Learning More About Storyboarding!

In one of our previous lessons we received the help and knowledge of a previous Media Studies student, who has since gone on to become a professional animatic storyboarder. Given that we are currently in the process of storyboarding our continuity task, I felt that the information she could offer regarding storyboarding was invaluable, and her advice could then be used to improve upon my own work and  storyboarding skills. We begun the lesson by looking at her own animatic storyboard; the purpose of this was envisioning what the sequence would look like before filming too place, pointing out the various shots, angles and movement of the characters, as well as establishing any flaws that can then be smoothed out.
The clip (entitled Full Circle) can be found below and is around halfway through the playlist:-

*Copyright Disclaimer: I Do Not Own This* 


After this, she discussed her top tips when storyboarding. For instance:-

- Ensure that you have thoroughly planned your sequence in your head; a detailed shotlist should have bullet pointed the various shots you are going to use. This care makes the storyboarding process smoother and more efficient and organised.

-You shouldn't be too worried about the chronology of your storyboard. Ideas can be jotted down on scrap paper and can be moved around if need be to establish where each shot goes.

-Finally, the 'Rule of Thirds' should be acknowledged. The frame of your shot is segmented into three parts; if you want to establish a protagonist, they should take a centralised position within the frame, as opposed to characters who are unimportant being positioned on the sidelines so to speak.

We ended the lesson by viewing a comparison between a cartoon's animatic and the final result itself. This emphasised the importance of storyboarding and how storyboards don't necessarily need to look identical to the final product; (for instance there is no movement of the characters):

*I Do  Not Own This*


Overall, this lesson gave me a better understanding of storyboarding and it's complexities. I also learnt about animatics, and how they act as the middle-ground between ideas and the actual final product; I alsop received advice on how to improve my storyboarding (from no less than a professional storyboarder!) I now feel more confident with storyboarding and I have now grasped it's importance to the film-making process...