The Close-Up

A common mistake of less experienced storyboard artists is framing their shots too tightly. Even a close-up should have a bit of breathing room, unless it is the rare occasion of an extreme close-up. This also has to do with pacing... it's best to save those high-impact shots were the moments in the story that have the greatest impact. If a storyboard artist were to fill their board from start to finish with lots of crazy angles, fancy camera moves and extreme close-ups, it would leave no room for the artist to show any real impact when it's really needed. It's all about contrast.

The Pan

The Cut

That may mean that the shot is very wide -- for example: if I need to show somebody driving a car around the corner, the shot needs to be wide enough to see all of that action. If I'm trying to show a guy sitting in a restaurant drinking a cup of coffee, I would want the framing to include just the guy, the table, and the cup of coffee.

Cut from Gerald talking on a radio microphone to the broadcast tower, spreading his message across town.

It's all about how important the specific action is to a scene. If the man at the coffee shop is putting a couple of creams in his coffee, there is no need to make a special emphasis on that action; so I would not cut in closer on him pouring in the cream. But... if somebody was putting poison into his coffee cup, that's a perfect time to cut in on that action for emphasis.

Cut from Grandpa sitting in car to a close-up of him turning on the radio

Always remember, sometimes the information you withhold from the audiene can create some nice comedic effects when you reveal that information to them.

The 180 Rule

#1. Be Careful of Theater Staging:

#2. Maintaining Screen Side:

#3. Maintaining Screen Direction:

Implied Motion

While they can be very similar, a fundamental difference between the needs of comic design versus animation design is the presence of literal motion. This is where storyboards can blur the line between both worlds.  

In animation you can give your character a nervous tick, a particular walking pattern, or any other number of facial and other motion cues to add flavor and depth to a character.  However, with the static images of comics or storyboards, this approach is limited.  As such, more pressure is placed upon the designs themselves because they're the primary visual resource the reader has for gaining information about the character.  Luckily, there's a plethora of tools at our disposal for doing just that.  The shape, size and position of a figure can be designed in such a way that it implies motion.  Upturned brows and lips can suggest someone who is frequently bemused, an exaggerated posture can give the impression of a certain type of gait, and so on.  And since the reader's eye can dwell on a comic panel indefinitely (at least in theory), there's more freedom to employ subtler facial and body elements to add to a character's flavor. 

The Body

Shape Up

Silhouettes and overall shape are the first pieces of information to reach the reader, and because of this they will always dominate any character's design.  If your silhouette isn't doing its job, the rest won't matter.  Starting with a simple, clear shape and working backwards is a good rule of thumb.  And while this is naturally easier with monsters and other fantastical creatures, it applies just as much to regular people.

Body Types

People are not divided into skinny/fat/muscular.  While these body states do obviously exist, each of these will still differ from person to person.  For example, there's not a single "athletic" body type, but dozens. Don't fall into the trap of old superhero comics where everyone looks like a bunch of clones wearing different costumes.  People's builds, postures, hands, feet and musculatures are extremely diverse, going far beyond simple factors like age, height and weight.

Body Language

Your character's motions can inform you quite a bit on how you could design their form.  If a character often stoops or shuffles, you can warp his or her spine and posture to bring attention to that sort of behavior.  In general, you want the figure to emphasize and accentuate the type of body language indicative of that person.  This is really important.  In animation, there's a little less of a required connection between body language and design because you can literally show motion, but with comics being a static medium,  you have to imply a lot of motion without showing it.  Naturally, if your character has a very wide range of motion, your design should reflect that too.  Main characters aren't usually designed around a single posture, for example, but side ones often are.  In the end, this is all a tool to efficiently communicate information about a character to the audience.

---

- Week 6 -

Project #11
Storyboard Test: Duncan's Revenge

Using the script provided in class and character designs for reference, storyboard the short story in full. Keep in mind how the types of shots you use will help to tell the story; wide shots to establish the location ot to show full body actions, close shots to show what the character is thinking. Write out the dialogue, camera work and action notes under each panel.

It MUST be done on paper and must also include your preliminary thumbnails. These will be a series of quick sketches (very rough drawings on pages with small panels), use these to figure out major poses and storytelling drawings for all the scenes.

Thumbnails will help you experiment and find the right staging, even if you think you already know what you're going to do. They are fast, small sketches for every shot to plan out the action and framing.



Inspiration to Download:
Spongebob Boards





Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Boards



Ren & Stimpy Boards



Great reference guide:
- Brad Bird & Chris Roman on Composition & Storyboarding


What to think about when sketching thumbnails:

The Importance of Doing Thumbnails

We use thumbnails to work through our ideas. To get past our first ideas , and get on to the ideas that count - Remember: the first shots you think of are always the worst and most cliched idea. So the first idea you think of is probably the first and most obvious idea that the audience will think of too! The later ideas will be the good ones. They'll be the most inventive ideas, and the most original. But to reach those ideas, you'll first have to work through the cliched ideas.

Thumbnails are, without a doubt, the fastest way to do just that.

When you get a script, sit down, read through it, make tiny sketches in the margin of the page. When you're done, read it a second time. Then start doodling official thumbnails. Maybe it's just poses, maybe it's working out full actions. Either way, you're quickly discovering what will work and what won't, and it's all fast little sketches on on paper. Quick and dirty - that's the way to do it. Even use stick-man for your characters. Many of the best animators do their thumbnails with what is essentially a stick-man. The quickest road to a great idea, is through these thumbnails!

As long as you can see where the character's hips are, the angle of the shoulders, angle of the head, the position of the limbs, and the placement within the frame - that's ALL you need to know at this point, and you shouldn't be worrying about any other details yet, generally speaking.

Because remember, they are SUPPOSED to look rough. They are not meant to be pretty pictures. Don't waste a lot of time making each thumbnail look like a piece of art. Don't spend time shading it in, drawing all wrinkles, shadows, clothing, etc. They're meant to be fast and sloppy. So, the first rule is to stay rough, and the first *use* of thumbnails is to discover the best ideas for your shot.

The second use of thumbnails is to get fast feedback.

In an animation production studio, you can save yourself days of work (and a great deal of frustration) if you run your thumbnails past your supervisor or your director before diving into the actual scene. Nothing is more frustrating than spending 3 days blocking in something in Maya or Flash that you think is great only to find out, once the director gets a look at it, that you're doing something he doesn't like at all. It's always a great idea to run your thumbnails past them first, so you can save yourself the headache (and heartache!) of hearing the dreaded "start over" words from your director.





Here's a few quick methods for producing fast and dirty thumbnails.

1. Keep the area you have to draw small. It allows you to draw much faster. The pictures become more like doodles than works of art. Remember the point is to get an idea of how things will look on screen. Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator, Prometheus) is famous for his Ridleygrams - rough, almost indecipherable sketches that outline what he has in mind.

2. Copy up a set of storyboard sheets so you don't have to spend all night drawing screen boxes.

3. Sketch in pencil so you can make changes easily, then use markers for photocopying. Feel free to use any medium you are happy with - professional storyboard artists use everything from magic markers to charcoal.

4. Scribble down short notes about what's happening in shot and what characters are saying.

5. An overhead plan view of the location of the camera, actors and props can be helpful if you know the environment you are going to be working on.

6. Number your shots so that they can be quickly referred to on the shot list, during editing, or when you are pitching the boards to someone.

Drawing storyboards is an excellent way to keep motivated, to show you're organized and to let everyone else know what's going on in your head.

In Live-Action, storyboards aren't there to constrain you. Just like the script they are there to back you up during shooting. If everything starts flowing on set let it happen. In the real situation you may see a new angle - go ahead, shoot it. Get the shots you need by checking your storyboard and give yourself the time and freedom to experiment.

Breakdown of a Storyboard Test - Madagascar 3

First of all I familiarized myself with the location of the sequence- Central Park Zoo.  I went through the first 'Madagascar' on DVD, freeze-framing the movie on the key locations and making layout studies & geographical notes.




Then reading through the script I start to jot down any thoughts, ideas for staging and key images that strike me.



Then I thumbnailed out the entire sequence-fleshing out the character business and camera angles.












Lastly, cleaned up some portions to a more polished version with their provided templates.














The sequence as it exists here is not in the finished film, but this shows the process one can take in finding the right angles for the shots.


In animation, a good way to thumbnail out some visual ideas from a written script is by doing a 'Beat Board'.

Beat Boards are sketches for the storyboard artist made to help them with gags, posing, stage direction elements and in some cases even art direction & layout.

Usually these are sketches that help to explore ideas about how to plan out certain shots.

Beat boards by Bill Wray:



Storyboards can be very detailed or very simple, they can have lots of panels for every shot to map out and choreograph the movement, or they can be very general - made to only capture the angle and composition of the shot.



For every Pixar movie, a color script is created, which is essentially a rough look at the color keys, palettes, and tones for the entire film. A color script gives you a good look at how the color arcs in a film relate to the story. Lou Romano created the color script for Pixar's Up. It's done after the screenplay and designs are complete and it's an overview of the entire movie.



"The Incredibles" Color Script:



Recap - Terms for basic shots:


Legend of Korra Storyboards – by Ian Graham:


See these Storyboards from Winnie the Pooh and Kim Possible - by Sharon Forward




Animator Hank Ketcham created Dennis the Menace, he began the comic strip in the 50s and there was always great staging and thoughtful designs. 2D animators often talk about "economy of line"; describing as much as possible with the fewest lines, since every line has to be drawn over and over again. The same can be said for storyboard artists, it takes years of practice to become very effecient with your pencil or stylus pen, to visually display a layout of a shot, the weight of a pose, the emotion in a posture, the basic shapes and forms that make up the clear and effective composition of a scene with as few lines as possible.









