What is the key to success in visual storytelling?
A willingness to collaborate, the flexibility to evolve,
and an understanding of the basic rules of cinematography.
The Function of Storyboards in Animation
Staging: The positioning of characters in each scene for maximum emotional content and clear readability of actions. In Animation it refers to the purpose of directing the audience's attention, and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene; what is happening, and what is about to happen. This can be done by various means, such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, and the angle & position of the camera. In live-action and 3DCG animation, this is refered to as 'Blocking'.
Storytelling: Each panel's sketch clearly communicates to an audience the important ideas expressed through the action of each scene. This is all compromised of different types of shots, framing and editing principles - and how they are used by filmmakers to help tell a story. These depict many elements like the poses/body language and expressions of the characters, as well as how the scenes will cut together, and how close (or far) the camera is to the subject.
A storyboard is a visual representation of your script. It's a document that shows the narrative flow of your film or show, scene by scene. Most of the time, storyboards start off as hand-drawn sketches and notes scribbled in the margins of the screenplay.
The process of storyboarding forces production teams to consider the best routes to take before they even start the journey. Storyboards are the road map through your narrative structure, it's like a visual regersal to see what concepts work and what don't.
Top Reasons why you're storyboarding.
It's the easiest way to share your vision.
It's how you learn whether your idea works.
It help to make the most of your budget.
You'll be able to identify problems at an early stage.
It makes the production process smoother.
Thanks to a storyboard, teams can communicate their vision and instantly verify it with the client. It allows creating an outline for the production around which the studio can organise the entire process.
Thanks to a storyboard, the film or show will be put together according to the vision that has been checked and confirmed by the client. The animation studio can be sure that the end product matches the client's needs and has a solid narrative structure with a cohesive and coherent sequence of shots.
Storyboarding often takes a lot of time to do well, but you can be sure that it's time well spent.
Week 1
ASSIGNMENT #1: "The Incredibles" Retro-boarding
Play and pause on each shot from the provided clip, and draw what you see,
indicate any camera moves, changes in poses and expressions, recreate the poses,
framing and subject placement for every shot. 50-60 panels.
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.
As you go, illustrate the compositional elements used to direct and lead the storytelling.
Think about how the camera was used to draw out your initial emotional response and visual language to the scene.
Export as PDF or JPGs for submission.
OBJECTIVE:
You must begin to think like filmmakers: Imagine how to use the camera to create emotional context for the audience.
EVALUATION:
This week's assignment is an initiation to the process of storyboarding so the evaluation will be a little different than the rest of the projects moving forward. I will be looking for clarity and critiquing the work on the analysis of the piece in regards to the students' interpretations.
I want to see how you think.
What software you use, doesn't matter, the standard in the industry is both Storyboard Pro and Photoshop, for these assignments you can use which ever tools you would like.
Export as PDF or JPGs for submissions.
Tips on how to use of the basic tools of Line, Shape, Space, and Motion to express clear visual language in your storyboards:
Week 2
ASSIGNMENT #2: 6-Shot Setup
Value: 5%
Using this image as your first establishing shot, sketch out 6 more scenes (one panel each), to create your own version of the progressing events could be.
A few things to keep in mind when staging the 6 shots that will follow this setup:
- Try to stay within the Film Noir style.
- Try to experiment with some shadows and rim lights.
- Try to keep your shots dynamic, this means avoid flat/straight-on angles, keep the camera tilted, or pointing up or down.
Pick one of the following 24 scenarios to storyboard.
15-25 panels.
1. Opening a door with your arms full.
2. Just spilled a drink on your laptop.
3. A person waking up and struggling to get out of bed because of massive hangover.
4. At home alone watching a scary movie.
5. A character working up the courage to jump over a gap.
6. Someone smashing their thumb with a hammer.
7. Walking into a gust of wind.
8. Trying to close an overstuffed suitcase.
9. Sleeping character startled by alarm then returning to sleepy state.
10. Dr. Jekyll transforming into Mr. Hyde.
11. Haven't slept in three days.
12. A character opens a box and is frightened by its contents.
No dialogue.
All the staging and posing must be based on clear acting and performance.
