STORYBOARDS
Why make a story board?
Well firstly it helps and forces you to plan your TVC out in an affordable way. It lets you see how the camera will work and gives you the first indication of whether shots will work or not. This is much cheaper than actually filming the shot with actors, make up, wardrobe, lighting, sound, runners, caterers... the list goes on. All those people have to be paid, and to find out that the shot didn't work anyhow, well that's expensive.
Secondly, you can check your coverage of a sequence and preplan your video camera angles for variety, continuity and rhythm. Nothing is more disconnecting than having a whole series of high angle shots - the audience feels as if they are looking down on the events (which they are) and are not a part of it. Mix that up with a few POV and reaction shots and you've suddenly made your seen much more interesting.
And finally if you want any special effects in your TVC you need to plan and get the effects team working on it while you're shooting otherwise it's going to take way too long. They'll use your storyboard as their bible.
Storyboarding enables you to try a number of different ways to get the exact feel that you want. It also gives you the opportunity to show other people (creative directors, clients, directors) what you have inside your head. This will give you feedback, budgets and allow you to get this thing greenlit.
Have a look here for all the people that will be pissed at you if you try to self-edit while filming.
___________________________________________________________
STEP ONE
The first thing you need to do before coming anywhere near a storyboard is have a script completed. A storyboard is not a a script in itself but rather a detailed run down of a shot by shot order of the script.
Shot not frame. This is an important point because often people fall into the mistake of thinking that each and every frame must be captured in the storyboard. This is really animation rather than storyboarding.
Think of it more like a comic book. You don't need to show every step that someone takes if the are running towards a car. That would be a very boring comic book - Batman took 20 pages running towards the joker and another six to punch him. You only show what needs to be understood by the reader.
© Robert Kirkman / Image Comics
In this example we can very clearly see what happened but we aren't shown every frame. We can still work it out, and it still makes sense.
The difference with a story board and a comic page is that a viewer can sit and look at a comic for as long as they like - we don't control that time, with film we do. This means we have to be aware that we show all the pieces of the puzzle so the viewer can work it out in the actual time that it happened in (real time.)
Things your storyboard should get across are:
Movement of characters - where are the characters and what direction are they facing/moving in.
Character dialogue - what's being said verbally and visually.
Movement of time - time between shots, time spent on shot, flow.
Camera angles - what's the camera doing? Is it high, low, close or distanced and what does that look like?
___________________________________________________________
SHOT LIST
So first off we need to go through the script and write out a shot list. This is every shot that we'll need to shoot. This is just an informal list that we'll use to draw our storyboard. It can be scribbled on the back of used paper or set up in a text document, as long it helps you remember everything you need in a particular sequence.
Lets look at an example of a script and work out what
our shot list would be:
Kevin is waiting for Ashley. He is sick of waiting, she's already half an hour late. He orders another coffee and opens the paper looking for something to read.
Ashley: "I'm so sorry I'm late, I just lost track of the time"
Ashley appears before Kevin and he glances up from his newspaper and smiles trying to not show how annoyed he was.
Kevin: It's no problem, I was just enjoying the sun.
She smiles back at him and takes a seat.
How many shots are involved in this?
___________________________________________________________
SETTING IT UP
Storyboard can look quite different but generally they stick to certain rules. For instance they normally use 4:3 horizontal/vertical ratio (or 16:9 for wide screen.) Draw six to 12 frames per page (you can do this on the computer) and leave some space underneath so you can add all the notes for each frame.
Use arrows to show subjects movements, zoom and pans and anything else that needs movement within the shot. Make sure these arrows don't get in the way of what's being shown. Just remember that someone who doesn't share your mind has to work off these so make it easy to understand.
The notes that are written below each frame
should contain some or all of the following:
Frame number - Number of the frame in the storyboard.
Action - 'Neville walks from left to right stopping center frame to look back over his left shoulder.'
Camera instructions - 'camera follows Neville before zooming in on his face.'
Dialogue - 'Neville: Who's there, I know you're there'
Other audio: 'SFX: footsteps'
Visual effects - 'FX: blue screen city streets'
Here's an example of what an average one looks like:
___________________________________________________________
DRAWING TIPS
In the real world... get a professional artist to do your storyboards, especially if clients are going to see them. Rough scribbles and random sketches will make you look unprofessional.
Get friends to stand in as models and take photos that you can then trace.
Draw your storyboard on index cards first so you can switch shots around until you have the right order and flow.
___________________________________________________________
Lets look at how a story board matches up with a finished TVC:
©Tony Daniel
___________________________________________________________
STORYBOARD LANGUAGE
CAMERA WORK
CLOSE-UP: A close distance between the camera and the subject.
LONG SHOT: A long distance between the camera and the subject, often providing a broader range of the setting. Good for quick understanding of the surounding environment.
POV (point of view): A shot which is understood to be seen from the point of view of a subject.
PAN: A steady, sweeping movement from one point in a scene to another. Normally a camera on a tripod moving from left to right or visa-versa.
TILT: Using a camera on a tripod, the camera moves up or down to follow the action.
ZOOM IN: Use of the camera lens to move closely towards the subject.
ZOOM OUT: Use of the camera lens to move away from the subject.
LOW ANGLE: A camera angle which looks up at its subject; it makes the subject seem important and powerful.
LEVEL ANGLE: A camera angle which is even with the subject; it may be used as a neutral shot.
HIGH ANGLE: A camera angle which looks down on its subject making it look small, weak or unimportant.
TRANSITIONS
DISSOVLE: A transition between two shots, where one shot fades away and simultaneously another shot fades in.
FADE: A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a Fade In.
JUMP CUT: A rapid, jerky transition from one frame to the next, either disrupting the flow of time or movement within a scene or making an abrupt transition from one scene to another.
SHOT TYPES
REACTION: A shot of someone looking off screen. A reaction shot can also be a shot of someone in a conversation where they are not given a line of dialogue but are just listening to the other person speak.
___________________________________________________________
INSPIRATION & EXTRAS
Each week I throw up things I find that relate to what we've been discussing or working on that week. Sometimes it might be things that relate to your major assessment and sometimes just stuff I thought was worth seeing. If you find something you think we should be showing or something we just have to see let us know in class or throw an email over to me at matt@billyblue.com.au and I'll get it up here or on the Bluni inspiration site.
___________________________________________________________
The Girl Effect
Parallax View Montage
___________________________________________________________
