Micro Project: Shot Planning with New Media

As a small spin-off micro project, one of the important issues with digital storyboarding is the means with which they can be translated into workable shot-plans. Usually these are made separately, perhaps by the Director him or herself. 

Below are some renditions of visualizing some shot-plans for my Storyboard brief.

Scene: Over-the-shoulder shot; Civilian confronts gun-man. 

Details: Green Screen backdrop; car props; Five civilian extras.

Scene: Dolly zoom to protagonist's expression.

Details: Dolly track, key light, side light, fixed camera, protagonist.

Scene: CU of bomb. Crash Zoom.

Details: Bomb prop; Fixed camera.

Scene: Explosion.

Details: Green Screen-wall; wire-rig; stuntman; key light; side light; steady-cam(?)

Now through the usage of applications such as Celtx, this consolidates the entire process into an easy, manageable shooting sequence. At a flick, storyboards can be visualized alongside the shot plan. This saves a lot of time, and enables a Storyboard artist to even come on location with the Director, and develop the shot plan there and then in real-time. The portability is the key factor.

A brief summary:

With continued adaptability, a Storyboard artist's job could increase in responsibilities. This time being wholly in command, and in collaboration with directors, of the shot-planning alongside the panel rendering. This becomes economical, and also successfully communicates all idea into a single presentation.

Micro Project: (Line of Action part 2)- Mark-making

Mark-making is the bread and butter of any illustrator. It defines their style, their approach, and dictates how loose and free, or tight and precious a drawing can end up. In this sense, I prefer the more looser approach. As previously stated before, Storyboarding is a tool for solving narrative problems, and for communicating readable performances whilst being economical. 

In conjunction with the Line of Action methodology, as covered in the previous post, this second part looks into mark-making in a contextual manner. Below are my numerous quick, loose, mark-making studies relatable to the needs of Storyboarding.

Figure work.

A large man with physical weight will likely be better communicated with thicker, more rounded lines.

Juxtaposed mark making can create crude illusions of distance between one form to another.

Sometimes the Line of Action can almost dictate an approach to the subsequent mark-making. Below the LoA is very angular, jutting to the left horizontally. The following lines enhance this rigid manner.

With the same LoA, the more smoothish, thicker, and rounded lines almost disguise the LoA. This may hinder clean expressions in poses, but it is by no means 'wrong'.

Reversing this, a rounded LoA arc works well with harsh jagged lines.

But perhaps mark-making that compliments the form of the LoA itself lend themselves more effectively; rounded, smoother lines.

When dealing with perspective, changing the thickness of your line can denote a sense of weight and mass; and moreover, the change in perception the further 'away' the image appears to recede. The head feels the smallest, not only in size, but in the width of the line. The closer to the frame we come, the lines are bolder and thicker.

Mark-making can help with facial definition, when not concerning itself with the LoA. These below studies show a varied way in which this can be achieved via economical line-control. Less is more.

Methodology summary:

In short, both mark-making and the Line of Action can be paired to help inform key elements to Solid Drawing: weight and form to postures, readable stances and expressions (body and face); and knowing where and when to place your lines, rather than over-compensating, or using up precious time over-rendering.

Below is a breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between both methodologies into the Principle Solid Drawing.

Micro Project: Line of Action

Solid Drawing.

One of my principles of Storyboarding is Solid Drawing. This is, however, an extremely broad term that doesn't yet offer a means with which you could successfully the principle. Solid Drawing means different things to many people, depending on tastes, style, technical skill, and the area with which illustration is applied. 

Solid Drawing in a Storyboarding context means this: successfully communicating body language, expression; economy of line; weight and mass to figure work; clean posture reads. To an animator, this will sound familiar. Indeed this is an animation principle that shares much in common when placed in a Storyboarding context. Below is an example of Solid Drawing within a Storyboard.

There is one methodology with which I'd like to offer in order to fulfil all of the above requirements. Another incredibly useful skill borrowed from Animation: The Line of Action. Not in Editing terms where you deal with the 180 degree rule. But rather, the invisible line that dictates posture, expression and movement in any figure work. More importantly, any good figure work. 

The Line of Action can be found anywhere.

Life Drawing.

Photography.

Character design.

Comic Book/Graphic Novels.

Children's Books.

Storyboards.

The Line of Action methodology for drawing.

Applying the LoA in a Storyboarding context may seem easy at first, but it's even easier to make the mistake of assuming it's the same as the above but within four lines of a frame. This methodology offers a way in which you can use the LoA in your figure drawing intelligently for better Storyboards. 

Below are my examples of the chief advantage of LoA in my thumbnail boards. More importantly, how they help to not only fulfil the Solid Drawing Principle, but also the Framing and Composition. 

The LoA here helps to  frame the focal point of the image, being the pressured man.

Here the symmetry appears pleasing to the eye, with the natural 'window' in the center.

An interesting way to 'split' the frame compositionally through an abstract arc.

Another example of symmetrical LoA's dividing the frame. And yet the context here is omitted, in that the fact our three characters are at varying distances from one another is irrelevant to the effect of the LoA.

