Storyboarding Tips to Make Your Shots go Smoothly

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Pre-Production

Planning and Scheduling

Written by Jeff Lanctot

Labels: Pre-Production, Planning, Scheduling

Gather round people. Get yourself a nice cup of hot chocolate and sit down by the warm fire. It's story time. Well, actually it's storyboarding time, but you can still keep the hot chocolate. Storyboarding your film is a personal choice as it can influence the direction your film goes. That being said, even the most naturalistic films can benefit from storyboarding even if they aren't used for the final shoot. So let's take a second to figure out this world that takes place on the back of napkins.

Get Out Your Napkin And Have Some Fun

Whether or not you stick to the plan, storyboarding is a great way to get an idea of composition and the rhythm of your film. Having to draw each frame out makes you pay attention to the camera work of your film. So draw away on the back of a napkin and try out different transitions and angles. You will discover that you can change a scene completely just by moving the camera a little bit. Let's say you position the camera looking down on a character- now that character will probably look small and powerless. You can do the opposite by putting the camera below your character so that the actor looks big and in control. Experiment with angles to alter the mood of the sequence.

If you can't be bothered to draw out rectangles, you can download free storyboarding sheets and print them out- super-useful for the super-lazy. The next thing to consider in your storyboarding is the level of the camera. Most film is shot with the camera on the level, but if you alter the level you can create some interesting disorientating effects. Changing the level so that the film appears slightly sideways can work well for your point-of-view shot biography of that famous rockstar who eventually dies in his own despair and sorrow from drugs. Or you can fake earthquakes by shaking the level around with the camera. Depending on your movie, they'll be lots of ways that you can use the camera level.

Your Rhythm And Flow

Storyboarding is great for figuring out the rhythm of your film. Even if you can picture it in your head, it's always good to get it down on paper so you can see if it's possible, and also so you don't forget the sequence of shots. For complex cuts, it's always good to set it down on a storyboard so that when you come to shoot and edit you know exactly what you need. This can save loads of time and money as you're not filming everything hoping that you get something decent. Storyboarding forces you to focus so that you are more effecient in getting the footage you need- after all if you don't know what you're looking for in the first place, how will you find it?

If you're planning on using any special effects, storyboards are a must. Green screens are becoming cheaper by the day, so you may find yourself using one to capture new shots. Actors will have a much better idea of what the shot will look like if you give them storyboards as well as their scripts. In fact, if you have time it's a good idea to film your storyboards to get a sense of timing that's required for the scene to work. You can have someone read the lines over the shoot, so you have a kind of demo tape that you can show your actors so they know what you want.

Using camera movement is a key part of directing. A lot of people just leave the camera on a tripod and spend all their time on the actors- but actors are cattle, and the real film making is done with the camera. Use storyboards to plan out camera moves. Shooting POV can be very effective to get the audience involved in the action. While a static camera can look professional, it's likely to look boring. So shake things up a bit, and move the camera around. You can say far more with the camera than any dialogue can.

Print Them Out And Hand Them Round

Storyboards are better representations of film than scripts. A script can only tell your crew so much about what you want. A picture's worth a thousand words so by handing out storyboards to your crew, you'll be able to communicate your vision a lot better. You can annotate the boxes to include specific info for each person, so that everyone has all they need to know on what they need to do.

Storyboards are great for figuring out what you want to keep in the frame. It will give you a good sense for composition which is really important in any film. You may notice otherwise that you shoot too much sky for example, so you tighten up the way you shoot. While storyboards are great, you shouldn't feel bound by them. They are only useful in so far as they help you. Once you're on set you may discover new things which will make your old storyboards obsolete.

Films can get pretty complicated so it's a good idea to keep everything simple. When you're bored, get out a napkin, draw on some boxes and work out a scene. Make it as compelling to watch as possible. Withhold information until the last minute to build suspense. If you've forgotten how to do that, go back and watch some Hitchcock. Storyboarding shifts the focus from words to what's on the screen, and in the end that's the thing that matters.

The best thing about it is that it's cheap and easy. You can storyboard anywhere, on a bus, on a plane, in bed, even in a closet. All you need is something to write on and a pencil. Storyboarding is never time wasted because it makes you think about how your film will look, and this is the most important part. So whenever you've got time, write up a storyboard and see what you come up with. You may find it so much fun that you become a recluse and your girlfriend leaves you, so enjoy the process, as it's all in the name of film.

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