Before shooting a foot of film or animating a frame of animation, it is imperative to create a storyboard of the job ahead.

From reading the script, everyone involved in a project has an image in their heads of what the production should look like. But it’s not until the storyboard is created and approved that everyone begins to see the same picture. A storyboard solidifies the team’s vision, and creates a game plan for the production.

A good storyboard will help sell a client on a commercial concept, and help the producer and production manager create a realistic budget. It will tell everyone involved if what you are about to produce is on target, without spending the time and money on the full production.

My background has been mostly in feature and television animation, both in 2D and 3D. So the following reflects more of those venues, but the process also applies to live action and commercial storyboards.

In live action, the storyboard will identify the shots to be filmed in succession, and divide the shooting day into the most intelligent and economical schedule. It will identify which shots require effects, and what type. And it will create a flow of action, whether it’s a car chase, or Indiana Jones running from a giant bolder.

Sidebar: Alfred Hitchcock storyboarded each scene of his films, and shot no more than boarded so that his vision couldn’t be re-cut by the studio heads. Storyboards are the director’s best tool for preserving their vision, and keeping it within budget.

In animation, the cost for creating each scene is so high that you must storyboard each shot so that nothing is left wasted on the cutting room floor. The storyboard stage is the time to experiment and develop the story into its best form. It’s much cheaper to throw out a sequence that has been storyboarded as apposed to one that has been animated, or shot on film. Once fully storyboarded, an Animatic can be created of the still panels in order to run the film at length and see if the story is working and to make sure you are not creating more scenes than the time frame and budget of the film will allow.

Sidebar: Even Walt Disney has cut entire sequences that had already been animated. The Soup Eating Sequence in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, for example. Not that the animation wasn’t entertaining, but the sequence of the dwarfs eating soup didn’t advance the storyline, and extended the running time of the film.

At the end of the day the story is the key factor in creating a successful film, and the storyboard is the tool to help you get there. While you must start with the foundation of a good script (all the storyboarding and beautiful animation or live action cinematography in the world cannot save a bad story), the storyboard acts as a guide in making that good story into the best visual presentation possible in the most economical fashion.

The big difference between storyboarding for live action or animation is: in live action the board will block out the action and cuts, and not get into the performance of the character on screen. The actor will bring that life into the production under the guidance of the director. In Animation, the board artist will breathe life into the characters in his storyboard to be enhanced and refined by the animator that animates the scene.

I am often asked if someone has to be an amazing artist in order to make storyboards. The answer is yes and no. And throw in a “that depends”.

If you are looking to become a commercial storyboard artist as your stock and trade, then yes, you had better be a competent artist. On the high end Storyboards are used to sell the idea, get investment and the artist creates the first “look” to the movie. If the artist doesn’t have the talent to translate what is in his or her mind onto the paper, nobody else will get to share in his vision.

But storyboards are also valuable on less demanding levels as well. Directors and others should be able to communicate in this language as well. Whoever the person, it need not always be works of high art. If need be, the art can be as simple as stick figure drawings-if that will satisfy the demands of its use.

Sidebar: Technology has also given us new ways to create a storyboard, with software that has been created for this very purpose. It drops in characters and scene items and allows the frames to be created rather quickly. Though a storyboard from one movie will start to look much like the next with these packages, at least they help convey the essence and factual information about what is needed for each shot.

Here is an example of two drawings that basically show the same shot, but one is drawn with more detail and expertise than the other. The same idea of giant sea creatures swimming in the distance is conveyed. The more detailed drawing will aid in the creation of the 3-D model and gives more sense of scale, but isn’t necessary to tell the story or understand the content of the scene. Having the command of the pencil is a good thing, but not imperative in creating an effective storyboard.

An independent filmmaker who has no investors or producers to “sell” the idea to may not need to spend much time making beautiful boards. As long as what he produces is good enough to remind him of what he wants to accomplish in his film, lower quality images can be fine. Especially if he is a crew of one!

Let’s talk about some of the basic approaches to creating a solid storyboard.

• Become an investigator. Seek out as much pertinent information as possible. In my case, when I read the script to be storyboarded I can’t help but visualize the scene in my head as I read, but that’s just a start. Once you’ve digested the written material, you need to seek out the lay of the land. The location your story takes place, the logistics involved. If a scene is to play out in the kitchen of a house you need to know where the door is so you can enter and exit the characters from the correct direction. Or if the character is to place a freshly baked pie on the windowsill, you need to know what wall the window is on. Next you need to pick the brains of the director to get an idea for what he may see as the scene unfolds. What kind of mood should the scene have, and what amount of camera movement is involved? If doing a commercial, the clients will have a big say on how they see the action or staging of the spot you are about to board.
  

  3: Spot Board

  Figure 3 shows an example of a spot board. The overall concept is done in a series of thumbnail sketches, giving the overall concept in one drawing. This makes it easy to explain the series of transitions from tire tracks to aerial shadows to speed lines in a fast pace car commercial. It’s a great way to work out your ideas and pitch the idea to a client.

