Storyboarding

Introduction

A storyboard is a comic book of a movie that allows you to easily explain the shots in your movie to other people.  Storyboards are created from scripts, so write your script before continuing this tutorial.

Find some paper that has a box for an image and several lines beneath the image to write on. For each shot you want to have 3 things:

Blank Storyboard Template
 

1. Type of shot (camera angle) – close up, wide shot, etc. This explains what kind of setting you want to put on your camera
    
2. Screen direction – what’s happening in the shot; description
   
   Screen direction is not seen on a lot of storyboards; however these are necessary for professional storyboards. They should cover anything that’s not obvious in the scenes.
    
3. Dialog – always indicate who is saying what and if the voice is coming from off-camera

The goal of this document is to help students design and create storyboards that are useful when filming. The techniques shown will include how to design storyboards which are actually useful when filming, using correct camera angles for the scene and story, when and how to use transitions.

Definitions

A traditional board may look like this:

A frame is a single image on the storyboard.

A shot is continuous footage with no cuts – that is, from the time the camera is turned on to the time it’s turned off.

Shot Types

Listed are some basic camera angles and lengths that you will find useful when designing the visual scenes and giving instructing for the camera. While only a few shots are listed here, more are discussed in a provided link.

Choose the angle framing (how wide the shot is) by asking yourself, “What do I need the audience to see right now?”

Establishing Shot

The first shot of the sequence is usually the establishing shot which sets the stage for the action. This shot orients the viewers and puts a map inside the mind of the audience. The establishing shot is a long distance, or “bird’s eye view,” shot. This shot typically has much more detail than other, following shots in the same location.

Long shot

Used to stress the environment or setting, a long shot is set from a distance, but not a distance as great as the establishing shot

Medium shot

A medium shot is a shot that frames actors from the waist up. This is often used to focus attention on interaction between two actors.

Over-the-shoulder shot

An over-the-shoulder shot of one actor, taken over the shoulder of another. This shot is used when two characters are interacting face-to-face and focuses the audience’s attention to one actor at a time.

Close-up

Taken only inches away from an object or actor’s face, the close-up is designed to focus attention or give significance to an element. Close-ups should capture a storypoint –a moment or action that’s very important to the story.

Don’t frame close-ups too tightly. Reserve the extreme close-up for rare occasions of extreme emotion. Further, avoid centering characters. Leave some extra room in the direction that they’re facing. This is sometimes called “look room.”

Other shots

If you are looking for an angle that is not discussed in this section, check out this link for more ideas:

http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html

Storyboarding concepts

Panning

Panning is moving the camera to follow an object or action. Depicting this in storyboards can be done one of several ways, depending on the context.

If the shot is one big scene and you want to pan to the side or up (or down) to show the rest of the scene, you can take a bigger box and draw the entire scene, then use boxes to depict where the camera starts and stops.

If the shot covers action, you can use separate frames to show the character(s) at different times. In the first frame of the pan, draw an arrow that runs to the last frame of the pan.

It’s best to pan when you’re following the action or a character; give the eye something to follow.

Staging & Movement

Always make sure to draw a clear background in the first panel of a scene. This panel orients the viewer, so it’s important to consider which objects will be present.

When deciding where the actors stand on screen, keep space for necessary actors and movement in future panels. Don’t let your main objects bump against the sides of the panel – keep the whitespace.

When an actor is moving, use arrows liberally to communicate the movement. Overall, use as few models as possible to communicate action.

When to cut

Cut IN (closer) when you need to see a specific expression or small action.

Always give a reason for the cut: “Motivating the cut.” The reason can be a voice off-screen voice or action. This action is used to create a sense of curiosity in the viewer.

At the first frame of each new sequence, put a number next to that frame. That number is the sequence number, and is used for clarity when cutting from one sequence to another. Anytime you cut from one scene to another, indicate it on the storyboard. One option is to write “cut to …” on the storyboard, or use a sign near the frame.

Conclusion

Storyboards are important! Storyboards are a smooth transition from a script to filming, and allow you see the film before filming. They can tell you where your script needs to be changed to look good in a film, saving you time, effort, and possibly money. A storyboard should be so complete that a director who sees a storyboard can, without reading the script or talking to anyone involved in the original project, create the film as it was intended to be. Use the techniques discussed in this document to create such a storyboard.

References

http://www.learner.org/interactives/cinema/directing2.html

http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html

en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Movie_Making_Manual/Storyboarding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard

http://www.youtube.com/user/StoryboardSecrets

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/storyboarding-your-film.html