Storyboarding

AS MediaPre-Production Project

What are storyboards?• Alongside the screenplay they are the first stage of planning and designing a

film.

• They are a visual text depicting a scene or action – they convey a visual story.

• The purpose of doing them is to give the director a sense of how the film will look before the camera starts shooting. It saves time and money and is also useful for all the crew.

What are storyboards?• They involve accurately drawn images of the

shots and written directions for sound, SFX, mise en scene and editing (duration of shot and types of cut . )

• Directors use storyboards on set to shoot the film and also in the edit suite to help edit the final version of the film.

• Some directors animate their storyboards and screen them to give the cast and crew an idea of what the final film should be like (animatics)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA8yNSVuYxo&feature=related

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE6-iDDlWNI

Think Visually!

• The key is to think visually

• Also to think creatively – a birds eye view or aerial ELS may be more interesting to establish a scenes location than a standard ELS.

Storyboard Images

• You do not need to be the best at drawing in the world!

• However the characters need to go beyond stick men.

• Above all they need to show the shot accurately – a close up if it is a close up and a medium shot if it is a medium shot!

• You must include backgrounds also – show the settings!

• Try to abide by the ‘Rule of Thirds’ also to make well framed shots!

Good Storyboard Images

Bad Storyboard Images

Movement in Storyboards

• Arrows should be added to the images drawn to show either …

• movement of the camera• Or movement of objects within the frame

Storyboard Layouts

• There are different ways of laying out your storyboards

• The way we will do this is outlined here…

INT: Inside Trinity’s hotel roomLow key lighting

Trinity ( in a black leather jacket) places her arms behind her head but looks angry and determined.The policeman is behind her looking determined and is moving forward to handcuff her.

9 ECU of Trinity – eyeline match

with MS of police man in centre of shot through her held up arms

2 seconds Straight cut

Non – diegetic dramatic dance style soundtrack.Diegetic sirens

Dialogue:Policeman #1: “Stick em up.”

Your image should demonstrate the use of technical codes (camera shot/angle/movement and lighting)and the use of visual codes.

You must number your shots so you know the order and it will help to show if the narrative structure makes sense.

You must include a description of your cinematography – you can use abbreviations to do this quickly

This will show the pace of the editing

This is to show the type of cut that needs to be used at the end of the shot (editing)

Describe the diegetic and non-diegetic sound - including dialogue

Include a description of all mise en scene and lighting.

You should also include INT/EXT to define the location of the shot

Abbreviations and written details

• ECU, CU, MS, LS, ELS

• OS – over the shoulder shot• POV – Point of view shot

• Pan/track – left /right/ forward

Lord of the Rings Storyboard

Hanna Storyboard

Student Examples

Storyboarding Task

• In groups storyboard the opening of this film:

• A woman walks down the high street at night• She hears a noise from behind her and looks

around• She looks scared and continues walking but

faster• We can hear footsteps behind her and she