Today I be will showing you the use of storyboards, how the visual representation of

storyboards are effective by evaluating a range of storyboards and how they have evolved
overtime and changed the productions of film.

The History of Storyboards

To start us off, let me start with saying what storyboards are in general. A storyboard is either a
graphic, visual or illiterate representation of displayed sequences of different shots, with notes
giving brief notes of what is happening in each scene and helps plan out how something will
later unfold for the final outcome. Storyboards can either simple or complex. Storyboards are
effective because of the visual aid which makes it much easier for you to thoroughly look at what
you’ve come up with, including the shots that you will need and how they are laid out and then
viewing your predicted or final outcome of your production and being able to see if it
is successful or not. It is also easier to share and explain your vison and receive any feedback if
needed. When you have a storyboard you can show people exactly what it will look like. The
creation of storyboards is credited to George Meiles who used storyboards to help direct his film
in 1902 in a 'Trip to the Moon'. Meiles used a storyboard to plan out his shots and prepare
everything when it actually came to production. Disney however seemed to have given the credit
to Webb Smith with creating the idea on planning and drawing scenes out on separate sheets of
paper and putting them on a bulletin board. According to John Canemaker, storyboards evolved
from comic book from the sketches in 1920. 'Three Little Pigs was he first short film to be
completely storyboarded in 1933. The idea of using storyboards started to become more
popular and was starting to be used by other studios and by 1938 using storyboard become
a standard practice. 'Gone With The Wind' (1939) was the first film to be completely
storyboarded. The film heavily relied on the storyboarding which brought out the action of the
 Figure 1
Gone With The Wind - Storyboard
Storyboard for
the Burning of
Atlanta
A storyboard for
the burning of
Atlanta scene by
production
designer William
Cameron Menzies.
Figure 2
Gone With the Wind is one of the small watercolor sketches from over one hundred that have positioned on storyboards.
Interpretations of the burning of Atlanta and the escape from the city in most of these drawings. When it involved filming
the city on fire, it was necessary to have that particular scene well defined before shooting and Selznick probably felt that
because of the complicated production and the great expense. Selznick's production of Gone With the Wind was released in
1939, and at that time Lyle Wheeler (figure 1), was art director of Selznick International Pictures and William Cameron
Menzies (figure 2) was production designer. Together Wheeler and Menzies supervised a staff of seven artists who provided
more than 1,500 watercolor sketches for Gone With the Wind. From these sketches, which indicated every camera
angle proposed for the movie, two hundred sets were designed and ninety were erected.
 This is a general template and
FORMATTING STORYBORDS example of the type storyboards
that are used in the film,
television industry by
storyboard artists. Storyboards
will also be used for video
games, music videos, animation
and documentaries.
This is where you would write
which page you are on out of
how many pages that you will
be using. E.g. PAGE 25/200.
You would do the same thing
for scene and write which
scene it is out how many
scenes there are. E.g. SCENE
19/300.
This where you write brief notes As the storyboard artist you would
In this section this is where and refer to what should be write what shot number it is for the
we see a reference to what happening in that specific shot. It frame to let the director know what
dialogue will be happening lets the director know what the should be happening in each specific
between the characters. characters should be doing. shot for certain scenes.
 STORYBOARD PLANNING PROCESS
There are a lot of things to consider
during the storyboard process because
there are a lot of things to think about
and account for. There are multiple things
to consider such as: colour,
size, costumes, makeup, lightning, props
a much more. Essentially, storyboards
contributte to a huge part of pre-
production and can determine whether a
film/show/music video etc will go
This is a conceptual drawing of a creature featured in a short accordingly to plan. It is a really effective
film 'Cargo'. Storyboard artists will plan out drawings of tool to use and from the visual form of
characters or creatures in pre-production to get a the drawings, the director can decide if
somewhat realistic outlook of what the final outcome will look thy like the idea the storyboard artist/s
like that. In the drawing there are different angles shown of the has gone with. They can give pointers on
creatures and different shading and dull colours used to make what they want theur creatures or
the creature seem real. The drawing will later be developed character to look like.
with CGI and motion capture.
What Exhibition is Important to the History of Storyboarding and
Does it Still Exist?
Making creative and quality exhibitions is a challenge even for
professionals. When making storyboards it should have design
techniques collection preservation standards, label writing skills,
and other competencies into one or more courses that result in well-
trained exhibition professionals.

