class 12

Class 12: Thursday, Feb 22

DUE: Homework 5: Linear Structures.

Included the Link and describe the scene you are reviewing, timeline info.

Quicktimes of Work In Progress (WIP) of Storyboard Assignment.

A good magician controls his audience's attention as he performs. He uses misdirection to make his audience look away as he is doing something else.

A good Storyboard artist, Animator or Director directs the audience's eye to where they want the audience to look or to notice.  










A single Storyboard panel contains 3 things. 

• Screen Direction referring to Camera Left or Camera Right.

• Camera Height, the physical position of the camera.

• Camera Lenses information

Here is the same basic scene from 3 slightly different camera angles. The camera is on the same side of the character to help show how the change in Camera Height can effect the feeling of the scene.      

A level camera on the character, gives the feeling the lady is remembering something or someone. A scene like this often is accompanied by a camera move either in or out depending upon the point in the story that it appears. 
  

Positoning the camera below and looking up at the character is known as a low angle. This gives a more heroic or dramatic feeling to the shot.

 

With this type of camera angle, it gives the character a sense of accomplishment.  It's basically putting the character on a pedestal. It harkens back to the age of Kings and Queens standing on their balconies looking down upon the peasants.

The opposite of this is the downshot or high camera angle. It gives a sense of bewilderment or loss. That perhaps the character didn't get what they were after. Like the first example you will often find a shot like this accompanied with a camera move out. It can also be pushed to give a stronger feeling. A downshot also helps to give scale and place the character into their world.



Each Storyboard Panel also needs a focal point or a Center of Interest.

By designing elements in your composition to emphasize or

direct your audience's eye to the focal point.

There can be as many as 3 focal points for one storyboard 

panel.

1) Primary is only one or the most significant or important 

object in the composition.

2) Secondary is the second object your eye will notice in the

composition.

3) Tertiary is the third object, sometimes the third might arrive

later adding to the composition.

Finding Vivian Maier
https://youtu.be/er8-Vq__cRE

VIEW:

Pigeons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cji1HqXySXY

Before Sunrise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuq8GunJjos

 

Perspective: True, Cheating, Hanging and The Grid Trick

One Point Perspective: 

Begins with a Horizon Line and One point 

Add lines aiming at the Vanishing Point

 

dd Horizontal Lines to create Depth

2 Point Perspective:

Two points on a Horizon Line

 

3 Point Perspective: 

Bird's Eye View

Worm's Eye View 

BUT

YOU CAN CHEAT BY...

Adding a Grid into your panels will help with establishing Depth. 

A bad Storyboard Artist draws flat boring images

This is a very flat 1 point perspective image, but it still works. 

 Add a little perspective...

Hanging Perspective

Hanging Perspective is a quick way to plant figures and objects of the same size onto the Horizon line. 

You can go back  to refine them later, change their poses, but keep them in the same place.

"Hanging" from the torso...

"Hanging" from the knee...

And Now, The Grid Trick

Add a grid in the background and move it around 

TAH DAH!

View: LOU: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzcE0jW3IE

Bully learns not to be one.

That's amazing! 

But what about Homework 06?

Before and After: Take a 6 shot sequence from your Junior Film BEFORE and apply More Depth/Use Grids to improve your 6 shot sequence. Show Before and After. 

HW06 DUE: Thursday, March 1st , if not before.

Storyboard Refresher: Cinema Language: Shot Choices 1 - 6

View:

Tonight: https://vimeo.com/114078504

A Lesson in Staging: 12 Angry Men: https://youtu.be/nWCgA7h99Nc

From: Creating Animated Cartoons with Character by Joe Murray

Storyboard Guidelines

Clarity is everything. Don't make the person reading your storyboards work hard to follow your story and jokes. Go for clear acting and staging.

Less is more. Leave room for the reader to breath and beats for the jokes to play out. Every moment doesn'thave to be packed with gags, action and dialogue; sometimes it's nice to just sit and look at a funny character moment for a bit.

Show the reader the story, don't tell it. Chances are, if your characters are explaining what they're thinking about doing, and why they're doing it, you've already lost your audience.

Include all screen direction such as wipes, dissolves, trucks, shakes, etc and write them very clearly.

Use close-ups. After you establish your scene in a long shot, cut in for a closer view. The audience likes to connect with the eyes of a character and will lose that connection if you use too many long shots.

Do as much posing as possible. To see more of your vision, show starting and stopping poses for each scene, as well as key poses throughout, Draw exaggerated poss clearly.

Don't be afraid to be ridiculous and absurd. As long as the story line and characters' integrity are not compromised, go crazy! Remember to make sure that your gags are funny to people other than yourself.

Stage in a consistent direction, when possible. If you start left to right, continue left to right.

Add humor to facial expressions. Staying on model is important, but adding a funny, extreme expression in keeping woith the character's personality is great too. Everybody loves to see wacky drawings!

Pay close attention to the backgrounds. Remember to draw them, at least in the first and last panel of a scene. Also be aware of what's happening behind your characters at all times. Be aware of compositions.

Vary your Staging: One hundred medium shots can get boring.

Don't overuse the camerawork. Unless it's used in a particular approach to selling a gag, a certain film genre or for a one-time dramatic effect. Overusing strange camera angles will only distract from the story.

Make sure dialogue and camera/action directions are written legibly. It helps to type out the dialogue, at least for the pilot storyboard, so that there is no confusion about your intentions.
Also if you are animating overseas, your screen and camera directions will be translated, so keep them simple.

For a pilot storyboard, go the extra mile. Make it something truely beautiful to behold, as well as hilariously entertaining!