Look through this comicbook by Ryan A. and watch how effectively a story can be told with simple imagery and no words: "Nothing is Forgotten"



The proper use of silouettes in storyboarding can achieve strong compositions:

"Clean" Boards

One of the questions often asked by storyboarding students is
"How clean does a cleaned-up storyboard have to be?"

The two drawings above (drawn by Sherm Cohen) show the difference between the cleaned-up storyboard drawing (drawn with 3B pencil on standard storyboard paper) and the rough drawing (done in ball-point pen on a Post-It note).

It's usually fine to let some of the construction lines show through on the finals. You can't quite see it with these scans, but there are faint sketch lines visible on all the clean-up drawings shown here.

These storyboard drawings are from a Burger King commercial in 2005. BK was giving out SpongeBob watches, and this was the commercial promoting them.

For the examples above, the rough was drawn with a Pitt brush-marker on Post-It note, then finished with 3B pencil.

Here's a tiny Post-it thumbnail (above) followed by marker rough, followed by the final storyboard drawing.

As usual, the drawing with the most life is the rough. It's hard to keep that energy when you clean it up, but that's the eternal challenge!

The clean-ups shown here are actually cleaner than what you would usually draw for storyboards. Since these were done for an advertising campaign, storyboard artist Sherm Cohen had to make sure that they looked as close to "finished art" as possible because they were being looked at by non-animation people. This is to demonstrate the extremes of roughs to clean-ups.

This is a good example of not drawing lots of detail until you know that the shot works. There's no way I'm going to waste my time drawing all those falling Krabby Patties until the final drawing (below).

Click on any of these drawings to see a BIG full-sized scan!

You'll see in some of these drawings that there's visible construction lines on the characters and perspective lines going through the background. These are more than acceptable in any storyboard clean-up.

Samples of how to label your stage direction, actions and scenes:












Watch Sherm Cohen's Awesome Storyboard Tutorials:



Download these boards.

See more vairous samples of storyboards from films here.

---

- Week 7 -

Project #12
Storyboard Test: Dysfunctional Dam

Using the script provided in class and character designs for reference, storyboard the short story. Keep in mind how the types of shots you use will help to tell the story; wide shots to establish the location or to show full body actions, close shots to show what the character is thinking. Write out the dialogue, camera work and action notes under each panel.

It MUST be done on paper and must also include your preliminary thumbnails.



Inspiration to Download:

Storyboard for 'Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V'

Storyboard for 'Simpsons Treehouse of Horror X'

Storyboard Design & Layout Tips: DOWNLOAD

Look at these four small samples of storyboard sequences by Emmanuel Deligiannis:
DOWNLOAD

Storyboard samples by John K. Lei:

Johnny Test season 5, titled "Nightmare on Johnny's Street

Peter Pepper season 1, titled "Peter Pepper, Meet Roxy Theatre"

Guess With Jess season 1, titled "Peach"

Guess With Jess season 1, titled "Harvest"

Johnny Test season 3, titled "Johnny VS Bling Bling"

Ricky Garduno's storyboard the El Tigre Series Finale Episode:

No Belt, no boots, no 'brero

Save this book about the theory and practice of Cinematography, it's a great reference:
DOWNLOAD


Steven Spielberg talks about Storyboarding (1978)



Check out this short sequence by Megan Nicole,
Straight-forward and effective body language and expressions,
with simple shot compositions that help to tell the story.

















Variation in your Poses

Finding variations in your poses is a very hard thing to accomplish, but all you have to do is use your brain. Think of ways of making the same exact pose slightly different. Think about all the many ways we sit in a chair: in the principals office, during jury duty, at a wedding, at a funeral, in a boring class, in an exciting class, in a class where you have a crush on your teacher, ect..

It's always best to think of your character and ask what they are experiencing at the moment, where are they at the moment, who are they with, is someone watching them, ect.  

Let's look at this example below where to woman are seated at a table with almost similar poses:

These two poses seem very similar, but there are difference. It's these small differences that reveal to us, the viewer, each woman's personality. 80-90% of all human communication is non-verbal! That means we are mostly communicating with our body or our POSES!

Notice the following things:

1. Woman on Screen Right has her legs crossed, this could mean I trust you but I am a bit guarded against you.

2. Woman on Screen Left has her fingers a bit more spread out, she feels more relaxed, this is probably her home, table and coffee.

3.Woman on Screen Left has a more upright back as well as her chin is up, revealing a higher status. She is the dominant character, she has better manners, she is probably more likely to be affected by what other think of her than the woman SR.

4. Woman SR has her head tilted down as she is being submissive, but her legs crossed shows she might be a  bit more submissive.

We are all body language experts, are brains can pick up even the most subtle gesture or facial expressions. Think of these elements critically in your poses and your characters will start to come to life before your eyes.

Types of Shots
Here's a listing of some of the different types of shots that you should have available in your own "Storyboarding Tool Kit"

Camera Angles
A "camera angle" usually refers to the placement of the camera relative to the subject that it is photographing. If you think of yourself as physically holding the camera, ask yourself where you are... are you near the subject or far away from them? Are you standing at their height or are you up high looking down on them? Or are you below them looking up?

Extreme long shot
The camera is positioned a good distance away from the subject. This shot is used more for the purpose of showing the environment that the character is in and their relationship to it. Usually used as an "establishing shot" as well to introduce the audience to a new location and the character's relationship or placement within it.

Long shot
This is closer to the character and shows the entire character with some space both above their head and below their feet. Sometimes called a "full body shot" as well.

Medium shot
This shot cuts the character off between their knees and waist. Sometimes also called a "waist shot", it doesn't actually have to show the character from the waist up, it could show the character from the waist down if necessary, but is not limited to just showing half of a character. It simply means that you are closer to the subject than you would be in the long shot.

I should also mention here that there are shots half way between each of these as well. Between the medium shot and long shot is a "medium long shot" which would cut the characters off around their knees as in the two examples below.

This second example is sort of a weird combination of a "long shot", "medium shot" and a "medium long shot" in that Sherluck Homes is shown full body which is the definition of a long shot, while the character holding him is shown from the knees up which is a medium long shot and the character on the left, Professor Morethanartie, is shown from the waist up, which is a medium shot. You could just pick one and call it a medium long shot.

Close up
There's the famous line, "I'm ready for my close up Mr. Demille". This shot is usually of a character from their shoulders up. Again it's not limited to just the head as in the example below, showing the character's hand.

This would be called a "close-up head shot":


Extreme close up
The extreme close up moves in on the subject even tighter, usually highlighting something specific, like in this case, the character's eyes.


Up shot
This is where you tilt the camera so that it is looking up. It can also be used in combination with any of the above shots.
This would be a "Medium up-shot".

Down shot
The exact opposite of the Up shot. The camera is tilted down towards the subject.

Low angle
A low angle shot means that the camera is still pointed towards the horizon line but is positioned lower in relation to the subject. It's like an up shot but the camera is not tilted up.

In the example shown here, the horizon line is just below the feet of the character on the right and so the camera is directed at the horizon line but from our point of view, we appear to be looking up at the stairs towards screen left.

Again, this can be combined with the other shots above.

High angle
The opposite of the Low angle shot.

Tilt (Dutch)
In this type of shot, the camera is tilted to one side or the other and held on that angle. It creates a slightly unsettling feeling that things aren't quite right. It makes you feel off balance as though you're going to fall over. This shot was used extensively in the 1960's television series, "Batman" any time we were in the villian's lair.

Pan Shots
A Pan shot is when the camera physically moves within an environment to either show that a character or subject is moving, or the audience's point of view is changing without the cut.

Horizontal Pan
The camera moves in a horozontal direction (parallel to the horizon line).

In the example shown here, the move is slight to follow the character's head movement as he turns and looks out through the bars of the cage.

In this example, the character is walking and the camera moves along with him keeping him in the same position on screen.

It will appear as though the background is moving in behind him.

Vertical Pan
The camera moves vertically (up or down).

In the first example on the left, the camera begins looking up at the top of the chamber and follows the energy beam down to the platform below. This would involve not only the vertical movement of the camera but also a camera tilt and an up-shot at the beginning and ending with a down-shot. This is also known as a "pivot pan".

In the second example, the character begins in the bottom panel and jumps up into the air. In the middle panel, the camera rotates to follow the character as he comes down for a landing. In your mind, pretend the character is standing in front of you and you watch them as they jump up and over your head, then land behind you. How would you move your head if you were to follow them through this action?

Diagonal Pan
The camera is moving diagonally, both up or down and from one side to another.

Non-linear
The camera just follows the subject wherever they go.

Camera Movements
A camera movement is something that deals specifically with the movement or manipulation of the camera itself to create the desired visual effect.

Tracks
The term "Track" is actually an old classical animation term used to indicate a movement that is the same as a pan. On the old animation camera stands there were panning pegbars that allowed you to move up to 4 different elements at different rates. There were times when everything in the scene needed to move together and rather than moving all the pegbars and risking something moving slightly faster or slower, you'd move the entire table under the camera. This was called a track movement.

These days, there is no such thing as the "camera table" as everything is digital inside the computer, and so the term has gone the way of the dinosaur.

The term track is sometimes used in reference to, "track with the character", which means, if the character was walking, the camera would keep pace with them and keep them in field, essentially creating a panning background behind them.

