WEEK 5: Thumbnails and storyboards

Discussion on Homework task.

Once you have your idea, its time to start fleshing it out. Traditionally this is the process where you

would start your first draft of the script. If you feel this helps then go for it. However in animation,

being visual creatives, most of us think in pictures and as such it often makes the development

faster and simpler if we write our “scripts” in this fashion rather than words.

Introduction to thumbnails and sketches.

Thumbnail sketches are the perfect way to do this. Keep it small and keep it rough. These aren't

masterpieces of art, they are trial and error and throwaway sketches. You should never get precious

about them. Add notes rather than get wrapped up in every detail. If your characters are in a forest,

you don't have to draw every tree in every frame, just simply add the note “forest.”

Thumbnails are shorthand for you to get to grips with how you play out your story. No one else will

probably ever see them and the only person that needs to decipher them, is probably going to be

you. Think of them like your lecture notes, scribbled fast, probably illegible to anyone else but that's

fine as long you understand them.

Here are some examples of thumbnail sketches.

Now you should all have, including your original idea, four possible film ideas grown from a single

idea. Chose your favourite one. Using the boxes provided, begin to sketch out your story. take

fifteen minutes, remember rough and fast. This is not a best drawer in the room exercise.

Once you have your thumbnails, you will start to see how things really fit together. If you like, cut

them up, move them around, take ones out and add new ones. This is all about the first steps to

finding the flow of your film and certainly doesn't set anything in stone.

When you get to a point when you think you have the story playing out vaguely as you see it, then

you can start thinking about storyboarding.

STORYBOARDING

This is where you start to think about how you are going to direct the Mise-En-Scène

Mise-En-Scène (French pronunciation: [mizɑɑsɛn] "placing on stage")

When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scène refers to everything that appears before the camera and

its arrangement—composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting.The “mise-en-scène”,

along with the cinematography and editing of a film, influence the verisimilitude or believability of

a film in the eyes of its viewers.

The purpose of the storyboard is to pre-visualise and indicate how your film will look in the end.

It's where you work out your shots, your camera angles, your lighting, your actors positioning. In

this stage you get to see how your story plays out visually.

Quick Task.

A person walks into the room looking for his keys.

Volunteer required.

Ad lib and Play out a person walking into a room and looking for their keys.

So this is what we have in a 3 dimensional space. But how do you shoot that? You could position

the camera in the position you're looking at it from right now. But you aren't in there, you aren't

getting the best shot.

Second volunteer

Give cardboard viewfinder.

You are our camera person. Using the viewfinder, position yourself to where you think you can see

the best view of the whole action.

First volunteer recreates scene.

So now we've established the best view of everything isn't where you were sat.

Third Volunteer

Give Cardboard viewfinder.

Camera person 2. You don't want to see the whole action, you want to see the tiny keys you cant

make out in Camera person ones wide shot. We need a close up, to identify what it is Position

yourself so you can get the best view of the keys.

Fourth Volunteer

Give Cardboard viewfinder

Camera person three, We can see the action, we can see the keys, but we want to see the

desperation on his/her face when they enter the room. Position yourself to get that.

Now slowly play out the scene again.

Call the shots as the scene plays out. Eg. Wide, close up reaction, wide, keys, wide, reaction.

By changing these camera positions and the sequence in which we edit them will dramatically

change our viewing experience. It's all part of film language and the rules are vital. Where you

position your camera is every bit as important as what your characters are doing. Try and think of it

like you always have an extra actor. Not one anyone will see or hear, but one who is in there all the

time, You are always looking through their eyes, seeing what they see.

The storyboard is where we start to figure all these things out and establish what we need to see and

for how long.

13 min documentary on Disney storyboarding:

https://youtu.be/BSOJiSUI0z8

Continue working on your thumbnails.

(One to one talks)

Storyboarding is about finding out what works. And just as importantly what doesn't.

Toy story Black friday reel https://youtu.be/GOxJpGI8SWc?list=PLL5o-

_KN2ToEyBqN9Q7D81a-DQlL-pFHC

Lets take a look further down the line at exactly how the storyboard and final result work in

reflection.

Monsters inc storyboard comparison

https://youtu.be/3xwonyZdhgs?list=PL651FD020AB6873E9

It is worth noting that although character designs and slight composition changes do happen, that all

of the shots are almost identical to the storyboard images. This demonstrates just how vital it is to

get it right now.

Understanding the basics of a shot

There are two main areas to consider when planning a shot. Distance and Angle. Every camera

camera move or shot change should be executed purposefully and with intent to further the story.

Like we touched on last week with our demonstration of setting up shots. There are key things a

shot should produce.

Establishment- A shot that sets up a location or gives us a sense of scale,space and character

positioning.

Emotive- Allow us to clearly see the character performance. The reactions.

Relationships- Make the audience aware of how things are playing out, where people move

to, their distances and relationships to objects and each other.

Psychological- Show a persons state of mind. Their weaknesses, their strengths.

Clues- If something is vital to the scene we need to see it.

Visual images should be read just like the lines of a text story. And just as we have descriptive

words, in film-making we have descriptive shots. The composition, camera position and lighting

are our sentences. They all have meaning!

Close-up Shots

These allow us to focus attention on details. Facial expressions, gestures, vital objects. They

concerntrate on what we NEED to see.

Extreme Close-up

Just like close ups, but extreme. These really highlight a point. The corners of the moth curling into

a smirk, the slight of hand as someone drops a poison into a drink. They hit so tight that we have to

take notice of a single detail.

Medium Shot

Usually this shot reveals most of the subject. If the subject is a person it allows us to see reactions,

gestures and interactions. It still focuses our attention on the subject but not just a specific detail.

Usually a medium shot of a person will be from the waist up

Long Shot (or Establishing Shot.)

Generally used to establish a setting, taking in the environment and the character's relationship in

the space.

High Angled Shots

High angled shots place the camera up high looking down. This can create the impression of a

characters weakness, powerlessness or oppression.

Low Angle Shot

As a reverse to the High angled shot, the low angle shot looks up at the subject. This gives a sense

of importance or power.

Eye Level Shot

This shot places you on the same level as the subject. It is fairly neutral.

Canted Shots

Otherwise known as the Dutch angle, is often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in

the subject

Side note.

Duet- Glen Keane

https://youtu.be/0qnQqXr838E

This wonderful film is so simple in its execution it goes to show how little you have to show to get

across so much information. Note the lack of backgrounds or the briefest of suggestions of them.

You don't have to draw every detail on a storyboard!

HOMEWORK

Start to flesh out your thumbnails and create a rough storyboard, it doesn't have to be perfect or

highly polished!

Try different things, experiment with ways in how to tell your story, where might you need a wide

or a close up? What happens if you switch them around?

Keep a blog of your findings, failings and victories, what you find works and doesn't and post it up,

there is no right and wrong, there is only discovery.

Have your rough storyboards ready for next week!

Pixar stortyboarding process explained https://youtu.be/7LKPVAIcDXY