Storyboards

Just wanted to write a brief note on storyboards...

...do them!

Told you it was brief.

Seriously, when I started pre-production, depite the fact that the movie only has a couple of short scenes with limited setup, I decided to storyboard it. Not because I thought it would be particularly useful but because I was the "done thing". I didn't really want to do it to be honest but when I started I realised, really really quickly that without storyboards I couldn't come up with a proper shooting schedule (the order in which you film things) AND would have had to do the same set ups over and over again, AND it is incredibly likely I would have missed out on some important shots AND if I didn't plan out some shots in advance I just would have done the same shitty shots over and over AND I wouldn't be able to plan props properly AND I wouldnt have thought about things like camera placement and what was really necessary from locations.

I was put off storyboarding because, well frankly I'd seen storyboards even on amateur stuff that looks like the were done by Frank fucking Miller see exhibit A -

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" I thought. Answer: I didn't. I drew little stick figures. See Exhibit B -

This stuff is not going to win any Eisner awards (for the geeks in the room) but that doesn't matter because as long as I know what they mean then who gives a shit.

Another thing storyboarding does, it makes you very aware about how much work you've got to. 8-10 minute film, I drew 136 storyboard panels

In summary, I started storyboarding not because I thought it would be useful but because I felt I should, but by Christ it was useful. Fucking vital if I'm honest.