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Storyboard Exercises

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Storyboard Exercises

Hi, I'm looking for storybord exercises. What do you suggest?

Oh, thanks, guys.

How about you take a piece of poetry, like E. A. Poe's The Raven, and try to visualise an animated short about it which you board? I started doing the same with my favourite poem. You can see some of the story sketches in my thread in the Daily Sketch forum.

Is any of this proving helpful?

Hey there, AWN Forum Hounds,

glad to see the viewing numbers quietly climbing on this thread as the months go by - if anybody's actually getting some kind of practical mileage out of the storyboard exercise advice or the suggested reference material, it would be interesting to hear feedback.

Hope some of it's been useful and/or productive somewhere along the line - if not, that's always useful to hear too,

all the very best,

FM

Off the top of my head, get/write a script, buy Don Bluth's The Art Of Storyboard and/or Marcy Begleiter's Storyboard - and get crackin'. ;)

How about reading a comic once through, asking yourself what the gist was of the story, and some of the major plot points, and re-do it with your own camera direction, etc.

Jabberwocky, the first thing I thought of when I read your post was "The Cat Came Back." Strange. I could see that cartoon being born that way.

Storyboarding exercise - narrative songs

Hey there, Samuel,

I don't know if this is any help to you - but I've developed a short, team-based storyboard/animatic exercise over the last couple of years, working with various groups of animantion students, and it runs something like this:

- find a good, clear track of music, a narrative song by an artist you like, something that has clear character point-of-view content and a strong story to it (various good examples might be "Ode To Billy Joe" by Bobby Gentry , "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon, "Opportunity" by Joan Armatrading, "Mr Sellack" by The Roches or "Here I Am" by Lyle Lovett)

- the advantage you have when you use an existing music track as your story source (even though, for copyright reasons, you can't easily take it beyond the classroom) is that the timing is already there; if you're working from a short story or even a custom-written script (or a comic book or graphic novel), you have the additinoal challenge of working out the "beats" and the timing from scratch - and that's quite a challenge for beginners. Using existing music in this way gives you your "grid" right from the outset - and (later on) all the exposure sheet stuff is easier for that reason

- work out all the key story/character points by doing thumb-nails and comparing one idea with another (and another and another...); don't go for your first idea on everything

- decide on your specifics (for design purposes): location, period, time of day/year etc. (e.g. - New York, 1970s, late evening, winter)

- spend time looking at John Canemaker's "Paper Dreams" book - the Marcie Begleiter book is also good but nothing I've ever seen or read communicates more clearly what you need in a good animation storyboard than JC's book (and the illustrations alone will motivate you)

- use the right materials: a storyboard should be a living, "breathing" organism, not a grid of empty, printed squares that you "fill in" one by one.

- use the SAME SIZE of storyboard/paper panels throughout (A5 is a good size for example) and, if possible, work on a cork-board on a wall so that you can stand back and see how it's all coming together. NEVER create a storyboard on the desk in front of you or expect it to "come alive" from a computer monitor - get your drawings up there on the wall and make sure you have at least one drawing (or thumb nail) to represent every idea you come up with, no matter how trivial it might seem at the time. If the drawing isn't legible more than 12 inches from the surface of the paper (this is usually the case with light, hesitant drawings, done with an HB pencil....) then it's no good as a storyboard panel (always think and work as though you have to pitch your ideas to outsiders who are not as visually literate as you are)

- very few pencils or crayons help you to make a more legible mark on the paper than a black Chinagraph/wax/grease (un-wind) pencil (one you un-wrap from the point, NOT one you have to sharpen). Buy and use LOTS of these - and don't worry about colour until much later

- in storyboard work always make sure you go for legibility and not for "finish" (see some of the faster sketches in "Paper Dreams" to back this up - and forget all you've ever seen in those "making of" articles where every last "storyboard" panel looks like a finished book illustration)

- if you're working on a particular lighting cue or effect, remember that you can create clear, atmospheric panels using mid-tone grey paper and working in both white AND black to give a real sense of the mood and light direction/set-up

- find OTHER people to work with - and watch (among other things) the original story pitch for Pixar's "Monsters Inc." on the Collector's Edition DVD, the deleted scenes from "Emperoror's New Groove" (also on DVD) and any other good, clear examples of legible, intelligent, top quality storyboarding, whether it's for live action or for animation (but concentrate on the animation source material if that's your own ultimate goal)

I don't know if any of this makes sense - but it's worked for the groups of students I've collaborated with, particularly when it's done as a kind of "smash and grab" exercise, with a limited time period in which to complete the initial "pitch" and then add the number of panels that are necessary to get it to the point where it's ready to become an animatic or story reel, timed/edited to match the original music/narrative track.

