Competitions Filmmaking Tips August 5th, 2008
Storyboarding Resources
First, let’s just get it out of the way. It doesn’t matter if you can’t draw. Seriously. The point of a storyboard is to illustrate your concept. It allows you to prove your chops as a director. But there’s no need to spend hours perfecting every panel. (You might miss the contest deadline, among other frustrations.)
Some directors are famous for sketching super simple storyboards, including Sir Ridley Scott, who was known for his Ridleygrams, who also co-founded RSA Films, which happens to be the company the winner will be working with to produce Low vs Diamond’s music video. Coincidence?
Read on to check out some excellent storyboarding resources.
Not everybody storyboards. If you normally don’t (or even if you do), start here: http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/storybd/. It gives an excellent overview of what a storyboard is, why it’s useful, tips to get around the drawing hurdle, and yes, it’s where I got that piece of Sir Ridley Scott trivia.
You can also print up storyboard panels. They have a couple of formats. To make things really easy on yourself, print the 16:9 storyboard sheet to work off of. Since the Massify storyboard builder has the same aspect ratio, they’ll be perfectly compatible.
You’ll find some great examples of storyboards here: http://accad.osu.edu/womenandtech/Storyboard%20Resource/. There’s a breakdown of storyboard language, in terms of transitions and camera movements. The sample storyboards range from very detailed to one using stick figures. They should also give you some excellent ideas on how to use the ‘text’ section in the storyboard builder.
Then take a break and read some comics: http://www.comics.com/categories/index.html or http://gocomics.com/. They really illustrate how much information can be communicated using simple lines.
Now that you’re familiar with the basic concepts and techniques of storyboards, take the plunge and visit this site: http://www.cfms.uct.ac.za/storyboard/. It’s phenomenal. The examples are from an online course that teaches you how to draw storyboards and the material stands well alone. Give yourself time to go through each of the sections - cinematography, editing and mise en scene. The examples are designed to develop your perceptual skills, and they are helpful to anybody working on a storyboard or planning out a shot list in general. Play-by-plays of basic editing techniques like shot reverse shot and drawing basics like perspective are just some of the knowledge nuggets you’ll glean during the many hours you should spend exploring this site.
I hope you’re excited about finishing your storyboards. We’re excited to see them!
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