What Was the First Live Action Film to be Storyboarded and

Who Was it to Do So?
The first live action film to be storyboarded was 'Gone With The
End' in 1939 by William Cameron Menzies, the
film's production designer, who was hired by to design every shot
of the film. The film relied on the storyboarding which made the
film more detailed and brought out the story more.
 What is a Photomatic and How is it Important in
Storyboarding?
A photomatic is when a series of still photographs are edited together and then the
edited photographs are printed in a sequence. Sound effects, voice-overs, and a
soundtrack are added to the piece of footage that is used to show how a film can be
shot and cut together. Using a photomatic is increasingly being used by
advertisers because the technique to analysis and research the effectiveness of their
storyboard before they make the actual footage of the advert and broadcast it onto
television. The photomatic is usually used as a tool and it represents the work to a
test audience to test out the effectiveness of the final product of the advert to see the
response it will attract.
Photomatic and storyboarding link together because photomatic is used to test
out the engagement and effectiveness of a final product. Photomatic storyboards
and animatic storyboards help plan out the plot and structure of something should
be filmed. It helps decide and plan how the setting should look and show how the
actions should be made, sound effects that should be and even the voice overs.
Photomatics/animatics is a sequence of shots that are normally
black and white which show the emotion of one person or a
group of people. This was introduced in the 1920s where
people would pay money to get four pictures taken and you
would call a photobooth in the current-day. Photomatics were
used in film and essential in pre-production because it was low
cost and photomatic boards helped save time and control
unnecessary production expenditure.
On the other hand, you can take a storyboard and turn it into
an animatic. This helps to condense time and therefore it
means you dont have to do a lot of explaining beneath
the storyboard. An animatic speaks much more for itself
because it moves and has dialogue. This is probably the reason
why Walt Disney used photomatics to see if his narrative was
good enough before he went ahead and went a large amount of
money on the actual pre-production. I shows a clearer
representaton of what the finished product will look like. An
animatic allows you to communicate super precisely how long
each shot holds for and the timing of the entire piece.
Alfred Hitchcock
When storyboarding first came
about, Alfred Hitchcock was one of
the people who heavily relied on
storyboarding. You can see this if you
was to look a one of the cast diarys, I
clearly says that he didn’t even look
through his eyepiece. This shows the
effeciveness of storyboarding and
how directors don’t have to look
through their eyepiece. Somone like
Alfred Hitchcock using storyboards
meant they could be more creative
and dynamic in their use of
storyboards.
FEATURES OF STORYBOARDS
CAMERA MOVE:
CAMERA MOVE : HAND-HELD
NARROWING/ZOOM A hand-held camera move is
When there are arrow holding the camera by hand
pointing inwards towards a to give a realistic, natural
storyboard frame, it means the sense of a documentary feel.
shot should move in closer and It makes the audience
zoom in. Zooming into a shot interact with more.
this increases the significance.
CAMERA MOVE: PAN
CAMERA MOVE: DOLLY The camera is on a
Using a dolly allows you to move tripod. A pan is when
the camera smoothly along with you move horizontally
an action like a character running (left and right). A quick
or walking without the camera pan makes a cool
being unsettled. It allows the transition. A tilt is when
camera to stay still and steady you move vertically (up
with the versatility of it moving as and down).
well.
CAMERA MOVE:
WIDENING
When there are arrow pointing outwards towards
a storyboard frame, it means the shot should zoom
out. Zooming out of a shot will be used to to full
view of something or of a character.

CAMERA MOVE: ROTATE

Depending on the direction
of the area, this symbol
decides which way the
camera should rotate.
FILM ASPECT RATIO
Aspect ratio describes the relationship
between the width and height of an
image. Depending on what device you
are watching or viewing content on, it
will decide what the aspect ratio should
be. Aspect ratio is important, and it
understands the awareness of the
characteristics of the aspect ratio of
your particular device and can help you
compose better images. It also helps you
recognize when cropping to a different
aspect ratio will improve the
composition of your image.
 ➢ The effective use of
ANALYSIS OF STORYBOARDS imagery in this
- FILM There are different shaded areas in this which is storyboard is that the
supposed to give effect to this storyboard scene. drawings are very
Each shaded area shows which parts need to be detailed and have
dramatic when filming. The white area around specific annotations
the shaded area could be show that when it which help bring the
comes to film production, that white area will be scenes out more and
some sort of bright light source. make the film seem
The use of words help emphasize and more dramatic. It helps
exaggerate how a particular scene should be with production and
and the impact it should have on it. The use of when it comes to
sound communication is helpful because it actually filming. The
helps decide what type of sound effect is going imagery helps with the
to made and used in the scene. structure and how
everything should be
The suggested camera movements are used to set up.
suggest the direction in which something should
move. Three of these storyboard frames are
using arrows to indicate which direction the
actors, props or shots should be going or
This camera direction indicates facing. This helps with the layout of how the
to the director that at this scene actual filming should go and makes everything
the people should exit the train. flow easier and is more organized.
The eyes are looking directly at the passenger. The eye
contact is important even though it is a very simple
feature. It shows the emotion of the character and
emphasizes it in the exact moment. In this scene the
creature looks curious or alert of what is taking place
outside of the spaceship.

