We had another lovely session with Bianca this week about all things storyboarding! She is a professional currently working in the animation industry as a storyboard artist so it is absolutely amazing to be able to hear her insights on storyboards! More so also because I want to be a storyboard artist too but I know how hard it is to get into it and be really good. But hopefully with some guidance and a lot of practice, I can learn how to storyboard!
Some tips that Bianca mentioned about Internships:
- Internships are a great way to get into studios
- Aardman also do storyboard internships so keep a lookout for that
- Always ask lots of questions
- When you are starting out think about minimum cost/wage
- Employers usually ask for tests if they don’t see it in your portfolio
- It’s their way of seeing if you have the potential to do the job and how you take in feedback
- Don’t take criticism to heart – its given for your improvement
- Storyboard artists are the first ones to visualise the script!
STORYBOARDING IS HARD BUT ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE RULES TO BREAK THE RULES!
5C’S OF CINEMATOGRAPHY:
- COMPOSITION – RULE OF THE THIRDS (BALANCE)
- CAMERA ANGLES
- CLOSE UPS
- CONTINUITY (EDITING)
- CUTTING
THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU ARE DIRECTING THE EYE OF THE AUDIENCE:
- NOSE ROOM/HEAD ROOM – To shift the focus and to show what the character might be thinking. The opposite can be used in horror films to show someone coming up behind the character
- EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION – awakening emotions in the audience and making them feel
Bianca then gave us a storyboarding exercise in the afternoon. She provided the script and then we came up with the storyboards.
The image below was the version that I submitted for the class! It was meant to be done really quickly which is why the stick figures! Bianca gave me some great feedback on this: she mentioned that I don’t need so many shots of the phone ringing (sound would convey it), and that both characters seem to be on the same side of the screen which can be a bit confusing, but other than that is was good! Since I want to be a storyboard artist as well, I decided to work on a second draft of the same script!
Here is my second draft of the same storyboard! I really enjoyed making this and tried to work on the feedback that Bianca gave me. I decided to make the second character (who is stuck) a Grim Reaper because I thought it would be funny if the grim reaper is the one who is stuck and that he is sad with doe eyes as opposed to being mean and scary and taking souls!