Clarity in body language, posing, facial expressions are all key.
Keep the staging abundantly clear and consistent.
Clarity in your posing comes from strong lines of action and negative space:
Tips on shot composition:
Week 4
ASSIGNMENT #4: Mini-Scenario 2
Value: 5%
Pick one of the following 12 scenarios to storyboard.
20-40 panels.
1. A clumsy jester has spilled wine all over the king.
2. A caveman teaching his pet dinosaur to play fetch.
3. An old professor chases his escaped lab rat through the university library.
4. A nervous criminal attempting his first robbery.
5. Telling a story to a child.
6. A young farm boy tries to get a stubborn goat out of it's pen.
7. A kid learning to roller skate.
8. A timid person confronting a bully.
9. A hermit describing how he was abducted by a UFO.
10. An imaginative child playing with a cardboard box.
11. A coach blowing his top during a halftime locker room speech.
12. A character opening a gift and reacting in exaggerated disgust.
No diallogue.
All the staging and posing must be based on strong acting and performance.
Clarity in body language, posing, facial expressions are all key.
Keep the staging abundantly clear and consistent.
Week 5
ASSIGNMENT #5: "His or Hens" Storyboard Test
Value: 9%
Storyboard the provided script.
Roughly 30-35 panels should be used.
EVALUATION:
This week's assignment is based on a short comedic story, how you interpret the script, showcase the facial expressions & body language, and choose the angles to block the scenes are all part of the process for evaluating the work.
PREMISE:
Two Characters are in an argument over an EGG. A third Character enters the scene and changes the argument's dynamics by diffusing the situation, and refocusing the tension of the story to something new. Either one of the characters, or the camera, crosses the stageline in order to resolve the scene.
OBJECTIVE:
Students are to create a rough storyboard of a simple two character set up, wherein they establish a stageline for the board. A third character enters the sequence which will require the adjustment of the stageline to accommodate the story. Students must demonstrate the practical use of camera continuity in service of telling this simple character story with a beginning, middle and end. Read the provided script over and over, really focus on visualizing the story a few differnt ways before commiting to some thumbnails. Think like a camera-person, visualize the story, keep the drawings rough in the first thumbnails pass, then refine the staging and posing and add additional poses for acting and clarity in your final boards. You must always indicate what the background looks like, and choose your angles carefully. There should be an emphasis on clear staging, strong posing and the 'shot progression' technique should be present.
NOTE: This is the first legitimate storyboarding assignment from this program. Try to have fun with it... work loose and gestural at first, then refine the staging, acting and posing, and remember, the purpose of this assignment is to communicate a basic understanding of your blocking skills. The focus of this assignment will be on your use of camera rather than draftsmanship. Draw in a character design style you are most comfortable with. Write all dialogue under each panel, don't be afraid to use arrows to indicate motion of characters and camera, but don't OVER use arrows, just use them when necessary, and write out any important action notes.
GOOD LUCK!
Design Inspiration:
Just 5 minutes on Pinterest comes up with lots of ideas for designing & posing the Hen and Rooster characters, and even some ideas on how to design the Baby Chick and Crow characters as well. As a storyboard artist you must always research your subjects; for story, character design, set design, costume design, and and many other aspects. Even for the shooting style, camera placements, dynamic perspective or flat straight-on compositions, explores ideas for how to the direct the story.
Use the Thumbnail Template first, plan out the flow of the story with very rough sketches, experiment and try out different things to see how it looks. Don't always go with your first idea, explore how you can envision the angles and cuts to play out. Then use the Storyboard Template provided to create the final storyboard while looking at your own thumbnails as reference.
Start off with very light and loose drawings. Once your happy with the staging and posing, draw over your roughs with more refined darker roughs. Remember to add lots more poses than what you made as thumbnails. The thumbnails are a rough staging guide for yourself, the final storyboard is a refined version with more information, more poses, clear expressions and some background indications. Mark the scene numbers and panel numbers at the top, it's always a new scene number for each time the camera cuts.
