Storyboard Background-Information Styles, Tipps and Methods

Storyboard Background-Information Styles, Tipps and Methods By Saskia Petrenz [email protected] Contents Introduction 3 Mindset of the storyboards artist: Who he is and what he does 4 Storyboard Styles 6 Work-Flow 8 Composition 11 Lighting and Color 12 Tips/Methods 15 Dictionary 17 Questionnaire 18 Sources 19 2 Introduction This paper will give a general overview about storyboards, information about different styles of storyboards and how to use them. The mindset of a storyboard artist and his work-flow will also be explained. Additionally composition and the use of light in storyboards will be explained as well as some handy tips and tricks. At the end a dictionary lists eventually necessary technical terms. What is a storyboard? A storyboard is a suggestion. It gives a possible basic setup for a scene including general camera setups and lighting. It allows advance organization, frame by frame and shot by shot what is going to be happening dur- ing shooting. The function of a storyboard is to indicate and illustrate all shots needed for the final product. It does this by pre-visualizing the written word (screenplay) and its structure. Also any visual effect will be indi- cated in the storyboard, this means that modern Special Effects Films are more demanding on storyboards. A storyboard serves the visual needs of the director of photography and special effects team. The director and director of photography will go over the storyboard to decide on the needed cameras/ lenses/filters/lighting equipment etc. Also the producer, director, cinematographer and production designer will want to see visuals and illustrated SFX (Special Effects) to estimate cost, the set up for shots and decide on cameras, lighting and framing. Storyboards are also used to design sets by working with model builders, miniature makers and green-screen technicians. Mindset of the storyboards artist: Who he is and what he does As a storyboard artist, you work mostly in pre-production and must be able to produce quality sketches un- der pressure for various people e.g. : the producer, who estimates cost/budget, uses them for shot sequences, blocking of the actors, camera setup and lighting. A storyboard artist wants to sell a product and therefore needs a fast way to convey an idea. Most often these are the ideas of others (such as the director) resulting in many changes and edits. Remember, drawing a storyboard is a journey of discovery. This also means that a storyboard-artist can not get to attached to his drawings, because many will, if at all, only be seen shortly and either be thrown out or changed. You have to keep moving forward and keep your goal and what you want to express in mind. As everything else is build upon the storyboards, they need to communicate things quickly and clearly. If you as artist, make a bad-choice: it´s not bad at all, but sometimes it´s just time to move on. Always keep in mind how you could improve the shot your working on. You are always making suggestions which then are considered by the director, etc. This is the reason why a storyboard artist should know about many other fields of filming, such as directing, film-language, character-design, lighting, composition, animation, etc. To be able to convey ideas to all the different members of a (film-) production team, it is always handy to learn as much about all regions of (film-) production as possible. To know about many regions of film production helps also a lot with drawing storyboards, as illustrations in storyboards require the use of design, perspective, mood and mise-en-scene. (mise-en-scene: placement of actors within a given scene). You should think in actions, sounds and expensive special effects (which can/will be thrown out later). It is crucial for a storyboard artist to be able to make quick decision when approaching a deadline. You will have to choose the quickest solution to convey an idea and therefore always keep in mind where you are heading and how you want to get there. Always keep the different aspects of storytelling and film-production in mind while storyboarding. Keep in mind that it is the concept that counts. Boldness and simplicity of execution will make the point quicker than overly elaborated drawings. You should always try to push yourself to try to draw different subject matters as you will have to draw a lot of different subjects, and also a lot of things you will not like. The frame (four sides containing selected subject matter) is the pictures boundary of reality and therefore the artists boundary. As artist you pick a selected few of the millions of pictures around us and emphasize, pinpoint and rearrange them for the use in the storyboard. Imagine you want to illustrate a shot of a castle on a hill. What is important? The castle itself, but should you include the dark looming mountains in the background into your frame? And what about that highway run- ning along the foot of the hill? Some artist swear on the use of digital media such as Photoshop for fast work. To work digitally has its ad- vantages. You can duplicate and adjust drawings and re-use them whenever possible, as well as avoiding to re- draw the whole scene for just one little adjustment. With the use of layer compositions you can let Photoshop remember which layers where turned on and off, keeping your layers organized. This is also quite handy for moving storyboards to e.g. let your character run through one frame, showing the whole scene in one drawing. Storyboard Styles Style can have many meanings. It can refer to a particular style of drawing, as no two artist have the exact same style. The same character drawn by two different artist. left: Butch Hartman right: Mark Hem It is also depended on the used technique, which can also be referred to as style. Some artist prefer pencil, others pen and ink or markers (or digital media). The technique should be based on the needs of the project: rough pencils used in sketches or simple line drawings are very fast. More complex art is called tone. This is more then just sketchy line work. It is for example finished shaded pencil work colored with gray-tone markers or color. Style can also refer to the flow of the story. Different directors have different styles, some prefer moving cameras, others tell the story in close ups. Just look at the different flow of a Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton film. There are basically two kinds of storyboards: One are image association boards or presentation boards. They demonstrate an overall visual key and may only highlight the key action, lighting styles or color usage. Therefore individual pictures can be a lot more detailed.Boards drawn for presentation are usually done in large format and in color. Jurrasic Park 2 “Getting the T-Rex of the island” The others are narrative boards or production boards. Those go over each shot in detail and concern each line of dialogue and action in the script. They are made up of many, many individual drawings and are mainly done in pencil (or another fast technique). These boards represent the vision of the director. Jurrasic Park 1 “Raptors in the kitchen” Feature film productions use storyboards to work out production problems and special effects. These need more detailed storyboards than finished pencil, but the time available is often not enough to allow time-con- suming boards to be drawn so only key-scenes and certain panels are fully drawn out. Storyboards for television are usually production boards, with 50-70 shots needing to be drawn out in one day there is only a certain amount of detail possible. Animation production boards need to illustrate actions more detailed. It can take 3-4 panels to show the hu- morous way a character chews. An animation storyboards are basically the key frames showing each extreme action of the character. “up” by Pete Doctor; animation production board showing each extreme action of the character Jurrasic Park 1 “Raptors in the kitchen” Work-Flow You start out with really rough sketches, which you show to the director. These scribbles may even need explanation and are intended to give just a very basic idea of what will be shown. The director will give his comments on these and suggest changes. With this first feedback you can go back to the drawing board to start on the real storyboard. Planning before starting on a sequence helps to get an idea where you want to go. Thumbnails on paper can help a lot with this. Its always good to start by creating Foreground (FG) and Background (BG). Indicate the loosest possible form for background when your focus is on the main-character in the FG/MG. You only need the BG to get a feeling of scale. Draw the Background more clear in an establishing shot, after that, use a rough indication until you have a change of scene. The next establishing shot will show the BG and the characters position within it. If you have a shot focusing on the character no background is needed. Start out with line drawings, which are done very quickly. Half of these get thrown away when you show them to the production heads. Take notes on their comments and requested Establishing shot giving a feeling for scale changes. Cheat to win: tracing and re-using of pictures saves a lot of time.

Load more