Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Why Is Storyboarding So Important?



Why Is Storyboarding So Important?

Creating a storyboard for any creative production can be useful, but for a video production or animation it is vital. By planning each shot beforehand, directors and crew can understand what they are aiming to achieve and have something to build on.


What Is A Storyboard?



Storyboarding is similar to working on a comic strip, and quite simply requires each shot to be drawn in a box, often with writing to explain what is happening. However, storyboarding allows directors to play with angle, perspective and balance to create the shot that they desire and therefore can require a lot of time and precision. For example, storyboards take into consideration whether your shot is interior or exterior, whether it is an upwards angle or downwards angle, whether your actors should be positioned in a close-up, medium or long-distance shot.

Having a storyboard is crucial in determining the success and quality of your movie. What is a storyboard? Simply put, it is a sequence of images that tell what the scenes that your movie will go through. Your movie flow will follow what the storyboard depicts.



Learning from comics



 students can learn a lot about storyboarding by analysing comics frame-by-frame to see how they use lighting, framing and viewpoint to tell their stories.
You can then look at scenes from TV dramas, advertisements or opening sequences to see how they use the same techniques. Stilling the picture and sketching what is in the frame can help. 

How to make a storyboard



The first step in creating a storyboard is to draw a series of squares on a piece of paper (you can pic). Think of these squares as the video frame. In each square a different shot or scene will take place.  You can sketch the scenes by hand, create them on a computer or even take photographs.  Make sure to leave space to write notes and lines from the script beneath or next to each frame.
Beneath each picture you should write the lines from the script that will be said in that shot and jot down some notes about what is happening in the scene.  People should be able to read through your storyboard like a comic book to get a sense of exactly what will happen in your video.
Note that your storyboard doesn’t have to be incredibly detailed — you don’t have to draw in all of the props or even use color.  If you’re not great at drawing that’s fine too.  Just provide enough visual detail to give an impression of what is happening, which characters are in the scene and what the general framing will look like.  The script and notes will help fill in the rest of the details.  You can also make notes about camera angles and movement, transitions between shots and other details that will come in handy during production and post production.

Why is a storyboard important?

Clarity during development
By having a storyboard, the production team will be clear of what is expected of them and they will have a clear overall picture of what the whole movie will look like.
 Improved movie quality
A movie will be enjoyable when the camera angles are correct. That is when the zooming fits in nicely and the characters are properly portrayed. This is integral also for animation productions. So when all this is shown on the storyboard and errors are corrected, the final movie will be more enjoyable to the audience.
Cost reduction
Without a proper storyboard, the whole scene of a movie needs to be redone when it is deemed unsatisfactory. But with a storyboard, the scenes are laid out on paper and unsatisfactory ones can be redrawn using a new storyboard even before the movie goes into production. This saves time and resources

Hopefully now you understand the importance of making a storyboard when you create a video and are ready to grab some paper and a pen and start storyboarding


3 comments:

  1. This is truly starting from the basics. A lot of people arent aware so much about storyboard and storyboard making. This article is very informative too!

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  2. very nice info abut story board.... the comparison with comics is very good idea..

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  3. I love this article so much, storyboarding is the best!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete