Storyboarding

Written by Dr. Gash
Sunday, 28 October 2007

Storyboarding is the beginning of the process. Time spent researching and developing your ideas at this point will be time well spent. Storyboarding allows you to begin to organise and explore visually the idea you are trying to convey. It will allow you to clarify your thoughts as well as provide a roadmap when you come to filming and editing.

Storyboarding the process of producing a series of sketches to represent your film. It is a way of graphically representing the idea/plot of your film. Not only will it allow you to clarify your thoughts on the film, it'll allow you to communicate ideas easily and quickly to others in your team and actors if you have any. Storyboarding often looks like a comic strip of what your film is to be. Originally used in the 1930s, storyboarding is still used today in film production and in development of interactive WebPages and software. It is also used in event management to illustrate visually the sequence the event should take.

It doesn't matter if you can't draw - some people use photographs of models instead of drawings. The storyboard is just a series of rough sketches, not fine art. Keeping the pictures small will help the process to be quicker and easier. The storyboard can contain more than just a series of still pictures. The storyboard can also be annotated. Arrows may be drawn on the pictures to illustrate the movement of the actors, or to plan where the camera focus will move when filming. The transition effects between shots should also be written on the storyboard, as can any effects that you may introduce at editing. Any relevant notes can be written in the margins e.g. music suggestions. The storyboard will not only allow you to develop your plot, it'll allow you to think of how you will film the shots required.

The initial storyboard does not have to be linear, there may be subplots that'll develop separately. It is good to number your sketches or display the sketches in an order consistent with how you see the film developing; this numbering or order will continually change.

When it gets to filming the storyboard isn't there to constrain you. It is to focus your creative efforts and as a backup. The film will develop as you start filming, but it is good practice to update the storyboard with any changes.



Other Sites to look at:

http://www.storyboards-east.com/starlog.htm
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2009/01/lessons-from-the-art-of-storyboarding.html