Truck in (Zoom in)
"Truck in" is another older term which has basically been replaced with "Zoom in". This is where the camera appears to be moving closer to the subject on screen. With your video camera, you use the toggle switch to either zoom in or zoom out. In the old animation camera days, the camera physically moved closer to the artwork on the table creating the same visual effect.

Truck out (Zoom out)
This is the opposite of the Zoom in movement, where the camera appears to be moving away from the subject on screen.

Again, these can be used in combination with any of the other types of shots. They are typically used to draw the audience's focu towards something specific in a Zoom in, or to reveal something that is hidden from the audience in a Zoom out.

Rotations
Is basically the same thing as a "Tilt" except in a rotation, youre actually moving the camera from one angle to another to make it appear as though there is a spinning or rocking movement during the scene. The movement can be very subtle as in a couple of degrees of rotation or it could be a complete 360˚ turn or more, depending on the effect you want to acheive.

Rack Focus
This is an in-camera movement where the focus is on one subject while everything else is out of focus and then the focus changes to a different subject within the same scene.

In this example the focus is on the character in the foreground at the start of the scene and then it moves to the character in the center. There is also a truck in indicated here by the smaller box and arrows to indicate the direction.

Character Shots
These deal specifically with the number of characters that are on screen at any point in time. You could start off with a one shot and then another character can enter the scene and it becomes a two shot.

One shot
One character on screen. These can be used with any of the above shot desriptions.


Two shot

Three shot

Crowd shot/Group shot
Any shot that has more than three characters can be termed as a crowd shot.

Over-the-shoulder (OTS)
There are lots of different variations on this one. Basically, it's something really big in the foreground and something smaller that we're focussed on in the background. Usually the foreground character is so close to the camera that we only see a small portion of them and they're usually used as a framing device like in the first example below:

In the next two examples we're looking at something that the character is also looking at from the point of view of actually being positioned over the shoulder.

In this example, it's the classic gunfighter type of setup where the horizon line is lowered to the foreground character's hip.

Establishing Shot
An establishing shot is usually used at the very beginning of a sequence to show the audience where the next few scenes will be taking place. It's usually a long shot that shows an environment that is stereotypically recognizable.

The first panel would be: "In the City" while the second would be: "In the country"

Point of view (Subjective)
This is a shot viewed through a character's eyes. It's what they actually see from their point of view.

Objective
The objective point of view is more of a hidden camera within the environment type-of-thing. The characters in the scenes are not aware that they are being photographed and do not look at the camera at any point in time. The objective shot tends to be a bit more impersonal and even voyeristic to a certain extent. Generally speaking, most movies are filmed from an objective point of view.

Voyeristic
Similar in tone to the objective shot, this is almost always from a high angle as though you are the "fly on the wall" looking in on something that you normally would not be able to see. It could also be from a lower angle where you're peeking out from some hiding spot, like behind a couch or under a bed or inside a closet.

Split Screen
Where the screen is divided up into smaller segments to allow the audience to see more than one thing at a time. The example shown here has the screen subdividing several times like in the opening titles of "The Brady Bunch" television show.

Types of Scenes
Active
An active scene is where stuff is happening; characters are moving from one point to another or they are doing something that involves any type of physical movement.

Passive
The passive scene is the exact opposite, where there is no movement on the screen and the characters are static within the field of vision. The characters might be sitting at a dinner table talking or the character is standing and delivering his lines but not moving at all.


Dialogue
This is a shot where one or more characters are talking.

Montage
A montage is a sequence of related scenes that can have large time gaps missing between each of the scenes. In this example, the character is getting dressed in his costume and transforming into the super hero, The Zit. A series of actions that might take several minutes in real time, is condensed down to just the highlight points in a matter of seconds and does not use any dialogue.

Silhouettes
Are used to make something mysterious or scary.

One of the most chilling uses of the silhouette is from the film "Nosferatu" where he is climbing the stairs to the girl's room... very creepy.

Transitions
A transition from one scene to the next can be instantaneous as in a "cut" where there is no time lapse at all between the end of one scene, and the beginning of the next, or it can take place over a number of frames depending on the feeling you want to convey to the audience. Here are the basic ones:

Cross Dissolve
A cross dissolve is an effect whereby one image on screen is gradually replaced by the overlapping of another image in the next scene. Technically, this is acceived by fading the first image out gradually over a number of frames. If the fade was done over 100 frames, each frame would fade by 1% until it dissappears. The next scene fades up from 0% in 1% incriments, or the opposite percentage so that both combined add up to 100%.

If the first scene fades out by 1% each frame, the first frame would be 100, then down to 99, then 98, etc. The next scene would start at 0% then move up to 1%, then 2% and so on.

A cross dissolve is usually used to indicate a short passage of time as in, "Later that day..." or a transition to another place.

Ripple Dissolve
This is the same as the cross dissolve but there is a filter laid over the image to cause it to look distorted, in this case as thugh it is under water.

This is sometimes used to indicate a flash back or a dream sequence.

Wipe
A wipe is created by sliding the image of the second scene directly over top of the first scene. In this example the second scene is sliding down from above. A wipe can move in any direction or from any shape desired.

A wipe is typically used to transition to another location and does not infer that any time has passed, as in "Meanwhile, over here..."

Fade-to-black
Technically, this is the same as the cross dissolve except the second scene is blackness. You can also fade up from black.

Typically this is used to end a sequence or the entire film. It can also be used as a time transition... kinda like "The next day", because it's like the sun went down and then you fade up and it's the next day... or a week later, or a year later, etc.

You could use a slow fade to black to indicate someone going to sleep and then an abrupt cut to the next scene to indicate the character has been startled awake.

Slang terms used in live-action film ---

Waisty: pretty obvious, cutting the subject at the waist. Also known as a medium shot. Cowboy: cutting the subject above the knees. Presumably came from early Westerns. Has something to do with framing the long coats or the gun belt.

Head-to-toe: also known as a the full shot. The whole body.

Roman coins: This describes a shot of two actors talking to each other in profile.

Basic Staging Principles

Always be aware of what your staging is saying about your character - does the staging reflect their emotions and their role in the story? The right staging can turn an everyday idea into a compelling and emotional sequence.



See this example from independant animator, Patrick Smith:
I drew this layout the other day, and it just didn't sit right with me. I was happy with the drawing, but it didn't help move the characters and the story forward. At this point in the film, the masked men have elevated themselves to predator, and have become a menacing, horrifying force that are gorging themselves on the helpless "little dudes".So I redrew the layout to express this feeling. I placed the little guys lower in the frame, and I launched the masked man up high - utilizing a low camera angle - a classic and cliche way to make a character more powerful (just look at all the low shots of Darth Vader). A bonus to the scene now is that I can show some really frightened expressions on the little guys.The re-staging of this shot even influenced the style of drawing... I drew the masked man in the improved version with a lot more insidiousness and evil... whereas the previous version, the masked man comes off as a bit too cartoonish, and the overall composition improved as well. I suppose this is just a reminder to push yourself at every level... you just never know how you can improve your shot, so experiment with angles and depth.

The Hitchcock Rule:
"The size of an object in the frame should be directly related to its importance in the story at that moment."

- Check out this comic by Emily Carroll.

So, as we all know, staging a character (or building, or vehicle, or anything else) in an upshot will tend to make them look big and powerful. Characters like Darth Vader or Syndrome are often shown in upshots to make them look menacing and larger-than-life.



The pics above display a nice interchange of upshot to downshot that illustrates the powerful/powerless principle. The higher a character is in the frame, the more powerful they tend to feel. And the lower in frame that they are, the more powerless they tend to feel.



Up shots tend to make the character seem bigger, more menacing, more powerful. Down shots tend to make the character look weaker, less threatening, and powerless. The larger the character is within the frame, the more powerful they seem.





Techniques for achieving clarity in your boards:


For Close-Ups -
When figuring out the character's attitude, start with the body language and posture. To figure out the expressions, always start with the eyes.
Always experiment with some expressive eye sketches in your spare time, and practice with various character design styles.



Storyboards by Eddie Trigueros:


Storyboards by Matt Whitlock:


Basics on Angles & Composition for Storyboarding:


12 points to keep in mind when storyboarding:

1. Construct all forms and details around the main line of action.

2. Draw through - "feel" the weight of the character.

3. Twist and tilt body relationships - avoid parallels and tangents.

4. Positive and negative shapes - part of any good composition, the way a scene is framed and where the details lie in a shot are all very important, leaving breathing room for a character to look and move into is always more appealing. Create negative spaces in order to draw the eye to the positive area that we need to see, make certain your poses read clearly.

5. Keep the whole scene in mind as you work on a single drawing.

6. When drawing storyboard poses don't worry about the line - concern yourself with solid forms and attitudes.

7. Use curves for flow, sag, softness and appeal. Use straight lines for tension, compression, and strength.

8. Watch volumes, keep them consistent - Don't take for granted that there are no volume problems in your ruffs. No matter how much squash & stretch there is in your characters, be mindful of volume.

9. Does the scene have hook-ups to the scenes before and after? (Hook-up for direction as well as position and character posture continuity).

10. What is the focus? Where do you want the audience to look? The character's face, what the character is holding, background animation, the character's body language. Don't over crowd your characters so they have no room to move. Look at all the actions your characters have to perform and give them room to do it. Do they have to bend over? Reach for something? Hop up and down?

11. Does the scene require camera mechanics? Does the animation pan with the action? Does the camera truck out to reveal a wider shot? When will the camera zoom in?

12. Pick the shot that best tells the story - Extreme close-up, Close-up, Medium Shot, Full Shot, Long Shot, Exteme Wide Shot, Up Shot and Down Shot - each one of these creates a different composition of your main subject, the environment, and where the center of attention may be.

Blade Runner:


ALWAYS REMEMBER:
The two main goals of your storyboard is...
To communicate your idea as clearly as possible to others.
To resolve problems as early as possible in production.

Storyboard Sequeunce from "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"


Observe the use of 'Basic Shapes' in the art of staging your characters

 

 

Storyboards are a bit different than all other forms of illustration. Draw LOTS of poses, keep the sketches as 'clean roughs', but not too rough, but they don't need to be clean, but you can use tone to connect elements together, to add simple light and shadow, or help create a center of attention.


Observe the clear staging practiced by Chuck Jones in "Baby Bugs Bunny" (1954)





Always search for and study great composition!

Study the works of the Godfather of Storyboarding - Bill Peet, here are samples of his Children's Book Illustrations:

                       

Observe the power of the pyramid.
We all know about "poses" and "lines of action" and their massive importance in storybaording, but another aspect you should include in your thought process is the idea of creating solid shapes.

There is a very common shape that we all use often - the curve. Its nice to contrast between backwards and forwards curves in our poses, and also straights against curves. These are still lines (but not necessarily "lines of action"). One particular shape that you will notice in many great photographs, illustrations, paintings, comics and animation over and over again to help define strong poses and dynamic forms - is the pyramid. Look at these samples, and see where the triangular shapes can be found everywhere, and how they can create dynamic forms and intersecting lines to show power, weight, balance, stability, or elegance, while adding angles and contrast to any opposing forces within the image.

The Power of Postures

Dave Gibbons (the artist behind "Watchmen") once said: "I don't use action lines to describe what is happening in the frame; I use blood and posture to tell the viewer what is happening".

Posture is a powerful tool for artists, especially here when we're talking about static, sequential art. Posture can tell you all you need to know about what a figure is about to do, what it has just done or what has just happened to it (which obviously is more of a challenge in still drawings than, say, in animation).

The "language of posture" is a universal one - when an artist gets the pose just right, we all know exactly what the figure is doing. So it's clearly hard-wired into our brains. Why, then, is it so hard to learn how to draw figures so that their poses and posture impart their meanings clearly? Perhaps it is the endless combinations of expressions and body postures that make it such a challenging puzzle.

Chuck Jones poses:



Even the simplest of anatomical clues can give us a lot of information. A head turned sideways - with the neck turned against the shoulders - tells us the figure turned to look at something . We don't need to see the "before" drawing to get that the figure just turned their head to look. Nobody walks around all day with their head turned to the side; therefore this reads as a look over at something important.



All of these actions would also be affected by the mental state of the figure in question. If you're on edge and tense, your reactions are different than if you're relaxed, or even if you were awaken from a deep sleep, or interrupted while focusing on something very intently. Or if you heard a voice that you didn't expect to hear... all of these things affect how a person might react and all of these things can be reflected in the figure's posture so that the viewer knows exactly how the figure in question feels about what is happening.

These are just tiny examples of how posture can illustrate what is happening within a static drawing and how a character might be feeling... here are some more examples of the excellent use "posture"

"Hellboy" by Mike Mignola



The other part of it (the "blood" part of Dave Gibbons quote), isn't quite as important, any other kind of fluid or solid objects can be used to indicate movement within a static drawing (as well as to help tell the story). Just like posture, it can tell us what just happened, or what is happening right in the moment of the image.

The possibilities are limitless: if a character is smoking, the smoke from their cigarette could show us the path they traveled within the frame. If a character is bleeding, the trail of blood he leaves can show us the path he took. If a character just got punched, his flying teeth might add emphasis to the punch and show us the direction the punch came from. Clothes and hair can also help show us what direction the figure came from and how fast they are moving. These and many other examples can be experimented with to help your posture and other secondary factors to help the action of the shot when storyboarding.

Space & Form

Having a form lay flat against the ground plane (or come into contact with it) can definitely describe the space of your drawing without much else being necessary. A figure laying against the flat ground will tell you a lot about the space by the way the parts of the body overlap one another and move away from the viewer in perspective. Here, the way the body hits the flat ground and the way it squashes against the flat form of the floor gives a solid feeling to the space and feels like there's definitely some depth to the scene. Plus, having the Dad overlap Dennis is helpful to sell what's in front of what.

Similarly to this, you can achieve a nice feeling of space by simply having your character's feet planted firmly in perspective. This can convey a very convincing sense of space when it is done right.




Obviously the same thing applies to anything which is firmly planted on the ground plane and is drawn with perspective that looks convincing. Or even an object that's up in the air.







Just planting different areas in your picture at different heights can be effective. Putting the planes that are further away higher up in the frame is the simplest way to get a sense of space in your drawing.




We all think of having forms shrink as they head off towards the horizon, but don't forget you can give your drawing perspective that recedes in the vertical plane, instead of the horizontal, when appropriate.



Alternating areas of texture against empty spaces also helps convey a sense of space because it makes it seem that there are several different areas within the same frame. This is what we see in real life. When you look in any direction, you see many, many different areas stretching out towards the horizon: grass, asphalt, sidewalk, etc. As artists we have to come up with ways to simplify so we don't have to draw everything while still making it feel like our pictures have a lot of depth. So when you alternate complex areas with blank areas it gives that kind of feel, and it's pleasing to the eye to linger on the textured areas and then rest while glancing at the empty spaces.





The blank areas don't always have to be white; they can be black silhouettes instead, of course. They could even be areas of grey tone as well.




Obviously this is a useful design principle: to balance complex areas against empty areas. It would be meaningless to put one complicated pattern next to another, or to put an empty space next to another. The two types of areas only mean something when balanced by each other for contrast.

Return of the Jedi:


Samples of art by Nicholas Kole, see how the shapes, forms, colors and lighting create appealing compositions.


Tips on creating very dynamic and cinematic boards:

Visual Vocabulary by Marcos Mateu-Mestre

Observe Mark Kennedy's Storyboards for Tangled:

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- Week 8 -

Project #13
Storyboard Test: The Showdown

Storyboard a sequence, using camera angles as a key component in storytelling. 25-35 panels.

The Premise - A showdown duel, a cowboy shoots the other cowboy. The Characters - Two cowboys. Background - A street at a rundown Western Town. Note: Please avoid using any camera moves, this assignment is to focus on mainly the use of camera shots. Hint: For clarity make the cowboys visually looking different from one another. Have them face in the same consistent direction throughout the sequence.

Design your own characters and backgrounds.
Keep the compositions and angles clear and simple.
Pay attention to the posing, expressions, and acting in your shots.

Tip: Sketch out the entire story on first, using very small thumbnail drawings to figure out basic framing and composition for each shot. This will create a quick guideline for yourself to see if all your shots work back-to-back, and catch any problems while you plan out your scenes while observing how they cut together.



Homework Assignment: View these old clips for inspiration from Sergio Leon / Clint Eastwood films:
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Fist Full of Dollars
A Few Dollars More


Discover these patterns of successful storyboards -- When you begin drawing your storyboards, there's no need to head into the job with a completely blank slate. These 7 hidden patterns of shot progressions will make it super-easy to get started. Then you can mix it up a bit to suit the exact situation called for in your particular script or story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pmpmkV5b5qM

Remember: the environment that your characters are staged in is just as important to the scene's composition as the placement and posture of the characters themselves. Look at how the design and anlge of this background helps to lead your eyes to the main focal point of the shot.

Sample:












Review - Types of Fielding Shots:


Motivating the camera is a simple technique of using visual cues to set up a cut or camera-move and in doing so, ease the audience into a new shot or new information.



Use a character's eye line to motivate a cut. It helps ease the audience through the cut and into new information. (While also putting us directly in the character's shoes.)

The idea is to create as much continuity within the sequence as possible, making everything clear and easy to follow.







So as per the above sequence, ways to motivate the camera;
- Using a Character's eyeline/P.O.V.
- Having a character move on screen and adjusting the camera accordingly.
- Having a character exit frame.

There are many other ways, for instance; --- Having a character enter frame.

Ultimately what it comes down to, specifically for 'cutting', is the fact that a 'cut' is not natural, it doesn't happen in real life (unless you take really long blinks). Obviously we have seen enough film/television that we are accustomed to 'cutting', nevertheless, anything you can do to smooth out the transition will only help create and maintain the continuity of your sequence.

These examples revolve around motivating the camera, and explores more "what they are saying visually".



These examples are all slight variations of the same scene, each exploring a different approach in regards to the progression of information that is revealed to the audience, and consequently the effect it has on them. Ultimately, it all depend on what the script calls for or what is necessary of the scene to determine which of the following (if any) would be suitable.





The most important thing to take away from this concept of 'motivating the camera', is just to try and be conscious of the decisions you are making in your storyboards. Try to understand what you are actually saying visually, what information you are revealing to the audience, when is this information is being revealed, and what effect it will have on them. Thinking about these things as you board can really help enhance a sequence and 'sell' an idea in the storyboard stage.

Always remember, SHAPES and LINES, when posing characters.
This is a great example (from Rescuers Down Under) of how just the lines and shapes going on in simply one frame can already say so much in terms of story, conflict, weight, forces and physicality. Medusa, animated by Milt Kahl.

 

This pose of Medusa, the lines created throughout the body as well as the lines created by some of the props are making us look exactly where we should. The Disney films have always been a great source to study things like this, as they paid attention to every single compositional aspect, from the posing of the characters all the way to something as different as the colors schemes / values used throughout and how the compositional values affect the film as a whole. If as animators we think of shapes going around the screen and in which ways, it'll help us tell things in our shots in a stronger way.

