Too many points of interest in one section of your
image can leave it feeling too heavy or complicated
in that section of the shot and other parts feeling empty.

Triangular Composition

Triangular Composition occurs when the placement of the subjects (or group of elements themselves) form the shape of a triangle. Sometimes to create depth, othertimes to break up the image for variety in spacing and positioning, and often to create a connection or relationship between the different subjects.

Many films use this method to display information on screen in a clear and efficent way which also helps to develop the characters and stories when used properly.













In the film Rebel Without a Cause, notice how well the director, production designer, costume designer and cinematographer told the audience who the film was clearly about with in the first few minutes. Sure there's dialogue and each character has the intro in Edward's office but the visuals reinforced the whole thing. Here's how;



First up, before we see Natalie Wood, clearly she and the doll James Dean doesn't want to give up share the strongest notes of color. The bond between them is reinforced visual before the story unreels.

Natalie stands out among the rest of the girls because of the strong red note. Right away Nicholas Ray wants us to know who's important. Remember, the audience is getting a lot of information in a short period of time. He has to be really obvious and say, "this girl is the one you should look at". Good art direction is clear art direction. Also look at the deep focus in this scene, from the officer on duty in the far right corner, to the hall on the left.



The three main characters end up in the police station on the same night. Their lives will become increasingly intertwined as the story progress but for now they're unaware of that. The dynamic triangle of the composition keeps the eye moving even though the characters themselves are not engaged with each other.



As Dean starts to interact with Sal, he moves in forming a smaller compositional triangle. The three mains are still unaware of what's to come but the director wants us to know the movie will be about them.



Then as we cut into Platt's office and hear Natalie's story, Dean moves off. The main characters still the dominant visual even though they themselves are unaware of the events to follow.



More samples of using various shapes, colors and lighting to achieve a focus point through composition:

The Fundamentals

There are three main aspects you must keep in mind when storyboarding:

#1. Be Careful of Theater Staging:

There are no "right" or "wrongs" with storyboarding, only methods that work better than others. Figure out what you want to convey in a scene, and find the best way to present those ideas to your audience.

#2. Maintaining Screen Side:

This is a simple theory of cutting that can easily help create a sense of continuity within a sequence and/or exchange. The idea is not exclusive to 1 character interacting with another. The same principle can be used between 2 different groups of characters, or even a character and an object.
It can be the guy and his TV.


The dog and a tree.


The child and the moon.

#3. Maintaining Screen Direction:

As long as you continue to establish any new screen spacing or direction, the sequence should maintain a certain level of continuity that will allow the audience to follow along quite easily.

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




Take a look at these rough boards from The Iron Giant, you can see the artistic differences between various storyboard artists, but the compositions are clear and dynamic everytime.

e Maintaining Screen Side and Screen Direction are all a part of...

The 180 Rule

Always draw a map for yourself to keep track of the characters positions within the environment and in relation to the camera.

If you have two characters talking, draw an imaginary line between them. Now the rule states that you need to keep the camera on one side of that line and never cross over to the other side.



You can put the camera anywhere you want as long as you don't cross the line to the other side of the two characters. This way, no matter what shots you have, you can cut them together in any order and the green character will always stay on the right side of the frame and the blue character will always stay on the left.



If you break this rule and shoot one shot from the other side of the line, the characters will be flopped: the blue guy is now on the right and the green guy is on the left.



This can confuse the audience because, for example, if the characters look similar, they may start to get the two people mixed up. Or they may think that the characters switched places between cuts, or they may think it's a time jump to a different location at a later time or something. It can cause unnecessary confusion in the audience's mind, and we always want to avoid that.

The problem becomes even more apparent when you're doing a scene where people are in action. For example, when a character is running, you want to consider the path they're traveling along as the line that you don't want to cross. Obviously, if you shoot from the other side the line, the character will look like he's going the opposite direction.



If you start to cut these two different shots together you will create a lot of confusion: did the character turn around and start running back the other way? Or is it two characters running towards each other and they're going to collide?

That's why you'll notice that - especially in animated movies - a destination is always kept to one side of the screen or the other and the character is always traveling that way.

Summary:

Research is Everything

ALWAYS find references from great artists and filmmakers with strong compositional style. This can be a photographer, movie director, concept artist, video game cinematic director, illustrator, painter, environment designer, or anyone, even graphic designers and movie poster designers often have effective and strong sense of composition in their work.

