Project 2: Original Story

Create and storyboard your own original short film.

Requirements and Recommendations
   1) The short film should be about 1-2 minutes in length.
    2) The final product will likely be about 1 storyboard per one second, give or take.
   3) The intended final film may be animated or live action.
   4) The film must be a complete story, from start to finish, and the storyboards must cover the entire story.

Rubric:
1)  Clarity: Are the storyboards easy to understand and follow?  Are there any problems with continuity? Are there enough storyboards to show everything that needs to be shown?  Is there too much information crammed into individual boards?

2)  Cinematography:  Are the cameras arranged in a way that keeps the action clear and maximizes the emotional impact?  On the flip side, does the camera arrangement cause confusion or implies something unintentionally?

3) Flow:  Do we have a good impression of the flow and timing from these boards?  The presentation will help with this.

Aesthetics/use of color and drawing skill will be factored in only as much as it affects the clarity and cinematography.  Add color or implied lighting if you feel it will help increase the emotional impact/make the scene easier to read.


Important Dates
Class 16 - Bring in 3 Loglines/Ideas to class


Class 19 - Finalize 1 idea with Beat Boards


Class 22 - Concept Storyboards


Final Class - Animatic

Project 1: From Story to Board

Choose 1 section from a provided script, and draw storyboards of that scene.  The sequence of events must be true to the script provided, but you will have complete control of the cinematography.

This project is meant to emulate what you would do in the real world as a storyboardist, where the story itself is typically handled by someone else.  You will be breaking the script down into beats, create beat storyboards (concept art for all major moments) and then finished storyboards for the scene.  Think about the camera's placement both in terms of keeping the action easy to follow as well as maximizing the emotional impact of the scene and the characters.

These will just be concept boards - they do not need to be fully 'finished'.  The boards are meant for communication, and only need to be rendered as much as needed to make the point clear.  The characters don't have to be 'on model', so long as we can tell who is who.


Rubric:
1)  Clarity: Are the storyboards easy to understand and follow?  Are there any problems with continuity? Are there enough storyboards to show everything that needs to be shown?  Is there too much information crammed into individual boards?

2)  Cinematography:  Are the cameras arranged in a way that keeps the action clear and maximizes the emotional impact?  On the flip side, does the camera arrangement cause confusion or implies something unintentionally?

3) Flow:  Do we have a good impression of the flow and timing from these boards?  The presentation will help with this.

Aesthetics/use of color and drawing skill will be factored in only as much as it affects the clarity and cinematography.  Add color or implied lighting if you feel it will help increase the emotional impact/make the scene easier to read.


Important Dates
   Class 11 - Beat Boards:  Take the script and convert it to beats.  From there, draw concept art for every important moment in the script.  They don't have to be directly continuous.  The objective is to highlight all of the important parts of the story.
   Class 13 - Concept Storyboards:  Using your Beat boards and critiques as a reference, create a draft of storyboards for the script.
   Class 16 - Animatic: Take the storyboards you've created and put them together in a simple animatic, focusing on the timing/spacing of the panels.  Change, remove or add additional panels as needed to make the animatic more effective.
  

Assignment: Reinvision

Due Class 9

Choose a scene from an existing movie, short film or TV series, and create storyboards for an alternative way that same scene could have gone. 

It can help to pick a scene that might have felt disappointing or weaker in terms of story, cinematography or both.  What would you do differently?  Why?  You have free reign with the cinematography, actions and dialogue of the characters, but the intention/theme of the script should remain clear.

Your storyboards should strengthen the theme and intention of the original script.

Example:  The confrontation between Coraline and Other Mother in the film, Coraline:

"Let It Go Redo" Animatic

Student Examples (on Dropbox)

Assignment: Story Point

Due Class 6

Create a short sequence - recommended 5-10 panels - telling a short story based on the provided prompt.  The artwork can be sketchy and the characters may be simplified so long as it's easy to read and follow. The comic may be in strip format, storyboard format or comic page format.

Student Examples:

Assignment: Instruction Guide

Due Class 3

Create instructions for a menial task of your choice.  No text can be used (other than the title).  The reader should be able to understand the task and perform it simply by reading the artwork.  It may be done traditionally on paper, or digitally.

Examples:

Student Examples: