Filmmaking / Directing : WHAT'S YOUR PROCESS? Topic #1 :Storyboarding by Lindsay St. Laurent

I'm currently storyboarding for the first time, working on a short. And loving it! I'm an artist myself. Keeping it black and white, and simple. Really, it just needs to convey enough to give clear direction. But essentially, you are mapping pre-visualizing the film so I find it incredibly vital to the process. ;)

To add, I've been focusing on composition, use of shots, angles, image crops, etc, to communicate dynamics between characters, emotions, tone, etc. Again, loving it!

I've began using it as a visual aid when approaching potential financiers as well! It may not be a complete storyboard of every scene/frame but I like to at least start by highlighting scenes that are the vertebrae of the script.

Personally, I storyboard like football plays. I don't draw what I see. I diagram the actors in a room/scene with little circles and arrows (and a paragraph on the back).

Some people use them for blocking, others high-concept. Personally, I enjoy seeing the continuity from one shot to the next. You can usually see if something is out of sync, plus it affirms if something from the script isn't translating like it should.

I don't do a ton of storyboarding, but, depending on who my cinematographer I will sometimes do key scenes.

I work the premise, beat sheet up into an outline and write!

Starting out, I would draw. Found myself not using storyboards unless it was a complicated sequence. They're great for selling your ideas or explaining to other people.

I draw a lot, so I will draw out scenes. I like having a camera angel perspective on my scenes but nothing that would be called traditional Storyboarding.

Great comments. :) The storyboard I'm working on is for production. Breaking the finished script down and mapping out shots. I hope to begin filming soon. We'll see. It's a short, short film, probably 5 minutes. Dunno if it will work out, but having fun with the process. ;)

I have tried storyboarding by going to locations with people (not necessarily the actors) and lined them up and taken pictures. I think it gives the best version of what I am going for and prepares everyone for problems you may have at the location. It can be hard to do for every location, but it's my go-to method when available.

Cory Baker that is actually a really interesting take on storyboarding! It seems really artistic and creatively satisfying.

Lindsay St. Laurent Thank you!

I love storyboarding! I don't know how I could hand it off to someone but I am also lucky to have a little bit of drawing talent. I find that it helps me to really cement my vision and that editors love it as it gives them a basic roadmap.

@BrianShell Brian, I do the same thing! The circles and the arrows. Never knew why, but it was from drawing up play, thanks!!

Storyboards are on the walls in the caves of the earliest humans. It's all about story. Filmmaking is just a developmental adaptation. Without story boards you are blind!

Found a book by Fionnoala Halligan titled Movie Story Boards and find it cool that for Raiders of the Lost Ark that they used black paper and green chalk/pencils for the supernatural scenes at the end when the Ark is opened... very vivid and popping. Never saw black paper story boards before... very cool book.

I always wanted to have storyboards, however, I can't draw a straight line, so I've never used them except for my last project where I had a few key moments.

Story boarding for me is usually stick figures with a big face, depicting whatever is the emotion in key beats. Some people depict key camera moves, irrespective of emotion. I think good storyboarding is juxtaposition of the two.

You can do a lot more with story boards than the standard use of them. (Something to rely on). To really test a story’s options you can mix and match the sequence of events in front of impartial audience, alternating the pictures, to get different point of views. Of course we ALREADY have worked out (pretty much) the options anyway, but a story board audience can occasionally pick up on a wild card. I got a few new strange ideas I had not previously thought of this weekend doing this. After all, Art is not a blueprint. It can grow and change.

As i mentioned earlier, storyboarding is different for everyone. Im trying to take my storyboarding from depicting purely visceral emotional beats to more “technical” graphic layouts. Im including all Frames, Exact Position of Camera in each shot, Lighting etc. Top advertising agencies in States are now testing adverts, mixing and matching storyboards to physically test audience response to particular stimuli. This includes blood analysis....Ouch!

Storyboard clip GRADUATE

Storyboarding and or previs is key to visualizing for yourself and to share with those who you'd be working with. Especially if your ideas are lofty, if there's low morale, trust, or something you haven't done before. Teams trust plans, action, and momentum. If you're not up for it yourself hire a storyboard artist, or at the very least defer to key art. Even if Stanley Kubrick didn't storyboard, he still referred key art for mood and lighting in Barry Lyndon. If your style is no visual art, you're only limiting yourself from improving.

@Cory. I sometimes use photographs of models I position in locations aswell. I do this with key moments where I want audience to stop and think, along with the character portrayed. I don’t know the full technical language used for DOP so I hand Camera people the EXACT look I want for professional film.

Taxi Driver. Simple door frame.

When I work with my acting coach my acting coach is also an artist as well. Before I go into an audition I draw out everything who I'd be talking to how many people are the cameras going to be where I will be it helps fidget me visualize

Storyboarding is essential for to be able to find which parts you haven't imagined in a very detailed way, and which parts could be dull or boring as you imagined it. Once it's on paper, you can start thinking about more interesting solutions than what you had in mind before. Also, it is easier to see if there is a lot of redundancy in the visuals. We do stick figures and basic perspective and basic shading - focussing on effectively communicating what we want in the shot.

Hi @Terez. I agree. Even the most simplest of changes done on storyboard can be groundbreaking to the visual effects of any film. Imagine as example The corridor scene in The Shining. A kind of “kooky close kaleidoscope” feel. It immediately felt “weird”. Imagine same scene shot different, would just feel like two kids in any 80s hotel. I studied this in depth London Film School and its a fascinating subject. I was pretty lazy with storyboarding a couple years back, but now its an agenda in itself.