STORYBOARDS

Storyboards are essentially the blueprint for your video or movie creations. They are a series of sequential art frames in which your story or concept is told. Storyboarding is the foundational stage of the process in which the creative vision is first layed out IN time.  They are more than merely a planning stage (although crucially important!) they give form to the the visual mechanics of video, literally how the scene looks, what type of shot, camera angle, composition and transitions etc. While they have a similarity to comic book frames (whose narrative content is carried out through the frames) their main purpose is to direct the camera, animators or editors etc. It is much more an informational tool than a finished artwork, yet heavily influences what the finished video will look like.

Some examples below may help clarify.

Spiderman

Irk Spector

In these examples above, all frames are the same format, follow chronologically and even contain notes or symbols to assist in planning. It is not imperative to be an excellent draftsmen, only that the information be expressed clearly. Stick figures can get the job done! Each scene should be planned out from beginning to end. This includes the establishing shots, character close ups, truck in or out, pans and transitions. This will be used to aid in your filming, timing, and expression of your content. It is expected that you will not shoot your video in linear format but rather in sections and reconfigured during the editing process.

The following is a presentation of terminology and examples of camera shots.

Example taken from the floobynooby.com

A few things to consider:

Rule of Thirds- basically a compositional awareness. The frame is divided horizontally AND vertically to make 9 boxes. These lines demarcate the location the eye natural tends to focus on. It also serves as a quick way to consider the positive and negative space in the composition.

The 180 Degree Rule (Line of Action)- When showing a character, the filmmaker must consider how the viewer identifies this character through vantage point. Simply consider the the left and right side of the character each consisting of 180 degrees of the full 360. If we view the character from the left side, we would be confused, if immediately following, we were then presented with the character from the right side. We can show the character from any angle within those 180 degrees in different shots or close ups etc, without confusion. Breaking that 180 degree plane and crossing over MUST be shown or the viewer is lost.

For homework, I am expecting you to collaborate with your partner to create the storyboards for your documentary. This should address the issues mentioned above and aid in the planning and execution of the filming/ editing. Fully rendered storyboards are to be presented (one per partnership) at next class.