Charlie Productions : Draw A Storyboard

basic principles

A storyboard consists of pictures that constitute the blueprint for the final film. they don't have to drawn in blue.
Taken from Russell Square. Above the picture - dialogue. Below - camera directions.
Chris drew roughs of the storyboards and gave them to Stan who drew the neater version.

This image doesn't appear in the final film. The ideas put forward by the storyboard do - Russell still shouts 'Islington!' at that point in the film, but the camera is from below and Russell is shaking the cage he's trapped in.

The point is this: the storyboard is a guide, not the final film. We didn't shoot in widescreen, for instance, so the framing in all the shots throughout the film are slightly different to account for the 4:3 aspect ratio. Plus we had to change a lot on the move with Russell - a storyboard helps prepare your ideas for when reality is slightly different.

Taken from Burnt Bernard. The small diagram at the top gives camera position, dialogue and camera directions go alongside.
As the pictures develop further than simple one-shots, using pans or zoom-ins, the storyboard uses more than one picture to show how the shot goes - something taken from the Coen Brothers and their storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson.

They'd call shot A a 'three-er' and B a 'two-er'.

What else is there to say? It's up to you how you set the storyboard out, make sure you draw it out in film version first - how the film will cut together, what you want it to look like when it's finished.

The storyboard isn't the shooting order.

our advice

Storyboards come in all shapes and sizes really. You don't have to draw all the scenes of your film, but it's a good idea until you've directed a couple of feature films.

SETTING OUT THE STORYBOARD
We're still trying to get to the best set-up for storyboards - if you've got any suggestions, please tell me...

Print out a huge stack of paper with the boxes on them for the shot.
This is the best form of storyboard we've used so far :
the circle's for the shot number
the frame beside it is for where we want the camera.
the large boxes are for the shot itself.
The shot boxes are in 4:3 ratio.
There's space above for dialogue
Space underneath for camera directions.

Get the boxes to be the correct ratio you shoot at.
Use as many boxes for the shot so as to show how the entire shot progresses. Use more than three if need be.

DRAWING THE STORYBOARD
There are dangers with both ways of drawing storyboards I (Chris) have come across.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUS SELF CONSCIOUS
Sit down, start drawing, get into a rhythm and draw the entire thing.

I find this approach too formulaic - the thinking behind the shots starts to go out the window as I come to think in terms of wide, mid-shot, close-up. Tracking in and out.

If I'm doing it straight off without thinking, how can I say you've thought about the shots?
Sit down, stare at the ceiling, draw a frame, stare at the ceiling, redraw that frame, stare at the ceiling, etc etc.

The problem with thinking really deeply about each shot is that you can end up with either

a very boring storyboard - no energy, no creative juices flowing means you've drawn something rubbise.
or a very poncy storyboard - where you've got almost too much thought about these shots and it bogs the final film down: you're saying look at me, aren't I clever. Forget the film, look at what I'M doing.

What I think Ben and I are beginning to get to is:
We come up with the ideas behind the film first - we should be treating this character in this way, therefore every time he's on screen the camera should be moving.
Sketch it out stream-of-conscious over the script, very rough drawings.
Talk it through with Stan who draws rough (but better than our rough) sketches. He then draws the polished version.
Writing, you're meant to do ten pages a day, then loads of re-writes. Personally I see storyboards as the same. Yes, ideas come thick and fast, but they also stop thick and fast too. So once they have, take a break, don't think too hard, come back to it another time. It's what you did when you wrote the damn script and the storyboard will be just as important.

Make sure the storyboard is drawn out how you want the final film to look. If you can't quite see the film in your head yet, then film the pictures, dub the dialogue on and cut it together to see what you should change.

After I've done that, I like to set the storyboard out the way we'll shoot it. Ben does a shooting order - I then cut and paste the boards into that order, make sure we're shooting them in the right order, and it means I can quickly refer to the pictures without having to search through pages and pages of drawings.

really important

Draw in the correct ratio you'll be shooting your film in.
Take your time, as much as you took in writing the script.
Draw the camera positions out - this'll help you when you try to schedule the shooting order.
Draw the storyboard how the final film will look, but have a 'shooting storyboard', so you can refer to the drawings quickly on the shoot.
AND FINALLY THE PONCY COMMENTS:
Make sure you start transferring the images on the page into your head, so you've already started 'seeing the film' before you shoot it.

The shots should have MEANING. If you're tracking - why? If you're handheld - why? And so on and so on. Make sure you can justify why these things happen in the film.

have a look at

Websites...
I don't know of any that deal in storyboards - do you? tell me...
Books...
The Making Of The Big Lebowski - William Preston Robertson
Directing Shot by Shot - Steven D. Katz
SEE OUR STORYBOARDS FOR:
Crowd Scene
If Looks Could Kill
Russell Square
Burnt Bernard

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.
Brook House Design Studios, Bluebridge Road, Brookmans Park, Herts AL9 7SX
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