Storyboarding
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:48 am
Anyone have any particular software they like to use to assist with storyboarding? Or just use pen and paper?
Any thoughts/insights appreciated.
Any thoughts/insights appreciated.
This is more than just storyboard advice, hopefully others will find it helpful.
For storyboards I mostly just pen and paper. I created a template in Illustrator that has both 16:9 (letterboxed/HD) and 3:4 (televsion) aspect ratios. I typically use that for quickly thumbnailing a scene together (great for getting your story on to paper).
Then I'll go to a more moveable format, like index cards (which are conveniently, very close to 16:9). What I like about this format is that their slightly bigger for drawing on than my thumbnail size template, I can tape two together for a pan or tilt, and I can shuffle them around to play with the editing. I can also put notes on the back to clarify my chicken scratching that I call drawing. You can clean them up a bit, and mount them to a board if you need to present them to someone, or just see how the whole scene flows.
I'll then scan them all in and play with the timing in an editing app like Premiere, so that I can get a better sense of timing (and again, double checking the editing). I'll also add in supplimental drawings when the action isn't clear.
Now's a good time to put your audio in (especially dialogue). It will give you a better idea if you need to cut away, or it's looking too fast. if you find these errors BEFORE you start animating, it will save you a significant amount of time and money if you find that a shot, a piece of dialogue, or story line isn't working. Nothing's worse than to cut a finaled shot out of the picture when you could have found that out by doing the preproduction. You'll probably still end up cutting finaled shots and scenes, but if you do your homework you can keep them to a minimum.
Then I'll do a layout stage, where I'll set up the cameras, characters and scenery. I'll do basic camera moves, and character moves, or key positions. No real animation other than characters sliding around on the screen, maybe a few quick poses where necessary. I'll render lo-res versions out and put it back in the cut. Again, double checking that I haven't gone too far down a path that's nothing more than a dead end. I've cut entire scenes at this stage, saving hours and hours of work, because I found the errors in my narrative before finishing it.
At each of these stages, I'll re-edit, tightening up the cut. Funny enough, I almost never add more time to a shot. I think most people over estimate how long it takes for their idea to get across. When teaching editing, the first thing I suggest is try cutting a second of the head and tail of every shot. You can do that now with non-linear editors, without creating a headache like cutting on film or deck to deck (believe me). It doesn't always work (sometimes it's less or none at all), but when it does, you'll end up with a much tighter film.
Next I'll do a first pass at the animation, ignoring lip synch for now. If a character "reads" without their lips moving, then when you add the lips moving it will look even better. Mostly I focus on the profile of the character, making sure it reads. I don't spend too much time getting the movement perfect yet, preferring to focus on the overall feel of what their doing. Again, render, edit it in, readjust what you've done.
Finally, (and sometimes this is split into 2 stages, depending on my delivery schedule), I'll add in lip synch and fine tune the animation, adjusting curves and tweaking movement. This stage is the hardest of the bunch, but if I've done my work up until now, I can really focus on the details of the animation. I don't think that it's possible to do this stage well if you're still not sure if it's going to fit in the edit or your still not sure where the camera goes (ie. trying to do everything at once).
Camera and staging changes do happen. You may find yourself going all the way back to the beginning and thumbnailing the scene over again or rewriting and rerecording dialogue. But if you do things in a logical, metered progression, you'll find yourself doing it far less than if you bust out full animations without double checking your progress throughout the life of the project.
I may also do compositing at this stage, combining elements as necessary. Sometimes a single render does the trick. But I'll usually sweeten the image in After Effects with subtle tricks, like clamping the color values for NTSC (pure white and red are no good, especially if their getting projected or transferred to VHS, unless you don't mind noise in the white and the reds bleeding). I'll also add a .5 pixel blur to everything. This usually gets rid of any flickering that may occur on lines that are about or less than a pixel wide as they pass between projected pixels (you'll see this alot on 3d stuff with really detailed textures). All pretty subtle stuff that doesn't degrade your image enough to hurt it.
Finally, I'll edit the final renders all together, trimming off stuff that doesn't work. I'll spend a good percentage of time on tweaking and mixing sound at this point. Up until this point I've used temp sound FX and unsweetened dialogue. Sound in my opinion, can make or break a film/animation. Good sound adds legitmacy to the weight of an object that never existed. Bad sound reinforces that it's fake and distracts the viewer.
Bam, your done! Output to tape, video, print out a flip book, whatever you want. It sounds like extra work but in the long run, if quality is your goal, you will save a lot of time with a similar work flow. But keep in mind, that this work flow works for me, but not everyone works this way. It's important to find your own workflow, but it doesn't hurt to learn from the mistakes (or successes) of others.
I hope this helps.
Kdiddy
________
Yamaha ym2151
)! In the end you just do what seems right for you at any given time.