The LoA can draw the eye to a certain point in the frame,  in a disguised manner.

They can also compliment the shapes and forms already existing within the frame. The way the explosion rag-dolls the people compliments the circular shape of its cloud.

A simple yet effective way of borrowing Animation's LoA into the context of Storyboarding in any form: Film; Telivision; Animation.

However, this is not the only means with which the Solid Drawing can be achieved. The Line of Action becomes one half of the leg-work. What about the subsequent mark-making? 

(see post: Line of Action Part 2: Mark-making.)

Micro Project: Colour in Storyboarding

Colours are an incredibly versatile way of communicating; each culture has their own conventional understanding of colour signifiers, and in Storyboarding there is a means with which we can apply and manipulate this for narrative purposes.

The Wizard of Oz perhaps is one of the most notable examples of Colour usage in film, to signify conventional understandings of those hues.

 

The main difficulty is in exploring the significance of certain colours, and how they can change from one culture to the next. Depending on who your Storyboard's narrative is aimed at will dictate those sorts of decisions. 

Whilst it may not entirely be the duty of a Storyboard artist to establish a colour 'set' for an entire narrative (the Cinematographer comes into his own here), it is still useful to have a methodology with which boarding can quickly communicate the same ideas. 

Borrowed entirely from Marcie Begleiter's fantastic book 'From Word to Image', I believe this methodology is the clearest and most easily applied to Storyboarding. It's broken down into a three-part method: Juxtaposition; Direct Reference; Inference. 

Juxtaposition.

Juxtaposition in this context refers to the usage of colour that are within the same colour 'families', and can be vividly eye-catching and/or be used to make one subject stand out in stark contrast to its frame. It is also a useful signifier in showing an opposition simply through the visual impact of this. West Side Story is a great example of Juxtaposed colours being used.

Direct Reference. 

This method manipulates conventional understanding of colour sets. Red for anger/love, green for nature, etc. With characters, often the way they are dressed and, more importantly, the colour of their outfit is a direct reference to their nature, personality, and moral alignment. Wizard of Oz once again offers us two great examples of this.  

The White Witch dressed in the appropriate colours to signify her kind ways.

And the Wicked Witch, clad in full black. 

Inference.

This method is a much more subtle application of colour, often enhancing a mood or ambient vibe of a narrative. It's chief use however is its ability to thematically foreshadow a turn of events in the story. This ability to infer something can be an extremely useful tool even in Storyboarding. Below is an example from the film Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. 

In this scene, the hues are deliberately shown to be warm, in the reds and oranges, signifying comfort, contentment. 

Cutting to a shot of Nicole's character, we see that the bathroom is lit in a vivid yet deep shade of blue.  This frames her deliberately, and in fact was meant to infer that their conversation- and by extension their relationship- was about to turn sour. Blue signifies a bleak foreshadowing, in this context.

These three easy methods are a great means of both categorizing and managing whatever particular colour signifiers you may be choosing in your Storyboarding. Though there is a clear distinction between these three, they often co-inside with multiple colour meanings. Below are examples of how either of these could fit into the above methodologies. 

Application.

Previously I had explored the implications of light value to a Storyboarding, by selecting my favourite scene from Michael Mann's 'Heat'. The cafe scene illustrates the true dynamic and relationship both Pacino's Hanna and De Niro's McCauley. It was only fitting then that I re-visited this sequence. I digitally sketched out the scene again, and this time applied block colouring as part of an exercise in Juxtaposition, Direct Reference, and Inference.

Both men are wearing near identical suits, in a somewhat neutral ambient setting. This is not dissimilar from the film's original scene. This could signify that both men are alike, and the conceit is that this is a 'casual' conversation between two friends. 

This infers that, despite their social and lawful opposition, they are in fact kindred spirits, as alluded to even strongly in the film's closing act.

A revision of the colours here is aiming for Direct Reference. Our Protagonist (Pacino) is dressed in conventionally signified hues of 'good'. This suggests his moral compass is aligned for the best intentions.

Alternatively we see De Niro's character dressed in the conventional signifiers of 'evil' or an immoral outlook:  black and red. This significantly waters down any subtext between the two characters, and simply shows them at face value. This is in contrast to the true inference in the previous example.

Juxtaposed colours can be a more subtle way of showing opposition, without signifying  the morality of either. Here we see that the two are dressed in warm and cold hues. This does not denote good or bad qualities of their nature; but rather connotes an element of their personalities, or could perhaps foreshadow a dynamic in their relationship. Pacino's character is significantly warmer to De Niro's upon meeting him in the Cafe. Even admitting that if and when the time came to shooting him down, he's "not gonna like it". This can be suggested in his warmer choice of colours.

These three methodologies compliment my principle of Storyboarding Tonal Value, as it certainly offers an alternative means of applying tone and colour to a scene, whilst giving it a narrative value. Colours are not simply there to add colour. They have a purpose; to suggest, signify, denote, connote. They can be part of the themes that a script can otherwise not describe through text. 

Below is a breakdown of the three-part method.