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 Close-up (CU) shot captures only a small portion of a subject. A Medium Shot (MS) shows about half of the complete 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

How to Create a Good Storyboard Article: 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 30 people 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 Traditional animation (cel or hand-drawn) – was used for most films animated in the 20th century. Each frame is drawn slightly differently from the one before it.

Hand-Drawn Animation Technique Drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels. 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 Was invented in 1917 Animators trace live-action movement, frame by frame 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.