Here's the intro to an old class that Master Story Artist Kris Pearn had made, it breaks down the essence of what the purpose of storyboards are:
Observe these tips on Staging:
Framing Techniques:
The Art of the Reverse Shot:
Week 6
ASSIGNMENT #6: "Dysfunctional Dam" Storyboard Test
Value: 12%
Storyboard the provided script.
Roughly 35-40 panels should be used.
OBJECTIVE:
Be mindful of the three-dimensional space the characters occupy. Pay attention to secondary actions (characters doing something while delivering their dialogue). Think about the body language and acting choices you need to make so the characters' poses match their
attitude and their intentions. Experiment with camera angles and how the camera cuts from scene to scene, always show basic background art to indicate where the characters are in proximity to each other and within their environment.
EVALUATION:
This week's assignment is based on how you interpret the script. Clarity in your poses and compositions are key, be aware of the geography of the scene and how the characters move within their space. Variety in camera angles and framing is essential to help tell the story.
*Use the Thumbnail Template first, plan out the flow of the story with very rough sketches, experiment and try out different things to see how it looks. Don't always go with your first idea, explore how you can envision the angles and cuts to play out. Then use the Storyboard Template provided to create the final storyboard while looking at your own thumbnails as reference.
Start off with very light and loose drawings. Once your happy with the staging and posing, draw over your roughs with more refined darker roughs. Remember to add lots more poses than what you made as thumbnails. The thumbnails are a rough staging guide for yourself, the final storyboard is a refined version with more information, more poses, clear expressions and some background indications. Mark the scene numbers and panel numbers at the top, it's always a new scene number for each time the camera cuts.
Have fun!
Week 7-8
ASSIGNMENT #7: "Duncan's Revenge" Storyboard Test
Value: 15%
Storyboard the provided script.
Roughly 50-60 panels should be used.
Tips from the 'Adventure Time' Storyboard Director:
OBJECTIVE:
Body language, screen geography, and location design, are all important aspects for planingn out for this story.
You can treat Miller's flashback story as an actual cut-away flashback or just a shot of him acting out/gesturing through the scene as he describes what happened. Be creative with how the characters express their moods with their body and their acting.
EVALUATION:
This week's assignment is based on how you interpret the script, clarity in your poses and compositions are key, be aware of the geography of the scene and how the characters move within their environment. Be creative on how to introduce the characters in the room as well, be mindful of the axis line and how to stage the characters keep things clear to the audience.
*Use the Thumbnail Template first, plan out the flow of the story with very rough sketches, experiment and try out different things to see how it looks. Don't always go with your first idea, explore how you can envision the angles and cuts to play out. Then use the Storyboard Template provided to create the final storyboard while looking at your own thumbnails as reference.
Start off with very light and loose drawings. Once your happy with the staging and posing, draw over your roughs with more refined darker roughs. Remember to add lots more poses than what you made as thumbnails. The thumbnails are just a rough staging guide for yourself, the final storyboard is a refined version with more information, more poses, clear expressions and some background indications. Mark the scene numbers and panel numbers at the top, it's always a new scene number for each time the camera cuts to a new shot.
Have fun!
Watch some helpful viewing material on film theory and visual language:
Choose one of the three provided soundtracks, they are between 50 to 85 seconds long. Create a character (or characters) and a story that will fit to this piece of music.
Story Artists translate story ideas into visual sequences to convey the essence of the storyline, scene structure, character emotion, action, and humor in alignment with the overall direction of the film. With quick and gestural sketches, a mastery of human and animal anatomy, an understanding of cinematography and narrative staging, our story artists produce character-driven story sequences with strong character appeal and acting.
- YOUR SCHEDULE -
Week 1: Listen to some audio tracks and pick the one story you like best. Create simple character designs (and BG designs if needed). Produce very rough thumbnails, in sync with the audio track.
Week 2: Clean-up the storyboards. Refine the final posing and staging as you go with more elaborate acting, adding in any details & shading in any where you see appropriate, each week showcase your progress fro your desk for feedback.
Submit the movie once complete.
Sample of finished animatic:
The Importance of Thumbnailing
Professional/experienced storyboard artists can do about 30 clean panels per day. This is because they do a lot of play-outs and run-throughs; where they do quick and dirty roughs like this to see how the sequence works. It's actually quite normal to be able to rough out 200 panels in an 8 hour shift.
