Storyboarding 101 What is a storyboard? Storyboarding is the process of planning and directing your movie using sketches and notes. The use of storyboards helps you visualize the flow of your project and lets you create an “inventory” of the assets you will need to complete your film. Everyone from Hollywood directors to multimedia designers to television producers uses the storyboard process to effectively plan and communicate their production and end-product ideas. What the storyboard shows • setting • characters and their movement • framing • dialog if any • passage of time • camera actions and positions • audio; both as “voice over” and “foley effects*” • treatment of transitions between scenes
courtesy Strategic Media Inc.
The language of the storyboard
The beauty of a storyboard is that it not only helps you plan your project, it also helps you establish continuity, avoid mistakes, and experiment. Also, by using a sequence of sketched frames to manage the elements listed, you’ll have a graphic way of seeing how to most effeciently acquire your “assets.” For instance, say you want to shoot a couple of scenes on campus, but in your story the scenes are spaced days apart. The storyboard tells you at a glance how many scenes you need to film so that you can shoot them all in one session.
Camera direction Close-up: A very close look at the subject. Establishes tension or mystery. Also called a “tight” or “detail” shot. Mid-range shot: The most common shot, the mid-range shot shows interaction between characters. Long shot: Also “establishing shot.” Sets the scene, establishes context, sets the mood. Camera angle: High, low, and level. Establishes point-of-view. Looking up at or down onto your subject carries huge meaning and can give a scene greater depth. Frame: This term has two meanings: First it’s a single still image that describes the smallest unit of a motion picture. Or second, it’s the way in which the content is laid out in the camera’s field of view. In this context the second definition applies. Tilt: The camera tilts up and down. Pan: The camera moves from side to side. Done slowly, this is a great way to set a scene and involve the viewer. Zoom: The camera zooms into or out of a scene. The speed of the zoom has a major effect on the feel of the scene. Move: Moving across or zooming on a still image. Also known as the “Ken Burns” effect. Tracking shot: the camera follows its target. Dolly shot: Also “crane chot,” “arc shot,” etc.. The camera physically moves in relation to the subject, quite often on some type of mechanical conveyance.
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Sound VO: Voice over. A voice that is laid over the top of a video segment. The speaker is unseen. Foley: Ambient sounds recorded or acquired (the Internet is a great place to get interesting sounds) that are used to enrich a scene and develop a sense of place or accentuate an action. Quite often the sounds associated with live action (footsteps, a creaking door, etc.) are too subdued in the on-site recording and require foley “dubs” to accentuate the sound. Music track: Just what it says. Music is powerful at setting a mood or dating a story. There are essentially two types of music that are used in film; scored music, which is specifically written and arranged to support and reinforce the changing moods of the movie, and found music, which the director finds elsewhere and enlists to enrich her story. Music can be a powerful element in storytelling, but please, please remember that music and and images alone produce no more than a slideshow with a killer sound track. Use music thoughtfully and with a compelling purpose in mind. Lighting Dynamic and static, high and low contrast, chiaroscuro, highlighting and backlighting: Lighting is a powerful componant of scene-setting. Sometimes ambient lighting is sufficient, but experimenting with the motion, placement, and strength of accent lighting can yield surprisingly fresh results. Editing Match on action: Handing off the point of view from one camera station to the next. We see the actor walk in her front door from the outside, then cut to an inside view, seeing her walk in the door. This technique establishes smooth flow and continuity. Also called “sequencing.” Eyeline match: As the actor turns and looks, the camera follows the “eyeline” to its target. Cut: The most basic transition. One clip stops, the next starts, with no transitional effect. Fade-in or fade-out: The clip simply fades in from or out to black. Dissolve: One scene “dissolves” into the next. A great way to indicate the passage of time, or the juxtoposition of two varying ideas or themes. Effect transition: A handoff between clips using any one of an endless variety of special effects: pushes, overlaps, fragmentations, expanding circles, venetion blinds, etc.. The effect transition generally takes on a life of its own and, unless used judiciously, detracts from the content of the film. Jump cut: transitions are jumpy and chaotic. The effect is usually acheived by removing short bits of the footage which enters and exits the transition. The result is edgy and looks unnatural. In some cases this might be a good thing. Cross cutting: Alternating between two or more concurrent sequences within the story. Cut to sound: Cutting the video track to match the audio track... generally a music track. Slug: An insert of soundless black. Freeze frame: Stopping the film for effect. Color or wash: Altering the color of footage in the editing process. Can be used to create many different types of moods.
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Making your storyboard Some tips that will help you get started: • You don’t need to be a good artist to draw an effective storyboard. Your primary objective is to indicate the position and movement of characters within their environment. Stick figures will suffice for people and arrows will be all you’ll need to indicate camera movements. • Leave room adjacent to each panel for notes and direction. This is where you’ll use many of the film terms listed above to accurately detail what will be happening in a given scene. • You needn’t write out all the dialog for a given screen. Instead, you can just write the first few words as a reference. From there, you can simply say “see script.” • Number your shots. This will help keep things organized, especially if you’re working with a team or working on a longer project. • “Guesstimate” the time for each shot and write it somewhere in your notes. This is a great discipline for helping you avoid content “bloat,” and it helps you prioritize the relative importance of clips as well. Deconstructing a short video It might be helpful to “deconstruct” a thirty-second commercial in order to see how storyboarding might usefully “map” a project and its required components. Let’s take a closer look at a very funny ad for a car dealership: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3L9BQQ4Gs Knowing what we know now, let’s examine the opening sequence of the Trunk Monket spot, listing and referencing all the ad’s critical elements in our storyboard:
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1. Fade from black to city scene. Parked cars in foreground. Young male carrying tire iron approaches car. Looks left, right, then wields the tire iron toward the car’s driver’s side window. Cut to shot 2. Camera: stationary, level, midrange shot Sounds; ambient city; traffic, etc. Footsteps for approaching male Abt. 3-4 sec.
You can easily see that, even in a very short piece such as this, highly detailed planning and direction is critical to the success of the project. As you watch the rest of the commercial, think of what problems would have arisen in production without having a very comprehensive game plan. The sound of the breaking car window, for instance; foley effect or ambient, site-acquired sound? What’s the desired effect of the sound, and what was needed to achieve that effect? ___________________ This has been a very elementary look at film language and storyboarding. There’s a ton more available for the curious student, but this should be enough to get you started. If you have any imediate questions about either video production or University resources, please feel free to contact me! Dave Underwood • 303 492 2672 • david.underwood@colorado.edu