How To Storyboard | Short Film

Looking back at our old storyboard and animatic, I realised that the ideas we were trying to convey to our audiences didn't really show within the storyboard. The rushed drawings, the unfamiliar sequences, the lack of additional sound effects and the lack of detailed notes all made it very difficult for Alex and I to be prepared with what camera shots we were going to use before we arrived on set.

To help me develop my skills in storyboarding, I decided to research a tutorial to find out how to storyboard for any media production. I found this tutorial of YouTube by RocketJump Film School which introduces the methods of storyboarding.

By the end of watching this video, I learnt the essentials I needed to know when creating our new refinement storyboard including the following:

• There aren't any strict, exacting rules on how to do storyboards - conveying information is what's important.
• Storyboards are a technical document, a tool. So it doesn't matter if you a skilled illustrator or not. (As long as Alex and I understand how to frame each shot we capture then that is all that matters.)
• Depending on the media production, consider the size of the panels you wish to use for your storyboard. In this case, a widescreen panel is needed for our storyboard since our coursework production is a short film.
• Drawing arrows can help determine movement in a shot. Use them to show if a character or object is moving.
• Storyboards are typically drawn with the help of a script, although in some cases they can act as your script if you find it helpful to visualise your ideas first before writing the screenplay.
• Depending on the resources you have, you can even use photos from the locations you wish to shoot and even pre visual recordings of your ideas to see whether these will work on set.

Having completed my research on the basic concepts of making a storyboard, Alex and I are going to sit down and begin redrawing our ideas for this short film.