Examples:

Pascal Campion

Christian Berger

Silvia Mogni

George Steinmetz

Josef Hoflehner

David Holland

Bruno Delbonnel

Chris Sisarich

Signs to Know if You’re Reading a Strong Script

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. LOVE that.

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.

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

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.

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’.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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!

Retro-Boarding

One of the best exercises for learning all about cutting and staging film is to draw thumbnails while watching a section of a film.

View this clip.
Play and pause on each shot, and draw what you see, indicate any camera moves, changes in poses and expressions, recreate the posture, framing and subject placement for every shot. Keep it rough and simple, imagine you are reverse-engineering the sequence as you break down these shots to storyboard them. Think about the pacing and editing, why the shots are framed the way they are, where the negative space is, when and why does it go to close-ups, and where is the main focal point in each shot.



So whenever I "step through" a sequence or section of a film. I usually have a reason why I've picked that particular clip, and it usually relates to something I'm working on, or I found the clip or sequence to have some striking compositions or nice editing techniques.

I'll draw a small thumbnail to represent each scene. If it's a short scene I'll usually pick a "key" frame from the scene - an image that best describes what the scene is about. Or is it's a long scene, I'll draw more images - whatever is necessary to get the idea of what the director has done with the staging and the camera work (if there is any).

Studying film this way forces you to really grasp what is happening in minute detail. Having to "transcribe" what is happening onto paper forces you to really notice every little thing about each scene, and you can learn a lot more about filmmaking than you can if you spent the same amount of time just watching films.

I found this Assassin's Creed trailer, I was hoping to get some inspiration for staging dramatic action as well as some inspiration in composing shots for a widescreen format.



I think in animation we tend (at least I know I do) to think of shots that start, then an action begins, that action finishes and then you cut to the next shot where the next action begins. That way of thinking can be beneficial for animators because it gives them a scene with an entire action in it. It can be frustrating for animators to try and divide the same action over several different scenes. But I like how in this clip, the actions begin in one scene and then finish in the next shot (or the one after that), or that sometimes you never see the action actually finish, you move onto the next beat when it's clear that a beat is over. I like that, and when I was boarding my most recent assignment I tried to do that more. It creates more excitement, if you do it right. Then the rhythm of the cuts can be surprising and unexpected instead of plodding and predictable. But you have to do it judiciously.

Also the camera never stops moving in this clip, which can add a lot of excitement to a scene when it's done with restraint and reason, to compliment the action that's happening. Too many times people just move the camera to move it and the effect becomes tedious or makes you seasick. But I liked the restraint in this clip and I thought the camera was always moving in a way that added to the impact of each moment.

One more thing: for the most part, Ezio (The Assassin) and his nemesis are placed in the center of the screen which gives them a place of power. In scenes where Ezio is not in the center, you don't see his face, or only parts of him, and he's usually bigger onscreen than anybody else. All of these things are great devices to make a character look powerful on screen.

Don't worry about doing perfect sketches. They're just for you, and it's just a learning tool. But don't just scribble them out, either, put enough into them that you are actually getting enough down that you are seeing the patterns and getting down how the staging and cutting is working. Be precise, but don't spend too much time on each individual drawing. You want to do them fast enough that you can see the cutting patterns over several scenes, and if you spend an hour making each sketch perfect, you won't ever get the feel of how several scenes are linking together in a row.

Do this exercise for yourself every week, choose a 2-4 minute clip from any TV show and movie. Pick good filmmakers, of course, and pick good scenes. At least in the beginning, stick with filmmakers that are known for preparing in advance and being meticulous about controlling what you see on screen. I would suggest directors like Hitchcock, Spielberg, Lucas, Kurosawa, James Cameron, etc. I spent many hours thumbnailing sections of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when I was first learning about boarding. The truck chase is a particular favorite of mine because there are many changes of screen direction at the beginning that are handled well.

Here's some of my boards for the Assassin's Creed trailer.







The important thing is to get something out of it and learn!

And one more piece of advice...if don't think your drawing skills aren't very good; and you absolutely don't want to try to draw your way through a scene, try watching the clip without sound. This will allow you to focus on the visuals and concentrate on the cutting and staging without the distraction of the audio.


Here's an anyalysis of the opening to my all-time favorite, Blade Runner:




Just like for film, a lot can be learned from studying well staged works of photography and illustration.