  The dialogue recordings will set the pace and mood of the scene. When the sound track is provided, it is important to work with the sound track and stage the characters and action to match. More often than not, the sound track hasn’t yet been recorded. In this case the voice actor will take cues from your storyboard on how to deliver their lines, and what they should be doing while saying the lines. In either situation, strive to make the actions natural to the delivery of the lines and the mood of the scene.

  The characters involved in your story are the next area to study. The design of the character, the size relationship of the characters to each other, and the personality traits those characters may have. I usually spend the first hours just studying and drawing the characters I’m about to utilize in my storyboard. I want drawing them to become second nature so the technical issue of drawing doesn’t impede the thought process as I bring them to life in the storyboard. The more information you can accrue before you start the better. Throughout your investigation process, your vision for the board you are about to create becomes more clear in your head, so that when you start the boarding process the images are screaming to get out of you head and off the tip of your pencil. You should be able to clearly visualize in your head the complete board, shot by shot.

• Share your plan. There are many hours of work in creating a storyboard, which can contain hundreds of drawings depending on the venue you’re working in. There’s nothing worse than spending a week or two on a storyboard only to find out you are going in the wrong direction. Here’s where thumb nailing the action out briskly and rough comes into play. Shorthand the sequence out in as little time as possible and get some feedback from the appropriate powers that be. This way if you are not on track you haven’t lost valuable time doing pretty drawings that may be thrown out. Another step I do is what I call spot boarding. This is where I’ll draw key setups necessary to the scene, basically showing a visual outline for the staging, cutting and business that the character will be performing. I then show this to the client, director or producer I may be dealing with. I usually send this to everyone involved, so there are no surprises when I deliver the completed storyboard. Right off the bat everyone knows my plan. Usually schedules are tight and the next department down the line is depending on the storyboard being delivered on time so they stay on schedule.

• 4: Beginning, Middle, and End

  Start the Board Once everyone gives me the thumbs up, or their input and suggestions, I can confidently attack the boarding process. Using my spot board as a guide I begin to craft the scenes with continuity and acting that clearly maps the action of the scene. I try not to leave much to the imagination at this point and clearly outline the action and camera positions in the scene.

  Each scene you create usually needs to have a beginning middle and an end. In this case, the giant pulls Don Quixote up into the shot, he lunges with his spear, and gets swallowed. Try to make the beats clear in your board.

• Pitch the Board Once you complete the first draft of the storyboard, it is not uncommon for you to pitch the board to the client or director. At this stage you will walk through the board, acting out and describing the flow of the board. At this point, changes are flagged and corrections are made. You should also try to notate any dialogue, descriptions, and instructions on the storyboard itself. This way the board is self-explanatory whether you’re there or not. Quite often the storyboard is sent overseas to be animated, and it must be clear to everyone that reads it. The animator will take the storyboard to the next level, springing off your storyboard panels, and the director will decide the final fate of the scene with timing, acting and camera decisions.

If you do your part right up front, it makes everyone else’s job down the line, easier, less frustrating, and allows them to focus on bringing the scene to life as opposed to solving a problem that you threw at them. There is nothing more satisfying than getting positive feedback from the production company working off your storyboard.

I’ve worked as a storyboard artist on feature length films, television animation and commercials, each of which have their own procedures to follow. But they all require the same general approach.

Storyboards In Other Industries Even in a field such as educational software, the storyboard becomes the blueprint for the educators and the programmers to clearly visualize and understand what the program entails. It allows two disparate elements of the production pipeline to share the same vision as to what is being worked upon and minimizes the risk of miscommunication wasting time and energies.

I am currently working with an educational software company called The Imagination Station. My clients are kindergarten to third grade kids learning to read. I work with educators and experts in the primary reading field, and interface with the director of the program in order to develop new ways to illustrate the principals and rules of reading. We create characters and visual scenarios that support specific goals the educators are trying to achieve.

For example: We created a show called Word Masters. A group of kids that start a club and go on adventures based on words they create from an old card deck they found.

Their tree house is a key location in which the story takes place. I created an establishing shot of the tree house and its interior, which allows me to place the characters in it in a variety of camera angles. By drawing the set with solid perspective planes first, makes it easier to draw your characters within them in a convincing manner.

Now everyone involved in the production can clearly see the same picture as to what the set looks like and characters relationship in it. This next example shows how I experimented with the actions of the character within a scene. Here a group a grooving sounds riff with their unique sounds on an urban street corner. Establish the set, and develop the characters within it.

Become an investigator. Read and understand the script fully. Seek out the thoughts and desires of the directors, producers, and clients. Collect logistic information like set and stage design. Listen to sound track if available to immerse yourself in the inflection, pace, and mood. Familiarize yourself with the design and personality traits of the characters. Visualize the overall piece in its entirety. Thumbnail, or Spot-board your overall piece. Share your plan. Attack the board unfolding the story in an entertaining fashion while paying close attention to characterization and continuity. Notate the storyboard. Pitch, correct and deliver.

If you follow this approach, you will give yourself a better chance of creating an effective, entertaining and informative storyboard that everyone will embrace. While doing it in a timely manner with minimum adjustments and headaches, after all this type of work should be stimulating and fun.

Figures (5 - 7) copyright (c)2005 istation, all others copyright (c) Dan Kuenster