Week 6 -Directing - Types of Storyboard

Not all storyboards are meticulously drawn cartoon frames worthy of publication, some are a lot less involved and others can be much more involved. Today we'll look at a few common varieties.

Narrative Only
Narrative only storyboards are perfect for people who can't draw, don't have the money to hire a storyboard artist, or who aren't risking a whole lot in having people stand around their set for a few minutes while they figure out where they want the camera - which is probably most of us. It's not uncommon that the director, the videographer and the talent live far enough apart that physical meetings aren't practical and who come together on a weekend to bang out a final product. You might not need a great deal of detail. You might just send out a narrative storyboard like this:

• Medium Shot, Janet reaches in her purse for her keys.
• Closeup of door knob from slightly above doorknob height and to the right, the door is already slightly ajar!
• Closeup of Janet looking worried from low angle.
• Closeup of Janet's hand pushing open the door.
• Medium shot, over Janet's shoulder as she looks into the room.
• Medium shot, reverse, Janet looking through the open door, she enters.

Basic Panels
Basic Panels are a step up from narrative only storyboards, as well as a brief description, they'll have a very basic drawing, this can help camera operators and lighting designers know in advance exactly what the director is looking for. These can be in the "slightly above stick-figure" range.
 

Scene Cards
Scene cards are like basic panels, but more elaborate - the drawing usually takes up one entire side of the card with a description written on the back. If you're looking on eBay for scene cards, you'll find something completely different. In the early days of cinema, a "scene card" usually referred to a still from a completed film with a description or caption on the back or underneath - a lot like the collectible bubble gum trading cards popular in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Collectors' scene cards became superfluous when it became easy to own an actual copy of the movie, this seems a little sad.



Animatic Storyboard
To make an animatic storyboard you can scan sketches, use photographs you've taken, or even tear images out of magazines, put them into your favorite video editing software and add narration or music. The idea of an animatic storyboard is often just to get the idea or feel of your project across.
Many of us tend to think of ourselves as "not the sort of people who will ever have the need or the opportunity to approach financial backers" and because of this don't think too deeply about things like storyboards. One great example of a successful use of storyboarding was Christopher Salmon's animatic storyboard for an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's short story The Price. Salmon drew still images from an animation he wanted to produce and uploaded it to kickstarter.com - a crowd source funding website. Enchanted by his narration and still images, 2001 different backers around the world invested almost $162,000 in his venture spurred along by the author who also got involved after seeing the storyboards.

3D pre-visualization
If you're trying to prize millions out of potential backers or explain a complicated escape sequence involving Bruce Willis, 40 explosions, and a hedge maze, you may want to create a 3D walkthrough of your scene or movie before you start working on it.

Using storyboard software like FrameForge's Previz Studio 3 you can show virtual camera angles and scaled sets to your backers before they plunk down their cash. The 3D will allow you to see the relationships between your actors, your scenery and your camera. This can be an enormous help if you want to see how adding additional lights to a scene may change the shadows or light characters moving from one place to another.