Observe the principles of clear compositional design through examples by various comic strips artists & painters:



People who are good at composition have to exercise a lot of self-control. Instead of starting a picture with small details, they instead have to plan a big visual statement that reads clearly and simply.



The overall image above is broken into 4 basic shapes. Then each major shape is again broken into subdivisions.





Then the next level.





Someone with less control would get all absorbed in the details early on. Maybe he'd start by drawing a bunch of individual leaves and hope they ad up to an overall tree shape. Or he might do a wild pose of the character - with all the limbs sticking out in every direction, and no overall silhouette.

Good storyboard artists have to have this kind of self-control - to avoid getting lured into the details too early. Artists often struggle with composition, because they want to get right to the character first.



Here's another example. The characters look great, but they fit perfectly into a much simpler framework, which helps them read well.





The characters and BG frame the skywriting plane in the backdrop.
Ranger Smith, Cindy and Baba Looey act as one form, that in turn fits into the bush shape behind them. They together are well separated from Yogi, who is the focus of the picture. Boo Boo looks up at Yogi and is framed by the bushes behind him. If all the characters were evenly spaced and the same size, the picture would be confusing and wouldn't draw your attention to anything in particular.



You can see this definitive arrangement of shapes in all of Eisenberg's comics.



Look at the staging breakdown of these two children's book illustrations.



The main difference to me between that Flintstone staging and the Bambi staging is that one is merely functional and the other is planned artistically. In the Bambi picture, the whole layout is not only clear and easy to read, but the staging itself has been turned into part of the visual pleasure. It's so well thought out and artistically managed. It's logical and creative at the same time. The artist worked from the outside in to make an overall compositional statement where every level of sub forms and details agree with the big picture and follow its plan and physics.

The Flintstone picture on the other hand, while it's still very appealing, it looks like there wasn't as much planning involved, except to cram all the elements into it and line them up next to each other where they at least don't bump into each other.



Bambi and Thumper are each clearly framed by the BG elements, and those elements flow around the whole composition. The sub forms in the background are being pulled along and held together by opposing forces. The whole layout design is one force. Gravity is pulling the trees and snow down. The structure of the tree branches holds together the radiating pine needles and the clumps of snow. Each clump of needles or snow all are following the same basic forces.





When you finally get down to the tiniest details, they too follow the physics of the larger forms. You could take any part of this image and break it down. You'll find the same logic everywhere and artist Mel Shaw always puts a lot of thought into his illustrations.







Knowing all this doesn't make it an easier to draw good compositions. I envy the people who have the knack for it - Jim Smith, Frank Frazetta, N.C. Wyeth, Hank Ketcham, Owen Fitzgerald, Jack Kirby, Will Eisener, George Clark, Milt Gross and a lot of the old school Disney layout artists. I wish it came naturally to me, I still have to think about the composition and draw a few different version first before it starts to look well-balanced.

The most important part of an image is the overall composition and graphic statement. You should be able instantly to see what's going on in the big picture. None of the details should distract from it. You need to be able to see clearly:
- The lines of action
- The focal point
- The negative shapes that help us clearly see the whole image
- The relative positions of the characters and their emotional relationships to what each is doing.

If the big picture (the composition) doesn't make an obvious statement or read clearly, then every other step of the detailing will just make it worse.

Great illustrators like N.C. Wyeth use these exact same principles; only apply them on more complex levels with more complex drawing:

You can still see the big shapes dominating the compositions, and the details being subservient to them through many levels.

Frank Frazetta has beautiful intricate details in his work, but his images also are stunning simple compositions. The whole image is a design. He became a master at composition and hierarchy - so much so that his work is almost a caricature of artistic control. Everything in his images fits so perfectly together that it's almost unnatural - even though he is using guidance from a great observation of nature.

The purpose of all composition in comics, storyboarding, graphic design, illustration, or filmmaking is to achieve clarity in the visual layout and presentation of the static or moving image.

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.









Let's analyze the importance STORYBOARDING a short film or commercial.

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.

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... 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 effecient and entertaining way.

Here is a pitch Exit 73 Studios created for Nickelodeon that was ultimately turned down, but it gives you a glimpse into their pre-production process. The entire storyboard/animatic phase is done completely in Flash, so we are left with very little guess work in the layout stage. The scratch audio and music in house.