When you storyboard a scene, there's a thousand different ways of approaching it and visualizing it, just like when you are doing exploration drawings of random doodles for character designs, there are endless variations to choose from. The one that is "correct" or will "work the best" is the one that tells the story most dramatically or humourously, that helps to develop the character more profoundly, or that achieves the imagery and effect that is most desired.

Sketches by Uli Meyer:


Leading The Eye
See how this gaze locations experiment shows how composition and audio aid in the process of controlling where the audience looks during a film.

11 adult viewers were shown a clip from the film "There Will Be Blood" and their eye movements recorded using an Eyelink 1000 infra-red camera-based eyetracker. Each dot represents the center of one viewer's gaze. The size of each dot represents the length of time they have held fixation.

Composition is all about leading the viewers eyes to where you want them to look.
Visual clarity in storyboarding begins the process of creating a layout on which to build what will be the final moving images on screen.

Below is a step-by-step progression of a draw-over from an old storyboard assignment.

1. Original Panel From Student Sequence:

Conceptually it is good.
-She has clearly established a screen relationship between the two characters (left and right).
-Indicated an environment (the mountain range in the background).
My main note is to push it even further! Take the concept of this shot and push it to find a more interesting and compelling composition.

2. Draw Your Grids:

I started my redraw with a horizon line and laying down a grid.
Laying down your grids (on the ground, walls and sky) will help clarify the depth of your shot, and can also be used as a guide for incorporating mid/foreground elements (illustrated in step 5).

3. Push The Depth:

In the original panel there is a lot of empty space around the characters, not particularly interesting or dynamic visually. I drew over the characters, using my grid as a guide, and tried to push the depth.

By pushing the depth, bringing one character closer and pushing one further away, you can create a much more engaging composition as well as utilizing the real estate of the panel more effectively.

4. Use The Background To Enhance The Composition:

You can use background elements to enhance a composition and help direct the eye.

The important information in the panel is the characters, so everything else in the composition should support that. Keeping that in mind, we can use mountain ranges in the distance to help lead the eye to our character.

5. Populate The Mid-Ground

Put some junk in the mid-ground.

Populating the mid-ground can help in a few ways:
-Further help define the environment.
-Help push the depth by incorporating visual depth cues such as over-lapping objects and size relativity (objects get smaller as they recede).

6. A Little Shading Goes A Long Way

In the original panel the shading wasn't particularly adding anything to the composition. A simple way to approach shading is by thinking about it in terms of foreground, mid-ground and background.

I did a quick shade pass over the panel using each object's relative position in the composition (how closer/far away it is from us) and shaded accordingly. We can also use shadows to help direct the eye, much like background elements, by having them point towards important information.

Below is an animated gif of the progression so you can see how being conscious of these principles while you are boarding can really help enhance your work. You may need to click on it to see it animate.



With storyboarding it is just a matter of getting sequences under your belt. The more you board, the better you get, plain and simple. It takes time for these principles to become second nature, don't get discouraged if you don't see them immediately taking effect. The important thing with these concepts is to be aware of them, how they work, and how they can affect your boards. Over time everything will fall into place.


Body language and posture can add enormously to the mood, expression, and context of your character. Check out the poses of these characters and notice how well the action line, postures, and gestures harmonize with the facial expressions:



Here's Tracy Butler's tips on facial expressions:


You can also create dynamic compositions that help to tell the story by using action/reaction poses. One character causing the action, the other character(s) react or follow the action. By using Opposing Poses like in some of the examples shown below, you can have characters curved or directed on an arc, other characters have straighter poses, but still aimed on an angle. This kind of dynamic posing sure beats the hell out of characters standing straight up and down all the time.

Screen captures from Mickey's Christmas Carol - study the lines of action and how they affect the composition:

Staging & Posing Review

Push your poses, express the body language, create clear silouettes.













Questions to ask while you storyboard:

Is each drawing necessary?
Is the information for each drawing clear?
Do the drawings communicate the structure?
Does the storyboard contain all the information you need?
Are you considering the camera angle, and how its helping to tell the story?
Are you considering the camera's position relative to the characters?
Are you considering where the cuts should occur.
Are you considering how the cuts should occur, are the cuts well motivated?
Are you considering the emotional response of the audience, how they will react or feel?

Always, always consider the audience's response. Like any book, play or live action film, you are able to create action which should create a reaction in your audience. You have the tool to generate an emotional response from your audience. What you need to do ask yourself is "What reaction do I want here?"......"So what action will create that?".

Let's analyze the importance STORYBOARDING a short film.

I boiled story down to three "C's". The first "C" is "CLARITY".

This one is particularly important for a storyboard artist in the process of visualizing a script or idea because you are working within a very small box, in both the length of your film and your "production schedule". When making a short film clarity is of the utmost importance because you don't have time to explain a lot. If you're trying to make a film about an exotic planet where all the rules are different from Earth, by the time you've acclimated the viewer to your world and explained all the rules, your film is over.

So I always suggest that short film directors look at TV commercials for inspiration as how to tell a thirty-second story clearly and effeciently. Great commercials are made with a ton of economy, discipline and smart choices. Also, many times they start in a very familiar situation so that the audience gets oriented quickly and knows exactly where we are....then you can take a leap into "the fantastic", if that's what you want to do, or turn the everyday on it's head for comedic effect.

These four Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee commercials are good examples for Clarity.









Clarity is tougher than most people realize I think, even professional storyboard artists and film directors have a hard time with this. It's easy, once you've thought through your idea, to think that your drawings are explaining what's inside your head, but the viewer doesn't have the benefit of hearing your thoughts. The drawings (and eventually, the animation) have to carry it all. That's a very tough limitation, and you need to keep your "objective eye" in check, so that you can step back and look at your work once in a while and see it the way fresh eyes will see it. Or find someone you trust and bounce it off them once in a while.

Okay, the next two "C's" are CHARACTER and CONFLICT. You've probably heard all this before, but it's all vitally important, and it's basically what the directors, writers and story artists spend all their time talking about in the story room while they craft movies at Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar.

Basically, the "CHARACTERS" part means that you should always strive to create characters that are original, entertaining, appealing, and that the audience can empathize with...meaning that they like the characters and are willing to root for them to get what they want. Then the audience will care when your characters end up in....

...CONFLICT, which of course is the heart of all storytelling. Without conflict you don't really have a story. In general, the bigger the conflict, the more that is at stake in your movie, the bigger the odds against your characters, the more interesting the story.

So if you have characters that the audience is actually rooting for, and conflict that seems almost insurmountable that they have to resolve to get what they want, then you have a great story.

Also, one last thing: a great story is one that ends by resolving the conflict in an unexpected way that the audience doesn't see coming. But I don't know how to make that idea start with a "C" so piss off.
The main point here, start small, someday, take the time to write then storyboard a short 30 sec film, storyboard several times, several different ways. Cut these images together in sequence. You'll see what huge challenge it can be to clearly and accurately tell the story in an efficient and entertaining way.



For a a typical animated series you have two episodes per half-hour, they average at about 175 scenes per 10:30 min. story (about 150 storyboard pages), if it's got a bit of action to it. Shows for younger kids tend to be slower in action and therefore will have fewer scenes. Coming to 3.6 seconds per scene, more or less, depending on what's happening on screen. There were usually 3 panels to a scene (again, depending on the action involved) so there's around 450 panels in a show (give or take).

Just to give you a better sense of this, let's say each storyboard panel took you 10 minutes to draw. That would take you 5250 minutes to complete the whole show. That's 87.5 hours total. Working 6 hours a day (with breaks) it'll take you just over 14.5 days to complete, not working weekends, that's 3 weeks.

Now from a money point of view, if they offer you $4.00 a panel, you'd get paid $2100.00 for the whole show or at the rate above (at 12 panels an hour) that's $24.00 an hour. At $10.00 a panel, you'd get $5250.00 for the show or $60.00 and hour and you can do the math on your own for any other rates you want to check out. Most animation studios have a set rate that they pay for a show. Most shows are divided into 3 acts and a storyboard artist will get an individual act to work on. This way a show can be completed in a week rather than three weeks.
So now you can take that paycheque above and divide it by three to get your weekly rate. Of course this doesn't count any revisions, which you usually don't get paid extra for unless there's a writing or design change. This usally takes another week to do two rounds of revisions. In total, 4 weeks to complete an 11 minute episode. Price: $2000 for the low end. $5000 for the high end, these boards would be very posed out, clean lines, shading, etc. But once you have a bit of experience - A good price is $3500.

These days, 95% of storyboarding is done digitally. It gives the adavantage of adding color, compositing finished layouts, the ease of copy/pasting models, and adding quick special effects.

Here are some storyboards for "The Amazing World of Gumball" by Amandine Pécharman.

Shot Selection

The storyboard artist is responsible for selecting the camera angles throughout the film. The proper selection of these angles can make or break the film. The shot selection controls what you the viewer are allowed to see at any point within the film. This is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. A great deal of film sense is necessary to carry out this job. Poor shot selection can make even the most exciting action very boring.
How do you pick which shot works best?

CHARACTER SHOTS
One Shot
Two Shot
Three Shot
Group Shot
Over The Shoulder Shot
Establishing Shot

CAMERA ANGLES
Up Shot
Low Angle Shot
Down Shot
Oblique Angle

CAMERA MOVES Trucks
Tracks
Pans
Rotations

FIELD SHOTS Extreme Close-up
Close-up
Medium Close-up
Medium Shot
Medium Long Shot
Long Shot Extreme Long Shot

So you have all these shots available to you, how do you know when to use them and what order can you put them in?

