder shots when I need to keep my distance from a character. I use Wide Shots to establish and closeups to isolate. You also want to paint the scene with light and shadows creating direction and motion in the static frame. There should be a sense of balance, even if it is off.

There are wonderful books out there on shot-making and storyboarding. I encourage you to check them out and learn from them. Look under film-making or animation. I found the better books in drawing storyboards for comics or animation. Once you begin understanding the language of film, and of the camera, you'll be able to easily apply the theory behind it and master it.

Brad Ferrell

http://www.angelisdigitalstudio.com/