John Hart - The Art of the Storyboard: A Filmmaker’s Introduction

The Art of

the Storyboard

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The Art of

the Storyboard

A Filmmakers Introduction

John Hart

AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON

NEW YORK OXFORD PARIS SAN DIEGO

SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO

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Contents

Dedication vii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1: The Storyboards Beginnings

Tutorials

Chapter 2: The Storyboard Artist Is Part of the Preproduction Team 9

Tutorials

Chapter 3: The Storyboard Artist and the Storyboard

The Directors Vision

Tutorials

Chapter 4: Basic Components and Principles of the Storyboard

Rule of Thirds

Foreground, Middle Ground and Background

Developing Drawing Skills

Shot

Angles

Building the Storyboard

Classic Film Examples

Tutorials

Chapter 5: Adding Reality with Perspective

Perspective

Classic Film Examples

Tutorials

Chapter 6: Design, Composition and Color

Drawing Humans in Action

Human

Proportions

Light and Shadow

The Importance of Color

Black

and

White

Design and Composition

Tutorials

Chapter 7: Illustrating Action in Your Storyboard

Tutorials

v

vi Contents

Chapter 8: Light Sources and Depth of Field

Light

Sources

Depth of Field

Classic Film Examples

Tutorials

Chapter 9: The Shot, Its Dynamics and Its Function in

the Storyboard

Montage

Editing

Dynamic

Design

Tutorials

Chapter 10: Animatics: The Future of Motion Control

Sequencing

Editing

Special

Effects

A Real-World Animatic

Tutorials

Appendix A: Additional Resources

Appendix B: Glossary

Index

To my dear friend, Mary Ann Maurer, whose professionalism, humor and positive outlook made writing this book such a pleasant task.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge my late friend Lanny Foster, who is represented in this book.

A particular mention goes to Georgia Kennedy from Focal Press and Beth Millett, development editor, for their help and encouragement.

A majority of the artwork was drawn by me, unless otherwise noted for guest artists.

ix

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Introduction

What goes around comes around couldnt be more applicable than to the recent announcement from Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, and John Lasseter, the chief creative offi cer, that they are once again returning to hand-drawn animation for their fi lm projects. Hooray!

After the success of their computer-animated project Toy Story in 1995, they closed their hand-drawing facility in 2004. They have now decided, rightly, that the charm, linear attributes and added depth of hand-drawn animation still have a strong role to play in the future of animation. We wish them well and the same to all of us artists who draw by hand!

While I was studying art in high school, I thought the greatestplace to get a job as an artist would be the Walt Disney Studios.Enthralled by the stunning visuals of Disneys Snow White and the

Seven Dwarfs, followed by Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi,and then thedelightful Song of the South(the fi rst to combine live action actorswith cartoons), I very much wanted to be a part of Walts creativeforce. Instead I got a fellowship and went for my Masters Degreein Fine Arts. I eventually got to New York rather than Californiaand became a successful commercial artist/photographer/lecturerand author. Still, I wonder what would have happened had I beenaccepted in Walts workshops.

I later learned that most of the artists on Walts creative teamsimply worked at coloring the hundreds of thousands of cels

(acetate sheets) that comprise a full-length cartoon. Those celpainters, called in betweeners, actually went on strike a coupleof times for more money. Now, if one had the talent to get a jobin animation as an idea person, a concept sketch artist, a produc-tion design artist, a storyboard artist, or a character design person,that would have been a different story and a more creative one.As a matter of fact, concept artists are still in demand at Dream-works and Pixar, as well as all the major fi lm producers. With fi lmproduction being a collaborative art, its nice to see storyboardartists now getting acknowledged in the credits rolls on most

major motion picture releases.

Your drawing talents must be developed thoroughly in both rendering live-action images realistically and in interpreting images as called for in animated fi lms or videos. To be a storyboard artist is to illustrate the individual frames that make up xi

xii Introduction

the shots in a shooting script for animated feature fi lms, industrial fi lms or multimedia projects, and educational fi lms. All these genres use storyboards in one form or another. You are part of the preproduction team and will work with producers, production designers, directors of photography and the special effects teams, but most of your storyboard work will be done with the director, whose vision of the project will guide the entire production team.

The Art of the Storyboard II seeks to help you in the following ways:

To summarize the history and development of the storyboard and to clarify its adaptation and function as a viable visual tool for the creative team that produces live-action feature length fi lms, animation fi lms, cartoons, multimedia/industrial fi lms, videos and documentaries.