Well, there aren't really too many rules and regulations about this, and of these rules, you can (and many directors have) break them and make up new one's to fit the needs of your film.

So, here's the number one rule, which really should never be broken: Don't confuse the audience. If the viewer says in their head, "I have no idea where I am or what is going on here or what this means.", chances are, you've done the wrong thing... unless your whole plan was to be confusing.

It's like telling a joke that isn't funny, no one will get it. And no one will want to listen to it again. If your film doesn't make sense, who will want to watch it again?

Remember:
Composition in the art of film is never static; it is a process of continuous change created by the control of its three basic elements:

1. Placement of people and objects within the frame:

-Large foreground objects can attract or divert attention depending on how they are used.

-A full-face CU in sharp focus in the foreground will divert attention from a soft focus full figure in the background.

-A figure in soft focus in the foreground can occupy more than half the frame and yet attract less attention than a smaller figure in the background.

-The extended image; the overlapping of person and objects with the margin of the frame, can also be used to enlarge the audiences perception.

-It is through the arrangement and control of all visual elements that the filmmaker can control the thoughts and emotions of the audience. A scene comprised of elements that are just there permits the audiences' attention to wander and lapse.

2. Movement of people and objects within a fixed frame:

-Whenever there is movement within a frame, the composition changes. The motion picture is a constant flow of ever changing images. The composition of the cinematic image must be considered in a different way to photography.

-Figures moving suddenly towards the camera heighten drama; figures moving languidly away from the camera increase a sense of sadness or romance. Objects and people moving across seem to move more rapidly than those moving in depth.

3. Movement of the frame itself:

-The mobility of the camera enables the filmmaker to change his vantage point in an instant. It allows action. Even more importantly, it enables the filmmaker to change the character of the image as the action evolves by simply moving the camera in, out and around the players.


Few filmmakers have ever used composition to its full potential. The concept of the ever-changing image seems difficult to execute because it involves these three basic elements of composition, all of which must be controlled simultaneously. The filmmaker, unlike the photographer and the theater director, creates his visual compositions in a flexible, ever changing arena.

Observe this study of shot compositions from the Indiana Jones movie:

Here' a look back at the work of cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, who shot the first three Indiana Jones films.

By the time of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," (1981), Slocombe was a veteran cinematographer, with a rich and varied filmmography in both the United States and in England, and both in black and white and color, and was nominated for three Academy Awards (including "Raiders").

His photography gave "Raiders" a classic feel, visually paying homage to the matinee thrillers of the 1930's, while also raising the level of quality and aesthetics of 1980's blockbuster filmmaking. The collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and Slocombe is the reason why "Raiders" remains, to this day, one of the best looking action movies of all time.

Director Steven Spielberg and Douglas Slocombe, on location for "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Shadows & Silhouettes -

Eyes -

Here are a sample of images from "Raiders" where Slocombe and Spielberg focus on characters' eyes.

Foregrounds and Backgrounds -

Here is a sampling of images from "Raiders," where Spielberg and Slocombe frame objects of varying depths in the frame. In these shots, the filmmakers are telling a story from multiple depths, as well as filling the screen from left to right.

Here's a few more shots - notice the angles, perspectives, spacing between characters & objects and overlapping elements -

Composition Comparisons: "The Dark Knight" - "The Shining" - "Let The Right One In"

Here's a quick study of three the very different (but distinct and effective) styles of cinematography for these three films.

A strong, conspicuous visual motif of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is the bold use of converging lines of perspective.

Like other films created by smart, visually-minded directors, "The Dark Knight" uses these powerful graphic tools to invoke a visual metaphor for themes within the film. These angles aren't used solely because it 'looks cool;' the style is inherently tied to the narative and core ideas of the film.

"The Dark Knight" also utilized production design and cinematography to create these graphic images, strategically placing the point of convergence in the precise center of frame. These interpretation of this visual style is certainly not iron-clad, and is ultimately up to the viewer to decide what it represents and how it emotionally affected them. I personally interpreted these images as a way of evoking the bizarre feeling of the pillars of society closing in on Gotham City; a looming anxiety and feeling of doom affects its heroes and villians and citizens alike, forcing them to make choices about life and death, good and evil, right and wrong. But thaty's just me.

Here are a few frames from "The Dark Knight" that show off this stylistic device.

While the use of this visual tool was somewhat subtle in Christopher Nolan's film, Stanley Kubrick pulled out all the stops in "The Shining;" he and his cinematographer made this stylistic technique a major, driving force in the aesthetic of their film.

For one, Kubrick and Alcott made the unusual choice of framing their film to the full expanse of the film negative, shooting with spherical lenses and ultimately projecting a 1.37 to 1 aspect ratio Using this narrow aspect ratio, it immediately gives "The Shining" a distinctive feel of claustrophobia.

To learn more about film aspect ratios, go here.

Secondly, their use of this nearly square aspect ratio enhances the emotional and psychological effects of the use of wide angle lenses and long, parallel stretches in production design and location work. Kubrick rarely used a long lens, favoring superwide fields of view to exaggerate the feeling of claustrophobia and accentuate the converging lines of perspective.

The same visual technique, photographed with different aspect ratios, gives the audience different psychological impacts. In Batman's horizontally wide field of view, the converging lines give the audience the impression that this large, expansive world is looking at its characters and challenging their moral fiber. In The Shining's boxy aspect ratio, the converging lines give the audience a creepy, uneasy feeling, as if the world is boxing us in, forcing claustrophobia upon the audience and the characters-- all of which are strong themes in the film.

Illustrating a visual motif without being overt and obvious is not a simple task, Director Tomas Alfredson and his cinematographer achieve this delicate balance in "Let The Right One In," the Swedish film from 2008.

Here you can see a simple examination of the geometric shapes formed within the images of the cinematography and how it illustrate the camerawork and production design work together to give the film a distinctive look.

Hoytema frequently frames his shots with long lenses, allowing vertical and horizontal lines to remain parallel to the edges of the frame, giving the feeling of the shapes within the frame existing as subsets of the theater screen. Contrast this with, say, the wide-angle photography of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight". The production design and cinematography of "The Dark Knight" worked together to impart a sense of dread, a feeling of the decaying world collapsing around the characters. In addition, "The Dark Knight" was filmed with anamorphic lenses, which bow and bend straight lines giving even long lens shots a slight fish eye, distorted and abstract feel. While "Let The Right One In" was shot with a with spherical lenses to minimizing distortion. The images in that film have straight lines that are parallel to the edges of the frame, emphasizing, coldness and geometric precision.

For "Let The Right One In," the use of long lenses significantly reduces the impact of converging lines; wide lenses exaggerate perspective, while longer lenses compress perspective. When a zoom lens is framed on characters, it isolates and focuses the subject. Using longer lenses also reduces depth of field, so extreme foregrounds and backgrounds drift in and out of clarity, further isolating our characters.

Storyboard samples by Ben Balisteri:









Bill Peet's storyboards for the 1952 Disney short "Susie The Little Blue Coupe":

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- Week 9 -

Project #14
Storyboard Test: The Diamond

Using the script and character designs provided here, storyboard the short story in full.
DOWNLOAD this Photoshop template.
Use it to draw out each panel of each shot (digitally) in Photoshop with your Wacom tablet.
Write out the dialogue under each panel.

Download and install this set of brushes.
Various shapes and textures can be used from this collection to create the story sketches you will be doing.



1) Using the Thumbnails_Template file, rough out the entire board digitally first. Small, rough, stickman sketches, to visualize every shot. For early feedback, send the Thumbnail JPG file of your work to the instructor.
2) Using this Storyboard_Template file, board the entire script using the character models as reference. Label the scene # and panel # in the small boxes of the corners of each panel. You may create new layers for adding shadows.

3) Once storyboards are complete, save the PSD file for yourself and make a flattened JPG version to send to the instructor: ron.doucet@gmail.com
With your Name and Project Number in the file name:
"your_name_ project#.JPG"

ie: joe_blow_project14.psd

For this assignment, experiment with applying shading & shadows to your storyboards.

Conveying light and shadow in your boards can be very important to amplify the mood of the scene, creating strong compositions, and allows you to direct the viewers attention in dramatic ways.



The light and dark patterns don't always have to make absolute sense, when it comes to giving form and depth to objects, you can fake them (to a certain extent) to get the results you want.





Observe the effects of lighting in these Scooby-Doo Digital Storyboards by Anson Jew:




Inspiration:


Practicing to draw perspective accurately is one of the many assets that will enhance your storyboarding toolbelt, here's a guide to the fundamentals of drawing perspective:


















Storyboards from the Gorillaz video "DoYaThing"

DreamWorks Storyboard Tips

Study these rough layouts from The Iron Giant, notice the lighting guides with 3D arrows and how the shapes of shadows and highlights are blocked in. Focal points are created with the effective use of tones and contrast:



Even when you're designing the environments your characters are set in… the landscapes themsleves are compositional tools to help create a well-balanced picture.


Ridley Scott talks about Storyboards:


"Tangled" Progression Reel:


Storyboard Samples by Alex Orrelle:


Check out this interview with Pixar Story Artist James Robertson.

Here's an E-Book on the art (and business) of storyboarding.
It's not just about animation storyboarding, it also covers live action, gaming, theme-Park boards, laser show boards and advertising storyboards. It reads somewhat like a textbook with a sense of humor. Exercises are grouped at the end of the book rather than with each chapter.



Storyboards for Live-Action Commercials by Antonio Santamaria:





Jonah Hex - Movie Storyboards:



2D Animated Short Film Storyboards by Sandro Cleuzo:

Remember: Storyboarding is just like JUDO.