This little rough thumbnail is 27 panels, and it's not actually staged very well, but it was done in 15 minutes.
Something like this is what any storyboard artist would turn in for their thumbnail/rough pass to be reviewed by a the director or storyboard supervisor. Then they will receive notes on how to make it better. They'll redo whatever he/she asks for, and then comes the clean up pass... which is a different animal, and can take a bit longer, in the clean-up pass you refine the posing and acting, placing the characters on-style and on-model, add in more BG details, add in some secondary poses and camera information.
But still, just to get to the clean stage, it's important to be fast, to be an efficient storyboard artist you need to burn through the really rough passes... so you CAN get all your thumbnails done, get feedback and approvals, and do the revisions asked, and still have plenty of time to spend doing clean up.
The most crucial thing to keep in mind: It's more important to tell the story, than to draw a pretty picture.
Clarity in your staging and posing is key.
Composition in your shots can be improved with simple methods like this:
Thumbnail Tips:
Pay attention to the axis line to maintain screen continuity from shot to shot.
You may have characters actively cross over the axis line in order to have them change which side of the screen they are on.
Carefully plan when to make insert shots - those close-ups that will allow the viewer to see what the characters sees, often happens in this story when they look down to read the book title. Type out the dialogue under the panels.
Storyboarding Advice:
Visual Storytelling 101:
Visual Subtext:
Cinematic Motion - Screen Position/Direction:
Action Directing with Genndy Tartakovsky:
Using Scale & Framing as a Visual Storytelling Tool:
ASSIGNMENT #9: Storyboard / Animatic for Final Project
Value: 30%
This is an on-going assignment to be worked on through out the whole semester in terms of designs and story, by the time storyboarding begins at this point, you must have character designs, location designs, full story premise all worked out. Story, characters, and settings are entirely of your choosing and design.
Objective:
For this final assignment - Complete a full animatic of your final film, to have ready for layout/animation to begin next term. Animatic project can vary between 30-60 seconds in length.
Sample of an animatic made to an Audio Recording: Ice Cream Songs
Whether it's an excerpt from a stand-up comedian's sound bite, or an extracted clip from some podcast, keep it short and simple. See this example of an audio recording used to create a short animated sequence.
5 Week Schedule:
Prior to Week 1: Any voice tracks/sound effects/music needed should
be completed by now. Have the story entirely finished and planned out.
Week 1: Story + Design Prep - Finalize the story; gather together any rough character and background designs; begin rough thumbnails.
Week 2: Rough Thumbnails - Lay out all your shots, very loosely plan out the entire film.
Submit and talk-through the thumbnails - begin to clean-up the boards.
Week 3: Work on the storyboard/animatic clean-up & timing - submit work-in-progress
at least once for review and feedback.
Week 4: Work on the storyboard/animatic clean-up & timing - submit work-in-progress
at least once for review and feedback.
Week 5: Complete the storyboards/animatic - render out and submit final movie file
(1280x720).
Evaluation:
Clarity in the storyboards and how well thought out the timing, acting, and staging of the full animatic is the main purpose. How well of a detailled blueprint it is for next semester, it must be a solid guide to use and follow-through into layout & animation for your final film.
This storyboard will be the complete visual guide for how your final animation should look. It should be 30-60 seconds in length, and should be heavily posed out.
Samples:
See this example of a "posing-heavy" storyboard, where every single piece of acting and movement is planned out.
HERE is a glimpse inside the long and creative process of developing storyboards for an animated feature film.
Animatic Sample:
Storyboard Pro Tips
Essential Viewing - Tips on Character Design & Character Development:
Storyboarding Advice
- Strive for clarity in your posing and staging so that an audience can clearly understand both what the characters are doing and also what they are thinking and feeling.
- Make sure that the timing in your shot helps the character feel like it is thinking as well as doing.
- Give the eyes plenty of attention in your boards, because they can totally sell your character's internal process.
- Make sure that your acting choices feel real and not contrived. Avoid the cliches when possible. Acting can be cartoony or realistic, but the character needs to be believable in either scenario.
