Story Board + Animatic = Edits!
I created my first draft of storyboards for Tuesday - very rough and quick - and I placed them in FCP and added music. As I timed it out, I was able to cut a portion of the song so now I'm at 2:05 and not 2:54. I think just over 2 minutes is doable. I realized I left out the Neck Rollercoaster ride in my storyboard, but it's accounted for in the final dance.
Now starts the round robin of finding out what's missing (emotion, movement, motivation) and I'll draw the missing elements and place it into both the animatic and the storyboard. I hope to have a cleaner storyboard and an animatic for next Tuesday.
I need to clarify all the emotion in the characters.
For Research on Storyboards, I gleaned this of AWN's website from an animation teacher in Scotland. Good stuff here.
He recommends John Canemakers "Paper Dreams". (It's on my list)
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- find a good, clear track of music, (DONE)
- the advantage you have when you use an existing music track as your story source (even though, for copyright reasons, you can't easily take it beyond the classroom) is that the timing is already there; if you're working from a short story or even a custom-written script (or a comic book or graphic novel), you have the additinoal challenge of working out the "beats" and the timing from scratch - and that's quite a challenge for beginners. Using existing music in this way gives you your "grid" right from the outset - and (later on) all the exposure sheet stuff is easier for that reason (ABSOLUTELY RIGHT)
- work out all the key story/character points by doing thumb-nails and comparing one idea with another (and another and another...); don't go for your first idea on everything (STILL WORKING)
- decide on your specifics (for design purposes): location, period, time of day/year etc. (GARDEN, MORNING, PRESENT DAY)
- use the right materials: a storyboard should be a living, "breathing" organism, not a grid of empty, printed squares that you "fill in" one by one. (STILL BREATHING, BUT A BIT WILD)
- use the SAME SIZE of storyboard/paper panels throughout (A5 is a good size for example) and, if possible, work on a cork-board on a wall so that you can stand back and see how it's all coming together. NEVER create a storyboard on the desk in front of you or expect it to "come alive" from a computer monitor - get your drawings up there on the wall and make sure you have at least one drawing (or thumb nail) to represent every idea you come up with, no matter how trivial it might seem at the time. If the drawing isn't legible more than 12 inches from the surface of the paper (this is usually the case with light, hesitant drawings, done with an HB pencil....) then it's no good as a storyboard panel (always think and work as though you have to pitch your ideas to outsiders who are not as visually literate as you are) (ONGOING PROCESS SINCE THE SUMMER - STICKY NOTES ALL OVER THE HOUSE)
- very few pencils or crayons help you to make a more legible mark on the paper than a black Chinagraph/wax/grease (un-wind) pencil (one you un-wrap from the point, NOT one you have to sharpen). Buy and use LOTS of these - and don't worry about colour until much later (I PREFER SHARPIE MARKERS)
- in storyboard work always make sure you go for legibility and not for "finish" (see some of the faster sketches in "Paper Dreams" to back this up - and forget all you've ever seen in those "making of" articles where every last "storyboard" panel looks like a finished book illustration) (WELL, I NEED TO POLISH MINE UP A LITTLE, THEY'RE VERY ROUGH)
- if you're working on a particular lighting cue or effect, remember that you can create clear, atmospheric panels using mid-tone grey paper and working in both white AND black to give a real sense of the mood and light direction/set-up (NOT SURE IF I NEED THIS, BUT GOOD IDEA)
- find OTHER people to work with - and watch (among other things) the original story pitch for Pixar's "Monsters Inc." on the Collector's Edition DVD, the deleted scenes from "Emperoror's New Groove" (also on DVD) and any other good, clear examples of legible, intelligent, top quality storyboarding, whether it's for live action or for animation (but concentrate on the animation source material if that's your own ultimate goal) (OK, NEED TO GET OUT OF MY VACCUUM - BUT I SHOWED CHRIS, MY 9YO THE ANIMATIC ...)
I don't know if any of this makes sense - but it's worked for the groups of students I've collaborated with, particularly when it's done as a kind of "smash and grab" exercise, with a limited time period in which to complete the initial "pitch" and then add the number of panels that are necessary to get it to the point where it's ready to become an animatic or story reel, timed/edited to match the original music/narrative track. (THIS IS WHERE I'M AT NOW ....)
If you allow too much time for this kind of exercise - things tend to get "flabby". You should be able to get the major points across in an afternoon.
Hope this may be helpful,
Fraser MacLean
Edinburgh, Scotland
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Thanks, Fraser, I'll post a link to the PDF when it's finished.
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