The 7 Rules of Judo Practice:

1. Do not make light of an opponent.
2. Do not lose self-confidence.
3. Maintain a good posture.
4. Develop speed.
5. Project power in all directions.
6. Develop self-control.
7. Never stop training.

The same applies to your storyboarding practice.
Do not place hope in finding a secret method,
polish your skills through ceaseless training;
that is the key to developing effective techniques.

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- Week 10 -

-Prepare for Final Test-
Materials for Next Week's Exam:
Download and study these terms and guides for the in-class written test.



Project #15
Animatic Test: The Diamond

Produce an animatic out of 'The Diamond' storyboard you created.

Animatics - also known as Leica Reels or Story Reels, is the visual story composed of all the consecutive storysketch panels that depict the action and staging of the story and made into an assembly with all the panels placed back-to-back with the recorded dialogue track. All scene cuts and transitions are shown and every shot is timed out by being displayed on screen for a certain length of time, sometimes some sound effects and special effects are added in as well. This allows for the directors and editors to see where they can trim down the episode or feature to an appropriate length of time. Once an animatic is complete, it becomes the vision of continuity that will drive the entire production from that point forward.

For this project, you must first open last week's completed Storyboard assignment. Starting at the top (your first panel), make certain all your layers are flattened first so that you will be making individual panels from the finished art. Make a selection box around the panel (include the written/typed dialogue) and then copy it into a new document(ctrl+c ctrl+n) and 'save as' animatic-001.jpg. Now repeat the process, you can copy it into the same document over and over it will overlap the previous panel, as long as each time you save it, change the format from PSD to JPG, naming each individual panel in sequence with the panels you had created; animatic-002.jpg, animatic-003.jpg, etc.

DO not name them according to scene numbers, just a long list of consecutively labeled numgers: animatic-003.jpg, animatic-004.jpg, animatic-005.jpg, animatic-006.jpg, etc

If you had separate layers made for single shots, like for BG elements; simply make sure the they are merged together, you'll see after you've copied it over to the other document if you've left anythint out.

Once complete, download this Flash Template.
Open the file, select the first frame of the bottom layer.
Go to: File > Import
Choose the first animatic-001.jpg file only.
Flash will prompt you to add in the rest of the sequence, choose 'Yes'.
Now you have all your individual panels in sequence.
Create an animatic in Flash.
Whenever you need to make a camera move with one or mulitple panels, select the image and hit F8 to make it a Graphic Symbol first, so you can tween it.
As you you are timing out all your shots (F5 to add time between frames/panels), press Ctrl+Enter to render a quick test.

Once complete, review the animatic a few times, make sure the timing feels right, imagine the characters animated as they are moving and talking, ask yourself... is their enough time in this shot for the action to take place? Or is there too much time?

Send the SWF files to the instructor: ron.doucet@gmail.com
With your Name and Project Number in the file name:
"your_name_ project#.SWF"

ie: joe_blow_project15.swf

The Art of Animatic Assembly and Editing

In visual storytelling, the timing of ideas and actions is important to the audience's understanding of the story at any point in time. It is important that the board panels be timed to stay either slightly ahead of the audience's understanding of what's going on with the story, or slightly behind. It makes the story much more interesting than staying even with the audience. If the animation is too far ahead, the audience will be confused; if the animation is too far behind, the audience will get bored; in either case, their attention will wander. The visual structure of the story takes shape as the storyboards are drawn and developed.

Action timed to be slightly ahead of the audience adds an element of suspense and surprise; it keeps them guessing about what will happen next. An example of this is at the beginning of the Pixar short "Luxo Jr." When we see the Dad is on-screen, alone and still; the audience believes they are looking at a plain inanimate lamp. Unexpectedly, a ball comes rolling in from off-screen. At this point, both Dad and the audience are confused. The audience's interest is in what is to come next.

When the action is timed to be slightly behind the audience, a story point is revealed to the audience before the character knows it. The entertainment comes in seeing the character discover what the audience already knows. Another application of this is with a dim-witted character that is always behind; the audience figures it out before he does.

An Animatic by Mike Koizumi:


An Animatic by Eugene Lee:


An Animatic by Mario Richard:


'The Untimely Death of Pudge the Fish' - Deleted scene from Lilo & Stitch:


Arthur Christmas - Movie Storyboards:







Study the staging and posing of Kevin Perry's short film "The Arctic Circle" with this split-screen storyboard comparison:



"Unlikelyhood" by Pete Paquette:

Watch this animated stop-motion/paper-cutout style music video:



Now watch the Storyboard version





Here's another one > Gorillaz "Rhinestone Eyes" - Storyboard Reel:


Watch this split-screen comparison of a simple CG-animated commercial and how the storyboard/animatic was vital to the pre-vis and eventually the final composite of the piece.
See the full behind-the-scenes breakdown here.


Storyboards by Lisa Kathofer:

An Animatic Version:

The arrangement of graphic elements, colors and lighting create a flow and direct viewers' eyes to certain area in a composition. But in film, there is another factor to consider...

Movement is also a major component to influencing this focal point. It can be broken down to the contrast between these key aspects - stillness and motion, fast and slow, movement pattern and travel distance.

For example, if all elements are moving in a scene and one comes to a sudden stop, the eye would likely look to that spot. In reverse, if everything in the scene is motionless, and one is in motion, the eye will look toward the moving element.

When timing a group scene, all moving elements have to complement each other and project one unifying feel to the scene.

I find that if every element in the scene is timed separately without regard to the surrounding moving elements, even though it looks just right by itself, the whole might appear very busy and will be missing a focal point.

In the scene above (from the short film My Little World), the focal point is on the ball carrier. He is timed with full contrast in speed, calling the most attention while in motion. Every other character in the scene is timed a little slower than normal. Some would look a bit weightless by themselves. But when viewing as one whole, they don't appear weightless.

This timing order takes cue from the main element, then to the secondary element that it's directly interacting with, and so on. This awareness will allow the eye to fully comprehend all elements in the scene.

10 Signs to Know if You're Reading a Strong Script

1. GOOD SIGN: On the first read, the script flows like a great novel you can't put down. Meaning, you just sit back and enjoy it from beginning to end. You see it all clearly in your head. Like a little movie is playing in your mind and it flows smoothly.

2. BAD SIGN: On the first read, you do the 'flip-back'. Meaning, as you read, you pause mid-page and 'flip-back' to a previous page because you think you missed something. If I've done a couple of 'flip-backs', I know I could be in for a frustrating ride.

3. GOOD SIGN: As you read, you can always envision where everyone is and the possibilities of how the action could be staged.

4. BAD SIGN: You're already worried that you don't know how you're going to stage this. You're saying to yourself, "Where are they?" and wonder how the characters are going to do what is written.

5. GOOD SIGN: Even if it's the first script you've read of a series, you get a good feel for the characters' personalities. You may not have read the show bible or any director's notes yet, but you still really 'get it'.

6. BAD SIGN: The script is all action with no 'character' showing through. Or too much witty dialogue and not enough visuals. They're running around doing a bunch of 'stuff', but they seem like puppets. Like it could be any character doing this…and that's not good for a cartoon (or any story for that matter).

7. GOOD SIGN: You easily envision ways to take what is written and expand on it. Make it funnier, better. And guess what? That's the storyboard artist's job. This is by no means an insult to the writing…this is just the next step.

8. BAD SIGN: You feel you have to fix the script. There may be some gaps in action or logic, and you have to fix it visually without changing the dialogue (because you usually never can). There's a difference between enhancing and repairing…and ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

9. GOOD SIGN: When you finish reading, you're enthused to get started on this one. You have some good ideas and visuals in your head to make it even more entertaining. That's a good feeling.

10. BAD SIGN: You feel confused by the story and dread getting started. Maybe you've made some screwed-up faces while reading (or is that just me?). This is worst case-scenario of course. No one wants their script to be viewed like this!

"OK, but what do I do about it?"
Well, if you're the storyboard artist and you get a script with a lot of 'bad signs', you may not be able to do much about getting them fixed. If the script has been approved and that's it... then that's it.

It'll be a longer haul for you and a bit more frustrating while doing some 'repair work'. But this can help you become a better board artist. It's challenging to fix story glitches and with the right attitude, it can be fun and rewarding... Sorta.

If nothing else, the studio will see you as someone they can depend on to do the job with your head, not just your drawing hand. That's a good place to be and what you should be striving for, so don't knock it.

You are a storyteller.
As a story teller you need to visually show how the story will unfold from the written word. If you can create or unearth more conflict within the story, and find creative ways to represent them (visually), then do so.


Story Sketch


Layout


Character Animation / Rough Backgrounds


Color Shading, Texturing, Surfacing, Lighting, Effects/Simulations & Final Render

Create reference videos (with yourself acting out the action), research movies and clips online, observe people, behaviors, environments, weather, animals, plants, and most importantly; draw from your own experiences...

Leonardo da Vinci was 500 years ahead of his time. Think about that for a second. Five hundred years!!! He invented the diving suit, the armored tank, the helicopter, the parachute, the hang glider and even scissors, to name just a few accomplishments.

There's a documentary about Leonardo that quoted him as saying that all of his ideas came from nature, which is similar to what Aristotle famously said - that drama was an imitation of life.

These two titans of thought are worth listening to - we need to be looking at nature because nature has all of the secrets.

Everything one wants to learn about telling stories can be observed by studying them in nature. We can call this observing stories in their natural habitat. Life is the natural habitat of stories. We forget this all the time. We are surrounded by stories, and the elements that make them up, daily. All of the principles and rules are there to be seen by anyone willing to look.

