HBE Storyboard Tutorial

(click on image to open tutorial goodness)

I wanted to show you the quick rough draft storyboards you do when you sit down with the Director and DP (Director of Photography).

They are ALWAYS in thumbnail form...you do this for both speed and only because you need a basic understanding. A lot of storyboard artists out there don't get hired not because they aren't great artists, but because they lack the speed. Thats why thumb nails are crucial...it MAKES you draw in the most simplest of terms! (also why practicing your drills is a must as well)

Also you may notice that you have red, yellow, and black arrows. This is the basic stuff of Storyboards and conveying movement for the actors and the camera. Now it is important to know that this is the rule of thumb for storyboard artists. However nothing is written in stone so you may come across some Storyboard artists that do things a bit differently.

BLACK ARROWS: Character movement. Any movement that happens in front of the camera with characters, props, ect...

YELLOW ARROWS: Physical Camera movement. This shows you where the camera will physically be moving. So if the camera needs to "truck" backwards then you will see a 3D arrows pointing backwards signifying that the camera needs to move backwards. If it's a 2D yellow arrow it just means the camera is just physically moving from side to side.

RED ARROWS: Framing, Zooming, Focusing. This all deals with the framing of a shot and what we are focusing on. If you see a red box and then dotted lines going to the corners of the frame then look for the arrows on the dotted lines...which way are they pointing? If they are pointing outwards then that means we are starting in close and zooming out. If you see red boxes labeled "A," "B," "C," etc...then this is what is known as "Rack Focusing," and you just focus in that order.

I hope this helps! Typically (and it depends on the project and who you are working with) these kinds of storyboards believe it or not is all people want or need sometimes (but then again you would have 5 times the amount of shots then this on a normal shoot). Me personally I like taking these and then making a "Final Draft" and almost turning it into a comic book. Thats when I only have three panels per page instead of 12 so I can put greater detail in them.


If you have any questions feel free to ask!