MAF 2020

Storyboard Workshop notes

Staging

Staging is where you put the characters and where you put the camera to make the actions and emotion clear.

Composition

Composition is how those elements appear on the screen.

Rule of thirds is a great way to divide up the screen into sweet spots.

This works best if you're kind of loose with it. A little more natural. Too strict with it and you notice it. You don’t want style to shout louder than story. So yes use this grid if you like but maybe better to just have it in your mind as you board.

On 101 Dalmatian Street we went pretty full on with the rule of thirds or Centre framing like this.

Same as Wolfwalkers. That and heavily cheated perspective or even no perspective.

For 101D it worked really well. Maybe its because it was a 2d show. And we could totally control where every line went

The problem with it is, things don’t stay still. Its animation. Stuff moves. The more action the more things move.

A chase is tough following strict compositional rules. And if you’ve been super arty up until then. A heavy action scene can jolt you out of it.

This cropped up on Wolfwalkers and 101Dalmatian Street. Tomm really pushes things stylistically but for something full of action you have to have direction and force and something dimensional. Proscenium or Flat staging is great for comedy. I think its maybe because we are sat away from the characters. We are most definitely viewing them and not part of what’s going on. They’re on stage and we are in the audience. If a piano lands on some one… its not us and we laugh. But for action to work we have to sort of be in the passenger seat. In with the action along for the ride. If we are sat back watching it we don’t have the emotional engagement. It’s tough to do an action filled car chase from a side view.

On Paddington you don’t really notice composition so much. Rule of thirds is there but not as locked in as 101D. It easy casual staging. Its 3d so the we shoot on set. The camera is in with the characters. Usually eye level following PB around.

Shorthand

I get asked a bit about developing shorthand for characters. That’s a more simplified version of the character design so you can draw it fast and throw it around more easily.

Heres some shorthand drawings. Here’s some examples of how a drew the Dalmatians

Paddington is slightly different as in we use Panelforge. Which is a 3d Storyboarding software. Maybe a little about Panelforge. I still have my shorthand for him which I use in thumbnails and drawn notes.

lMaybe a good comparison here is Dennis. I did actually board on the first episode of this show. Before they used and earlier version of Panelforge. It broke easily. Dennis Comparison So these were drawn in Photoshop. After the first episode they asked me to use PF but unfortunately at the time it was pretty unusable on Mac. So I left the show. I coul’ve bought a new Mac but my heart wasn’t really in it to bing a layout artis as well as a board artist.

lThese days its not so important to draw on model. The shows either a kit or rigged 2d show or 3d or Stop Mo. What more important is character scale. Relative to each other and the set. This will help lots when your board goes into layout. Open SBPro. pn31

lYou may stage a two shot (Paddington and Mr Curry) of two characters talking but the actual model may differ greatly in size. Meaning you cant get a two shot.