The master of suspense in film, Alfred Hitchcock, said that he learned about suspense when he was a boy in school in England. At his school, when you got in trouble you would have to go see the headmaster of the school - who had a paddle for such occasions. At that meeting, the severity of the crime was discussed and it was determined just how many swats were to be given as punishment. But they were not given to the child at that time. The number was written in a book next to the child's name. The child would then have to return at the end of the day for his punishment.

Hitchcock said that all one could think about for the rest of the day was those oncoming swats, and that is where he learned about suspense.

He always said that one doesn't create suspense by keeping information from an audience, but by giving them information.

This wasn't something he learned in a book. He observed it in nature. In life. Within his own experiences, and he used that lesson to build a long career of turning out film classics.

He was also well known for storyboarding all his films himself. He would say that once all the shots are planned in a storyboard, the film is 50% complete, all that remains is the execution.

The basic elements one needs to create compelling dramatic (or comedic) conflict are these: Someone wants something desperately and there is an obstacle to that goal.

This is not a rule made up by someone - this is what is compelling to us in life. It is life at its most basic. Life is simply a series of obstacles that we must overcome in order to survive. Remember these things when you are developing stories (either written ones or purely visual ones), and look for these things when reading a script or story outline. Look out for these aspects of storytelling when watching a movie, and always remember to draw from your own experiences.

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- Week 11 - In-Class Written Test

Close your computers, hide all notes and cheat sheets.
Don't be late for class, bring a pen.
Complete the test to the best of your knowledge.
2 hour time limit.

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Epic Epilogue

The secret to becoming a kick-ass storyboard artist...
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Always have a Sketchbook with you and draw in it constantly!

Believe it or not, this is the best advice I can give you about becoming a better artist, and that's to carry a sketchbook with you all the time and to doodle in it whenever you can.

There are many reasons why very few people ever do this. Some excuses are:
"Carrying a sketchbook takes effort, it's annoying having to haul one around all the time."
"I find drawing people and animals too difficult, they keep moving all the time."
"I can't draw very well, so I can't be bothered."
"I don't like it when people look over my shoulder or ask to see my sketches."




These are all poor excuses, you need to get past these and any other reasons you may use to convince yourself to NOT carry a sketchbook around. Carrying a sketchbook is extremely important. A sketchbook is your best opportunity to catch real life as it passes by you. Why is this important? Because what makes great storytelling, animation, characters and films of every kind is that they capture a truth about real life. Any film that can show us a reflection of life as we know it will always resound deep within us, and the most popular and successful comic books, TV shows and video games all work in the exact same way.



The truth never gets old or uninteresting. Any film that captures a truth about life will be compelling to an audience, no matter what other flaws it might have. There are so many films made today by people who don't try to say anything about life or attempt to portray real people - they're too busy trying to be slick or clever or stylish or something else. Don't believe me? Listen to animation master Brad Bird as he covers this same sort of thing.



You MUST start getting in the habit of carrying a sketchbook and using it. Ultimately, you won't do it unless you enjoy it, some people are better at doing a great sketch on the first try. When I'm storyboarding, I never use the first sketch I do. I always go over it at least once to improve it, sometimes I go over it five times and sometimes I go over it fifty times. The sketchbook, is for practice, for experimenting. Whether you're doodling some designs from your imaginiation, or sketching your cat laying on the floor, or dreaming up some cool robot designs, try to find a way to make sketching fun.



There' no excuse. Get a pocket-sized one if you must. Moleskine make the best quality mini-sketchbooks.



Find them here and here.

There are many other cheaper versions available, so there's no excuse to not to have SOME kind of sketchbook.

Equip yourself creatively by exercising daily. No excuses, it's a pencil not a dumb bell, just do random sketches and designs everyday. Spontaneous doodles from your head don't have to make sense, and they don't have to be perfect. When you're drawing from life, the sketches don't have to be complete, they don't have to be clean and accurate. It's all about simply capturing spontaneous thoughts and ideas to doodle, writing down notes and ideas, and drawing from life while developing those observational skills.



Don't focus on how good or bad your sketches are, instead focus on doing your best to capture what you see and learn from it. In order to carry a sketchbook around I had to just tell myself that my sketchbook is just for learning, not filling it with beautiful pictures. Focus on just doing a drawing. It doesn't have to be perfect. You'll get a lot out of just moving your pen around and trying to capture what you see. You'll inherently sense what could be better and apply that next time.



Draw & study with a purpose!
It is important to have some sort of goal or idea in mind before you start drawing. And it could really be anything. If you can identify areas you are having trouble with, then you can spend time focusing on those areas. It doesn't matter what your goal is as long as you have one in mind you won't drift around aimlessly when you start drawing.  



Fear is the mind killer!
Learning to draw takes time. People are impatient. Don't be impatient! I've seen a lot of people stop trying because they weren't seeing results fast enough. Or people worry so much about improving that they just freeze up and don't do anything. Don't worry so much about where your drawing level is. Focus on the task at hand.



Buy/borrow some books and research!
Another thing I started doing when I started learning about design and animation was buying books - LOTS of books! I tried to surround myself with artists and things that I found inspirational. I would go down to the used book store once a week to see if they had anything new. I also scoured the net for artists and images that I liked. Learning to draw is like learning a new language and the best way to learn a new language is to constantly be surrounded by it and the culture it comes from. Learning about other artists also helps you to identify what you like and what you don't like aesthetically and it ensures that you will always have new ideas to draw from.



If you really want to get better you have to make time to draw. Carry a sketchbook wherever you go and take every opportunity you can to draw. It will become a habit and then the progress never stops. There is no magic secret. To quote Ivor Hele, "Only your own hard work teaches you anything of value in the end."



Are you more inclined to sketch on your tablet or cintiq? Is the thought of using a stick of graphite incased in wood onto a thin sheet of pulp wood sound too primitive for you?



Whatever gets you to doodle and speed-sketch, every single day, for at least 10 min, than do it!















No matter what specialization you go into in the field of visual arts, filmmaking, special effects, television, graphic design, or video games; a sketchbook is more than a way to improve your drawing, it forces you to focus on the world around you and to analyze it. And it's a great way to thumbnail down some ideas for characters and compositions as well. Want some recommendations for directors and movies that are very compositionally aware? Do yourself a favor and closely study some of my personal favorites...

No matter what specialization you go into in the field of visual arts, filmmaking, special effects, or video games; a sketchbook is more than a way to improve your drawing, it forces you to focus on the world around you and to analyze it. And it's a great way to thumbnail down some ideas for characters and compositions as well. Want some recommendations for directors and movies that are very compositionally aware? Do yourself a favor and closely study some of my personal favorites...

Pixar Films: Pixar movies are carefully planned scene by scene. One particularly strong movie from Pixar is 'The Incredibles.' This film features exceedingly well done compositions, great use of color and lighting, and fantastic insight in the commentary from both the directors and the animators who worked on the film. Also included on the DVD sets are wonderful storyboard animatics from cut parts of the film. These are worth watching to see how everything that was displayed on this website comes into play.



Akira Kurosawa Films: Kurosawa makes great use of context rather than objects to tell a story. The concepts of "less is more" apply for his works more than any other. The way a character is standing or acting within frame tells the story without cramming many events into one picture. His films inspire the use of simple body lanuguage to tell what's going on rather than brute action.

  

Sylvain Chomet Films: One of the world's most acclaimed animation filmmakers of our time. He uses exquisite design sense for characters and layouts with beautiful lighting and colors. He structures detailled and marvelous compositions to develop the locations, characters and the plot in his often wordless stories.



Hayao Miyazaki Films: Miyazaki makes great use of foreground, mid-ground and background. Rather than showing all of each character all the time, very often characters are blocked by objects in the forground and middle ground, helping to place the characters within the situation, making them part of their environment and the story.



Wes Anderson Films: Anderson has a bit of a magical touch in his approach to filmmaking. He makes very careful use of color and size relationships of different characters and objects within many shots. Anderson likes to use shallow compositions where most of the scenes are flattened into a middleground. His movies almost always reserve the color red for things that he wants to have most attention in a shot. His strong visual style is worth studying and appreciating.



Master Cinematographers: Roger Deakins, Bruno Delbonnel, Tonino Delli Colli, Vittorio Storaro, Conrad Hall, and John Toll - these are just a few of many directors of photography that are responsible for the shot composition of the best looking live-action films from the past few decades. Watch and learn from their movies.



Ever get stuck starring at the blank page or screen? Don't panic! There are plenty of places to get ideas from. Movies and comics are the best places to get visual inspirations from - especially animated films since they have some of the most control over camera angle and scene composition. Look at movie special features, especially ones that offer storyboard/animatic clips. Experiment and explore. If you find something you like, don't be afraid at all to borrow it for your own work. Always study good compositions. Here is a version of this site with all the theory (minus the projects), that you can use as a reference guide to visual storytelling.

-Ron



Here's some links to save and read through...

Create your own Online Portfolio:

Animator's guide to building your web pressence

Traditional art values applied to digital painting:

Concept Art, Visual Development, Character/Creature Design, and Color Theory in Photoshop

Shot Analysis of Wall-E:

A dissection of the different types of shots in a few sequences

Collection of Screen Captures:

An archive of hundreds of snap shots from various films

3D/2D Animation & Design:

Setting Your Rates for Freelance Projects

For Illustrators & Graphic Designers:

Tips for Charging Clients for Your Services
Setting Your Rates for Freelance Work

Download - Storyboard Templates



"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your spirit. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic." - Jim Jarmusch