If your interested you can download the pitch book here... exit73studios.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Market-WarriorsSmall.pdf



Observe the simple use of various angles and framing techniques in this storyboard:


Animator Hank Ketcham created Dennis the Menace, he began the comic strip in the 50s and there was always great staging and thoughtful designs.



Traditional 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.

Applying Contrast and Tone Specifically to Storyboarding

Contrast is useful in all aspects of your work, but when it comes to storyboarding it shines brighter than ever. Storyboarding is all about telling a story with one image and leading the viewer's eye to exactly what's important. It is normally just one part of a sequence, but an essential bit that the viewer absolutely needs to see in order to fully grasp the story being told. It may linger for a split second or much longer, depending on where in the story a certain board falls.

Here then contrast through simple tone can do wonders. It can transform a line drawing with a lot going on into a simple composition that everyone knows the focus of instantly. Take a look at this amazing storyboard panel by Michael Lester who works over at Dreamworks:

There's a HUGE amount going on in this subway car, with a large cast of characters, but thanks to tone and contrast your eyes are drawn immediately to the most important aspect (the dog in the hat) and then allowed the freedom to look over all the happy riders around him. The darker tone for the dog also plays nicely into the sad pose he's taking. (Truth be told we could study this image all day for a treasure trove of artistic goodness, but let's get back on topic for now.)

Behold, like a magic trick, what happens when we remove the simple tonal contrast!

Suddenly you notice a whole lot more lines than the partially filled piece. Where exactly are you supposed to look? Is the focus the large cat to the left? Perhaps the laughing character? Maybe the story is following the child to the right, off on his first subway ride? Eventually you might make note that the dog character has a nice aura of negative space (not touching any other characters) so it may be the story is about him. Without the tone, though, getting to that point takes a lot of thinking and a long time. Time storyboard artists need to keep moving along quickly.

If you'd like to see more examples of superb use of tone and contrast in storyboards, Michael's blog Ninjerktsu does not disappoint. It's filled with storyboard-like-comics that are as hilarious as they are beautiful. (This one about a “Cat Lady” is one of my personal favorites.)

Keep It Simple

While it helps to use tone as shadow, you don't need to know advanced lighting techniques to add this aspect to your drawings. Simple blocking of three or four tones is enough to do the trick. Things you want to draw the eye to should have the highest level of contrast, while the areas that you'd like to fade into the background should blend in with less contrast. As an exercise, try adding in these five tones to a line drawing you've done (or add them to another artist's line drawings just to practice).

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

Shot Progression

Take a look at progression number one, six shots of a couple talking in a restaurant. It's a basic progression that starts far away and neutral and ends up in an extreme close up featuring one character. The script may start out with some chit chat between the characters, and intensify to where in panel six the woman makes an important statement (ie: "I'm pregnant," or "I'm leaving you", or even "oh crap-- I left the oven on" etc). For all intents and purposes, this is correct. The shots slowly intensify to a visual climax.



Now look at progression 2; same six shots, but they've been jumbled around. For the script we're using in progression one, this would be considered wrong. The shots are all over the place. Sure the woman could say "I'm leaving you " in the close up in panel six, but what impact will it have after the extreme close up in panel one? How is it building intensity if we're going to a wide neutral shot, then close up , then out to medium shots?



Now the tricky part. With a different script, the second progression could work. Say the woman gets a phone call (before this scene) from the man and he says "Sally, the money's gone; meet me at the cafe".

With that intro, the script for progression two may go like this:

panel one: (woman) "what do you mean the money's gone?"
panel two: (man)(looking around nervously and whispering) " I don't know, the suitcase was empty"
panel three: (man) "we've got to find that money"
panel four: (woman) "all right but being here is making me nervous, they could be following us"
panel five: (man) " what do you think we should do?"
panel six: (woman) "we need to get out of town"



The most important bit is the woman's reaction to the money being gone and the ECU opens the scene with a punch. The second biggest bit is "we need to get out of town", so that gets a close up in panel six although not as big as panel one. The lines of them talking about being scared of being followed are in wider shots to emphasize the people around them and that they're in a public space.

Thumbnails

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.

In animation, a good way to thumbnail out some ideas 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.