- Use video reference as a tool for planning your shot and as a reference for body mechanics.
- Be sure to enjoy yourself. Shots always turn out better when you have fun working on them.
Contrast in your compositions is the simplest way to achieve visual clarity in your charatcer staging:
Experiment with using light & shadow and rack focus, and a few dynamic angles for this story to capture that certain mood for a typical sneaky 'heist film'. How you frame your shots and how you establish your camera angles will help to convey the drama and the humor.
OBJECTIVE:
Acting is a big part of this story. Think about Action + Reaction.
The characters' personalities need to show through their body language, postures, and attitudes. The scenes need to have dramatic lighting and heavy shadow work (especially in the first portion). Read the script a few times before beginning, that way you can ascertain what their personalities are and convey that visually in their acting.
REQUIREMENTS:
At least 3 camera moves.
At least 1 rack focus effect.
Rim lights and rim shadows everywhere.
Samples of rim lights and rack focus:
Color is not necessary, but tonal values and shading must be implemented in every shot - this will help to add depth and separation between characters and BGs. In some cases, conveying light and shadow in your boards will be very important to amplify the mood of the scene, it creates strong compositions allowing you to direct the viewers attention in dramatic ways.
When planning out your shots, think about what you want your camera setups to show. Depending on how you are interpreting the script and what you want to show; Will the shot be character-driven, story-driven, or both. Always remember, your shots tell the story.
There are many ways to help the design of the forms of shadows themselves to help tell the story:
EVALUATION:
This week's assignment is based on how you interpret the script, clarity in your poses and compositions are key, be aware of the geography of the scene and how the characters move within their environment. Remember that this is a comedy first and foremost.
*Use the Thumbnail Template first, plan out the flow of the story with very rough sketches, experiment and try out different things to see how it looks. Don't always go with your first idea, explore how you can envision the angles and cuts to play out. Then use the Storyboard Template provided to create the final storyboard while looking at your own thumbnails as reference.
Start off with very light and loose drawings. Once your happy with the staging and posing, draw over your roughs with more refined darker roughs. Remember to add lots more poses than what you made as thumbnails. The thumbnails are just a rough staging guide for yourself, the final storyboard is a refined version with more information, more poses, clear expressions and some background indications. Mark the scene numbers and panel numbers at the top, it's always a new scene number for each time the camera cuts to a new shot.
- Samples of the opening sequence -
Stephen Picher:
Edwin Santiago:
David Fernandez:
Plenty of different ways to approach the staging, the estalishing of the world and the situation, and the character personalities before they even say a word.
Samples of excellent shading to help in conveying light and shadow:
How using tone and value can help enhance your compositions:
Helpful viewing material on film theory and visual language:
Conclusion:
Practice, practice, practice....
Fill up sketchbooks with several series of drawings illustrating the transition of expression changes, or singular one-sketch ideas that show a thought or emotion from a character, show a progression of ideas in a character's thought pattern, or try to convey what the character is thinking through a single drawing showing the body language/expression. Experiment with compositions, and use the sketchbook to retro-board from shows and movies: Play+pause through a sequence and do quick-sketch of the image to capture the composition and posing.
It's all about quickly doodling in the sketchbook to get a high volume of visual ideas and exploration drawings. These are observation sketches for practice and reference. It helps to build up your visual library on how to think like a camera man when thinking of angles, blocking, & cutting, and to improve your draftsmanship for creating quick gestures and poses.
The secret to becoming a kick-ass storyboard artist........
A willingness to collaborate, the flexibility to evolve, and an understanding of the basic rules of cinematography........
But the most important thing is to CONSTANTLY TRAIN YOURSELF, and the best way to train yourself is to 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, you must try to find ways to make sketching fun.
There's no excuse. Get a pocket-sized one if you must. Moleskine and >Cottonwood make the best quality mini-sketchbooks.
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. Tell yourself this is for your own personal learning and reference, it's to be shown to anyone, so don't be afraid to copy from other books, images, illustrations, anything. It's all to make you practice.
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. IN particular, study The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Toy Story 3,
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 under-rated 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, Darius Khondji, 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.
