Animation Context - Week 7

In Animation context, we were tasked to pick a topic relating to animation and research it. I decided to choose 'Storyboarding' as it's an area that I am interested in

Storyboarding

What are storyboards?

Storyboards are an essential aspect of the preparation of any professional animation. They are most commonly drawn by hand, and their purpose is to plan all the dialogue and movements for an animation or film. Before the making of a storyboard, the artist receives a beat outline, which maps out the subject’s emotions and the actions that accompany them. With the beat outline, the artist then draws out how he/she envisions the scene to play out shot by shot, the work produced is then pitched to a director, however in most cases, the initial storyboards aren’t final, as they are commonly revised multiple times in the development process. This process is carried out after the scriptwriting stage.

Why are they used?

The main reason a storyboard is essential, is the fact that it is used to help the animators to gather a feel for what the project would look like as a finished product, and to see whether it would work. It also is arguably the best way to communicate a vision to others, such as the directors, as a script simply wouldn’t visualise the idea enough for a clear understanding. Creating a storyboard will also help plan what shots will be needed, where they need to be taken and what kind of shots they will be, this may not be as important to animation based projects, as they don’t require filming on location, but it still may help when preparing the assets needed. Creating storyboards also helps you to not forget about any scenes.

What skills are required to become a storyboard artist?

I found a very useful website which outlines all the skills animation storyboard artists should have- http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles/349_storyboard_artist_animation

In summary, a wide understanding of film production is required, mainly because of composition and layout, you must be a good illustrator, but also can adopt established styles for the specific title you are working on, and presenting and computer literacy is also somewhat essential.

What is the layout like?

Layouts vastly vary from studio to studio, and there is no required design or layout that storyboards need to stick by, but the genuinely have a box for illustration accompanied by a space for dialogue and stage directions to be written for each shot.

As you can see with this one, lines are clearly included to show the movement of the camera and mobile assets within the frame. 

This one is from the very famous Pixar film, ‘Up’, and unlike most storyboards, this one is physically laid out on a wall, which is something Pixar and many other animation studios commonly do with their projects.

This is a storyboard from the animated show, South Park

Quotes from experts and authorities

“In animation, it is so expensive to produce the footage, that unlike live action we cannot have coverage. We can’t do multiple takes of a scene. We don’t have extra handles, we don’t have B-roll, we don’t have any of that stuff. We have one chance to every scene. So how can you possibly know you’re choosing the right thing?”

            - John Lasseter (Pixar)

“I loved being asked 2,000 questions a day, storyboarding every move, knowing as though by instinct exactly where the camera had to be, because it was my story.”

- Richard E. Grant (Actor)

Magazine and newspaper articles

http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=2024072 – This is a link to a digital article from ‘E Learn’ magazine, where Kevin Thorn summarises the importance of storyboarding and how it’s done.

https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/962/nuts-and-bolts-storyboarding-basics - This is a link to a digital article from ‘Learning Solutions magazine, where Jane Bozarth discusses her involvement with storyboarding