One of the ways I like to study, is by printing out a picture I like. I then take the time and trace over it. Now at first this might sound like a big waste of time but it isn't. Sometimes the mind seems to trick us into thinking a certain line or shape is different than exactly what you see in front of you. We sometimes see what we want to. So with having the added sense of feeling, of going over the same lines that are there, you are able to see and feel the shape, length, direction, thickness, rhythm of each line. You will start to feel the design. You are adding another sense while studying.



It's kind of like what a blind person would do when they touch things. They are using the sense of touch to see. Well when I trace over a picture, I get that added help of seeing by feeling the drawing as well. My drawing skills grew when I started doing this. So don't be embarrassed to trace over things, you will learn a lot.

Animation Master Glen Keane, once said "if you are drawing a blank, or are having a hard time drawing a certain thing, then it is because you have not studied it enough". You can only draw what you know. Sadly there is no magical dust (believe me I have tried searching for the stuff) that will make you a better artist. The fruit of great art comes from the roots of studying, observation, and hard work.



So for people like me that have a hard time drawing hands this is the type of (great) artwork I would printout, trace, study, and observe.

Do this for all aspects of art that you have difficulty with. Plants, buildings, mountain landscapes, people's feet, cars, whatever it may be... find references, trace over it over and over again, this will increase your draftsmanship skills and thus make you a storyboard artist.

>>>>



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:

Basic Staging Principles

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.

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.

Space & Form

How and When to Cut

Staging & Posing Review

Cut Scene from 'Megamind' Storyboards by Toby Shelton:

Cut Scenes from 'Tangled' Storyboards by Toby Shelton:

Be entertained by the storyboard art of Michael Lester:

The Worse Day Ever

I have to let you go Scampers. Pa thinks you're too wild and dangerous...




He doesn't understand. You were just barking at that mean ol' grizzly bear.




< sniff > I love you Scampers. I'll never forget you.




< sniff sniff > Goodbye...




No Scampers! No! Don't follow me!




Stay! You can't come back!




Dangit Scampers! Get outta here!




Run away!




Go on!!! Git!




< thump >




Please go Scampers! Please understand!




You have to leave!









< STAB >









!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




SCAMPERS! NOOOO!!!!




< CLAMP!!! >




AAAAAHHHHHHHHRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!




UUUNNGGHHHH!!!!




HUH!??!




GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




GGGGGGRRRRRRRROOOWLLLLLLLL!!!!! GRRRRRR!!!!!!




GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!




I just heard Fox canceled Arrested Development.









-end

Netflix

AAARGGHH!! I'M SO BORED!





Wait a sec! I think that movie I love starts streaming today on Netflix!





Yep! Here it is! Awesome!





Hey Honey! What's the password for our Netflix account?





The password is the date of our wedding anniversary.









I...












-end

Visual Vocabulary by Marcos Mateu-Mestre

Mateu-Mestre, Marcos. Framed Ink: Design Studio Press, 2010, Print.

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.

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.

3. Movement of the frame itself:

-Perhaps the most important basic element of cinematic composition is the ability of the frame itself to move.

-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 the 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.

-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.

The important factor is 'relationship'. The relationship of all elements on screen, their scale and proximity and placement relative to each other within the frame, all effect the composition.

Observe this study of shot compositions from the first 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.

Nolan and his cinematographer Wally Pfister photographed "The Dark Knight" much like they did for its predecessor "Batman Begins," with anamorphic lenses. This time around, however, certain sequences were shot entirely with superwide lenses in the 65mm Imax format. Given that Nolan photographs and edits his films with a classic style (allowing the actors to move about the frame in wide and medium shots, and only going in for tight closeups when absolutely necessary), these wide angle shots give the film its distinctive feel, separating the movie from its louder, messier peers.

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 themes and ideas of the film. In Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," for example, the converging lines of perspective gave the film a claustrophobic feel, as if the walls of the Overlook Hotel were literally collapsing onto the mind of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson). The production design (long, uninterrupted beams, corridors and hallways, etc.) and cinematographer John Alcott's choice of lenses and camera angles (short lenses, emphasizing scale and perspective) helped tell the story of a man slowly losing his mind.

"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.

The film is defeinately about the growing chaos and collapse of our morality, and the theme deeply interested in the choices we make us as individuals and as members of society.

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

"The Dark Knight" combined careful choices of camera placement and lenses with production design and location work to create distinctive converging lines of perspective. Its ultimate aesthetic impact was to impart a sense of looming doom, about a city collapsing upon itself with individual morality and societal cooperation hanging precariously in the balance.

