Animatics and Storyboards

A film cannot be made based on just an idea, a lot of work goes is put in before the final results are achieved. This includes writing scripts, synopsis’s and drawing storyboards.

Storyboards

A storyboard is a panel or a series of panels of rough sketches outlining the scene sequence and major changes of action or plot in a production to be shot on film or video.

Before computers were made, storyboards were drawn by hand. The first storyboard was created by the Walt Disney studio in the early 1930’s.
Storyboards are created to help film directors and cinematographers find possible problems in the film before they occur during shooting. Storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement. Storyboards are useful as they provide a visual layout of events as they are seen through a camera lens.

One of the first live action films to be completely storyboarded was ‘Gone with the Wind’ starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. (One of my favourite films ever!)

Directors are the ones that usually decide if they want to use storyboards or not. Live-action film directors like Ethan Coen use storyboards extensively before taking their pitch to their funders. He stated that storyboards help him get the figure that he is looking for as the storyboard shows exactly where the money will be used. Other directors such as Ken loach do not use storyboards at all. Animation directors are usually the ones who use storyboards extensively, sometimes in place of writing a script.

Animatics

At it simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and shown in a sequence. Rough dialogue and a rough soundtrack are then added to these images to test if they are working effectively together.

With this the directors and animators can then work out camera positions, shot lists and any timing issues. The process is repeated until it is perfected
An advantage of using storyboards is that it allows the user to experiment with changes in the storyline to evoke a stronger reaction of interest from its target audience.