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A storyboard is a series of sketches, drawings or photographs. You use storyboards to plan for your film so you don’t have to make rushed decisions on set. You can consider storyboards as virtual shoots. On the day of filming you can show your created storyboard to the director of photography, actors, etc so they know exactly what you want. This also saves a lot of time on set.
                   
WHY YOU NEED STORYBOARDS:
                   
  • Saves time.
• Helps you improve on ideas and get feedback from other crew members.
• Gives you an idea of how many cameras you’ll need, if you are using more then one.
• Helps everyone understand what’s in your head.
                   
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
                   
Your finished screenplay / script of the film, some sort of template and a pencil and eraser.
 
JARGON:
 
The following terminology is used in storyboards. It usually appears in the heading of the frame.
 
   
CLOSE-UP SHOT or CU
BIG CLOSE UP or BCU
DISSOVLE
FADE IN / OUT
HIGH CAMERA ANGLE
JUMP CUT
LEVEL CAMERA ANGLE
LONG SHOT or LS
LOW CAMERA ANGLE
PAN
POINT OF VIEW or POV
TILT
ZOOM
       
USING ARROWS:
       
By placing a floating box in a frame with arrows you indicate zooming.
 
Drawing arrows as above indicates movement.
   
Floating boxes with arrows can be used to show panning.
 
       
GENERAL TIPS:
         
  • Make sure you number your pages and frames.
• Make sure your frames aren’t too big.
• Don’t be afraid to write down notes. You’ll need them later on.
• It’s not important to draw the faces of the characters; many consider this “the actor’s job”.
• Don’t worry if you can’t draw as well as some examples you see in magazines. Simple stick figures will do the job. Large Hollywood production companies hire professional artists to draw storyboards for them.
• Don’t spend too much time on a frame, i.e. 15 minutes. It doesn’t have to be a work of art.
• DON’T draw the storyboard in one sitting. This is a recipe for disaster.
• There are no real storyboard standards, only guidelines. Storyboards come in different styles. Find yours and stick to it.
• And remember to enjoy it; if it’s a burden then it won’t be great at all.
         
TEMPLATE:
Provided is a template which I use for basic storyboards. You may print out as many as you like and use them for your storyboards. (The template is included in the downloadable version of this tutorial. Download in PDF)
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This document is copyright. The downloadable version (PDF) may be distributed without modification. Copyright © 2007 Kyle van Tonder
 
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