Storyboards
What is a Storyboard?
A storyboard is:
– a breakdown of a film or movie sequence
– a quick visual snapshot of your final product
What is a Storyboard?
• It contains graphics and text which describe
each frame (scene) in detail.
• It can also contain information about dialogue
or camera movements.
A storyboard
is kind of like
a comic book
Why is it necessary to have a
storyboard?
– It will help you plan your animation out shot by shot
– You can make changes to your storyboard
before you start animating, instead of
changing your mind later
– You will also be able to talk about your animation
and show it to other people to get feedback on
your ideas
How Do I Make a Storyboard?
-
storyboards can be drawn in pen or pencil
you can also take photos
cut out pictures from magazines
or use a computer
Your drawings don’t have to be fancy!
Use basic shapes, stick figures, & simple backgrounds.
Use This Storyboard Template
If you’d like, you can use the template below. It can be also
downloaded from the class site.
“How to Create a Storyboard” Video
How to Create Storyboards
Example of a 45 sec. storyboard:
Each 6-word line takes about 3 sec. to speak. And 3 seconds is about the ideal
length for any still image to appear on the screen. Too short, and it’s hard for the
viewer to recognize what’s being shown; too long, and boredom sets in.
Pay The Most Attention To:
1. Position of the heads
A thumbnail storyboard is just the location of the heads of the
people in the scene. If you can clearly show the position, size,
and expression of each person’s head, most everything else
is clear.
Storyboard Example:
Pay The Most Attention To:
2. Body Optional
By adding the body, you can show how each actor relates to
the others in the scene. However, drawing the head usually
already shows this information.
Pay The Most Attention To:
3. Camera angle
This shows how you will frame the shot. This is what
makes the shot visually appealing.
Types of shots:
An Extreme Close-up (ECU)
shot shows the fine details
of a subject.
A Medium Shot (MS)
shows about half of
the complete subject.
A Close-up (CU) shot
captures only a small
portion of a subject.
A Long Shot (LS)
captures most (if not all)
of the subject.
Pay The Most Attention To:
4. The Lens is the Thing
Remember to explain the relationship between the characters
in the scene. When you draw the thumbnail of each frame,
explain what lens is needed to capture the image.
Wide Angle
vs Telephoto
A wide angle lens creates a feeling of distance and cold. Telephoto – warmth and closeness.
Storyboard Language:
CLOSE-UP SHOT: A close range of distance between the camera & the subject.
DISSOLVE: A transition between two shots, where 1 shot fades away and
simultaneously another shot fades in.
FADE: A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes
darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter
is a Fade In.
HIGH CAMERA ANGLE: A camera angle which looks down on its subject
making it look small, weak or unimportant.
JUMP CUT: A rapid, jerky transition from one frame to the next, either disrupting
the flow of time or movement within a scene or making an abrupt transition from
one scene to another.
LEVEL CAMERA ANGLE: A camera angle which is even with the subject;
it may be used as a neutral shot.
Storyboard Language:
LONG SHOT: A long range of distance between the camera and the subject,
often providing a broader range of the setting.
LOW CAMERA ANGLE: A camera angle which looks up at its subject;
it makes the subject seem important and powerful.
PAN: A steady, sweeping movement from one point in a scene to another.
POV (point of view shot): A shot which is understood to be seen from the
point of view of a character within the scene.
REACTION SHOT: A shot of someone looking off screen.
A reaction shot can also be a shot of someone in a conversation where they are
not given a line of dialogue but are just listening to the other person speak.
TILT: Using a camera on a tripod, the cam. moves up or down to follow the action.
ZOOM: Use of the camera lens to move closely towards the subject.
Example of a Good Storyboard
Storyboards
How to Create a Good Storyboard Article:
http://www.videomaker.com/article/2313/
Comics on the Web
http://magicinkwell.com/?cat=405
Animation
What is Animation?
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images
of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to
create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of
motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision.
What is Persistence of Vision?
Persistence of vision is the ability of the eye to retain
the impression of an image for a short time after the
image has disappeared.
Six Types of Animation Techniques
1. Stop-motion animation:
Puppet animation
Claymation
Cutout animation, etc.
2. Traditional, hand-drawn animation
3. Rotoscoping
Six Types of Animation Techniques
4. Live-action animation
5. Anime
6. Computer animation:
2D (Flash) & 3D (Maya)
Stop-motion Animation
Real-world objects are physically manipulated and
photographed one frame of film at a time to create
the illusion of movement.
Invented by
Georges Melies
in the early 20th Cent.
purely by accident.
Stop-motion Animation
Different kinds exist: clay & puppet animation, etc.
Stop-motion Animation
Stop motion is often called frame-by-frame animation.
It’s an animation technique that makes static objects
appear to move.
The object is moved very small amounts between
individual frames, producing the effect of motion
when the film is played back.
One of the Oldest Stop-Motion Films
A Trip to the Moon, Georges Melies, 1902
Was the 1st Sci Fi Movie ever made! Incorporated theatrical sets, props and real actors.
Contemporary Stop-motion Animation
Coraline, 2009
Stop-motion Animation
22 months
1,357 hours
30people
2 ladders
1 still camera
288,000 jelly beans
In Your Arms, Official Music Video created for Kina Grannis, 2011
To find more examples:
Google Video is an excellent source
for finding examples of every kind of
stop-motion technique.
Pioneers of the Animation Genre
J. Stuart Blackton (American), Early 20th Cent.
- Often considered to be the 1st true animator
- Perfected stop-motion & hand-drawn animat. techniques
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (Short Anim., 1906)
Hand-Drawn Animation Technique
1)
Traditional animation (cel or hand-drawn) – was
used for most films animated in the 20th century.
2)
Each frame is
drawn slightly
differently from
the one before
it.
Hand-Drawn Animation Technique
3)
Drawings are traced or photocopied onto
transparent acetate sheets called cels.
4)
The completed character
cels are photographed
one-by-one onto motion
picture film.
Hand-Drawn Animation Technique
Examples of Traditional Animation
Hand-drawn:
Disney’s Pinocchio (1940), Akira (1988)
Animations created with the help of a computer:
The Lion King (1994), The Triplets of Bellivelle (2003)
Rotoscoping
1. Was invented in 1917
2. Animators trace live-action movement, frame by frame
3. The source film can be directly copied from actors’
outlines into animated drawings.
The artist is drawing on a
transparent easel, onto which
the movie projector at the
right is throwing an image
of a single film frame.
Rotoscoping Examples:
“Charlie Chaplin” by Kyungwha Lee
http://www.allyourdatabasearebelongto.us/2d.php
Charles Schwab commercial
Live-Action & Anime
Live-action is a technique which combines hand-drawn
characters with live action shots. Examples: Who Framed
Roger Rabbit? (USA, 1988) & Osmosis Jones (USA,
2002).
Anime is a technique primarily used in
Japan. It usually consists of detailed
characters but more of a stiff animation.
Examples: Spirited Away (Japan, 2001)
and Princess Mononoke.
2D & 3D Animation
2D animation
Objects are created and/or edited on the computer
• using 2D bitmap graphics
• or 2D vector graphics
3D animation
3D models are manipulated
by an animator
Techniques can be applied to
objects such as mathematical
functions (gravity, particle
simulations). Examples: Toy Story,
Shrek.