If you allow too much time for this kind of exercise - things tend to get "flabby". You should be able to get the major points across in an afternoon.

Hope this may be helpful,

Fraser MacLean
Edinburgh, Scotland

Well - does the exercise work for you guys?

Hey there, Samuel (and anyone else out there),

it seems from the numbers that quite a few people have been taking a look at the oultine suggestions for the storyboard exercise since they were posted.

Feedback is always helpful - the students I've worked with have usually produced good work following these simple ideas - is it actually working for any of you guys?

Let me know what you reckon - I'm always looking for ways to improve or fine-tune teaching material. Any comments (negative or positive) gratefully received,

all the very best,

FM

Hey there, Samuel (and anyone else out there),

it seems from the numbers that quite a few people have been taking a look at the oultine suggestions for the storyboard exercise since they were posted.

Feedback is always helpful - the students I've worked with have usually produced good work following these simple ideas - is it actually working for any of you guys?

Let me know what you reckon - I'm always looking for ways to improve or fine-tune teaching material. Any comments (negative or positive) gratefully received,

all the very best,

FM

Wow, I am really impressed with your literary knowledge, perhaps you and I could compare storys sometime, I major in the field of literary and I'm extatic to find someone to relate to.
Do keep in touch ;)

He who seeks the truth, must first empty his heart of a false pursuit.

Diemeras Dark Angel

Just spotted this thanks to DIEMERAS's response -some useful info and books to check out. Though a bit late -thanks.

bump.......

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

"Bump"?

"Bump"??

I'm sorry, Animated Ape - I have absolutely no idea what this means. Is it meant as some kind of a comment, positive or negative, on the preceding posts?

Or am I just showing my ignorance of on-line forum jargon?

Fraser MacLean

Haha, sorry Fraser. I was just bumping the treads above all the spam postings. I don't have moderator status on this forum and can't delete the spam, so I thought I'd "bump" legitimate threads up the list and above the spam. Sorry about the confusion.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Bumped

That makes sense - I was wondering how many more Nokia 'phones were going to be hawked on the site before somebody put an administrative foot down.

Hope the sun is shining in Burbank,

very best wishes,

Fraser

So spam has a purpose! I wouldn't have found this thread if it wasn't bumped.
Fraser - great post. I have a project that needed just this bit of information. I'll report in later when things are further along.

Feedback

Hey there, B'ini,

thanks - I'm really delighted that you've found it helpful.

I've tried to hone the various practical workshops and exercises that I teach according primarily to that old chestnut, "stuff I wish somebody had told me when I was starting out....", tempered by all/any feedback from participating students themselves.

If this approach works for you - try as best you can to get other people involved as well so that you can get the benefit of the group dynamic. It really is half the fun (and 90% of the point) of the exercise. Commercial movie-making - from the ground up - is a collaborative effort and, in my own opinion, those people who aim to work solo in a garret do so at their own peril (and their audience's too...) if they don't start out by working with other people in order to sharpen their own ideas and learn the necessary disciplines, surrenders and courtesies of the production process.

I reckon our own ideas only get stronger by being tested against (and challenged by) other people's. And again - I wish I'd been able to sit in on some genuine studio-level story conferences and boarding sessions when I was a student first time round. By the time I had the chance to see some really great story artists in action - I was already in my late 30s and still partially convinced by all that insidious "auteur" crap.

Anyway - very good of you to post a comment. I hope you get some useful results out of it and I look forward to hearing how it all goes for you (good or bad),

all the very best for now,

Fraser

Just recently I was talking

Just recently I was talking with my friend, a young teacher, and on the topic of storyboard exercises, he told me quite a lot of interesting things, such as you can learn more about external and internal conflict on a popular resource for teachers. In my opinion, this is quite relevant and very interesting information both for teachers and for those people who want to have a more complete understanding of literary processes.