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 cinematographer John Alcott boldly 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 (As opposed to the standard 1.85 to 1 aspect ratio of standard Academy projection, or the 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio of widescreen films). In fact, Kubrick shot his final four films in this same way-- "Barry Lyndon" (also with Alcott), "Full Metal Jacket" (with Douglas Wilsome), "Eyes Wide Shut" (with Larry Smith). Shooting in this nearly square aspect ratio compresses the horizontal visual range. Vistas and wide, epic films are traditionally shot in widescreen, while more intimate, character-oriented films are traditionally shot in narrower ratios, like 1.85. Using 1.37 as an aspect ratio (only slightly wider than 4:3 television) this immediately gives "The Shining" a distinctive look.

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.

Notice how Kubrick uses this technique in these frames from The Shining, from the most apparent examples (any shot from the Overlook hotel hallways) to the less obvious (the police radio room and the near-point-of-view shot of Halloran).

Illustrating a visual motif without being overt and obvious is not a simple task, Director Tomas Alfredson and his cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema achieve this delicate balance in "Let The Right One In," an excellent Swedish thriller 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. 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 thanks to the wide-angle photography. In addition, "The Dark Knight" was filmed with anamorphic lenses, which bow and bend straight lines giving even long lens shots a fish eye and distorted/abstract feel, while Hoytema chose to film "Let The Right One In" with spherical lenses (in Super35 for a 2.35 to 1 composition), minimizing distortion. Hoytema's images have straight lines that are parallel to the edges of the frame, emphasizing, coldness and geometric precision.

Alfredson, Hoytema and production designer Eva Noren use everyday objects to highlight this geometric precision. The window frames of Oskar's apartment building is used to great effect, along with the tiny jungle gym in the building's snowy yard (where we meet the mysterious Eli for the first time). Even props like the Rubik's Cube Oskar gives to Eli help drive home the visual theme.

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.

See how this gaze locations experiment shows how composition (with the help of 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.



You are a storyteller, and as a storyteller you need to 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 repsent them (visually), then do so.

Storyboards are an essential process for all forms of animation.

Story Sketch

Layout

Character Animation / Rough Backgrounds

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

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.



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 or visual), and look for these things when reading a script or story outline. Look out out for these aspects of storytelling when watching a movie, and always remember to draw from your own experiences.

References

Basics on Angles & Composition for Storyboarding:


Sherm Cohen's Awesome Storyboard Tutorials:


Download these boards.



















Review - Types of Shots:



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.

Animatics

Also known as Leica Reels or Story Reels - this 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.


An Animatic by Mike Koizumi:


Gorillaz "Rhinestone Eyes" Storyboard-Animatic:


An Animatic by Eugene Lee:


An Animatic by Mario Richard:


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


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



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.

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."



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 magial 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: John Toll, Roger Deakins, Bruno Delbonnel, Tonino Delli Colli, Vittorio Storaro, and Conrad Hall - 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. Once you you have an understanding of cinematography and cutting, the rest is just practice and experimantation.

If you ever have any questions about storyboarding, don't hestitate to ask me and e-mail me any time, I also have plenty of 'storyboard tests' which are just short and simple scripts that you can use for practice.
Contact:
ron.doucet@gmail.com

See my silly blog: Flooby Nooby

This website will always be here to serve you as a guide.

-Ron

Resources:

Create your own Online Portfolio: Animator's guide to building your web pressence

Ron's Storyboard Cheatsheet

Blank Storyboard Templates

Here is a great book on the subject of body language:
What Every BODY is Saying - by Joe Navarro

Brad Bird & Chris Roman:
Notes on Composition & Storyboarding

I highly recommend reading through this amazing book:
The Visual Story - by Bruce Block

Shot Analysis of Wall-E: A dissection of the different types of shots in a few sequences

Emmanuel Deligiannis:
Four short storyboard samples

Jay Oliva:
Storyboard samples from some Batman and Superman Animated films



Traditional art values applied to digital painting: Concept Art, Visual Development, Character/Creature Design, and Color Theory in Photoshop

Massive Collection of Screen Captures: An archive of hundreds of snap shots from various films

For 3D/2D Animation Artists: Setting Your Rates for Freelance Projects

For Illustrators & Graphic Designers:
Tips for Charging Clients for Your Services
Setting Your Rates for Freelance Work



"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