This scene is filled with detail for the spaceship which is important
because it helps show the actual model of the spaceship is supposed to
look. If each detail wasn’t specified, it would be difficult to make
appropriate sizes for the spaceship. There is an outline written at the top
and bottom of each storyboard frame which says what is happening in
each scene.

There is no specific colour added to spaceship drawing

which could imply there is no restriction when deciding
which colour is going to be used for the spaceship. However,
there is shading around the spaceship which would mean
the spaceship should be a dark colour to match the dark
background.
SUMMARY OF FILM STORYBOARDS
In general, film storyboards consist of a lot of details that has to be covered very precisely. There
is a lot of narrative to cover with a film which involves getting down to the very last specifiaction
on the storyboard and this needs to match the level of the plot/script. Film storyboards consist
of more thorough annonotations and specific reference to the drawings. For example, there are
specific annotations and precise drawings made on each frame. On the first fram, the
spiderman mask and looks there is robotic type tentacles grabbing at spidermans face. The
person on set who is in charge of costumes will have a clear and vivid perception of what they
need to make and what minor details need to be added. Taking a close look at the first film
storyboard I annotated, you will realise that each frame is thorough, in terms of the drawings
and the brief notes made on the frame. There are refrences to what type of sounds should be
established and used in each specifc scene/shot. The shaded parts show significance of what
resemble evil and dark and should good and light. The differnce in shaded parts can also suggest
how the lightning should be. Arrows in storyboards are used to signify different movements in
camara/shot and character angles and actions. Using arrows assist on which way to move or
face. The arrows used in the first frame is showing that the object should be coming towards
spiderman and showing a grabbing action. In the third frame, there are arrows on the wheel of
the train which shows which direcion the train should be moving. Overall, storyboarding for film
have is own benefit because of the vivid and specific detail in each frame is within the
storyboard. Gives a clear visual representation to anyone looking at the storyboard.
ANALYSIS OF STORYBOARDS
- ADVERTS Shot 7 should be a close up of
the fox's legs walking when A wide shot at a high
The arrows indicate filming. angle shows the
that the car is location of where the
supposed to spin characters are and
around and what is currently
the facial expression happening.
looks as if the action
is very quick and Shot 10A indicates that
sudden.
this the shot closes into
4 frames showing a tighter shot to get a
the fox at 4 different closer look and
shots and angles. perspective on the fox.
Each frame shows a
different aspect to
The arrows
the fox and shows
indicates that
facial expression and
the shot should
body language.
be narrowing.
Scene 1. The first frame shows that both
characters, father and son, are in the living
room sitting down watching television. In this
scene the TV will most likely not be in the
shot because it is not in the frame, but there
might be an indication that they are watching
TV, other than it looking like they are sitting
down and doing nothing. There might be
some audio in the background from the TV.
There is colour in the storyboard, so it is
much easier to know which colours used to
be in production. Underneath the frame, it
shows how long the scene will be and what
angle will be used.

Scene 2. Both characters are standing up and

they are speaking about a PlayStation
advert and about how they both want to get
one. In the text it says that the father is
interested in the new product and when
filming the directors will probably indicate
how their facial expression should look to
match the thought.
Scene 3. In this scene the
son is in the car and he is Scene 4. This scene is
on his way to the store to filmed inside of a store
buy a new game product where we can see the
and he is thinking about the characters, the son and
game is about purchase. He father purchasing
is in the back of a car something. It is a mid-
(either his dad is driving, or long shot and is 15-20
he is in a taxi) and the shot seconds long.
is 20 seconds long and it is
a close up.
Scene 6. we can see that the
Scene 5. In this scene he
boy is now at home sitting
has returned to the car and
on the sofa in his living room.
with a package. The
Underneath the frame it says
package is a brown sealed
the boy is enjoying his product.
box. The dialouge says that
When it comes to filming it is
the boy can't wait to get
most likely that we will see the
home, so the boy is clearly
boy playing or using whatever
excited to get home. The
he has just bought. The camera
shot is 10 seconds long and
might even pan and face the TV
is a close up.
if the boy is using the TV.
SUMMARY OF ADVERT STORYBOARDS
The effective use of imagery help make such a difference in these advert storyboards. Storyboarding
with adverts is very useful because the graphics of advert storyboards are always filled with a lot of
detail and has clear references to how the overall advert should come out. These storyboards are very
vivid and bright, so it helps makes production much easier. If these storyboards were dull and lifeless, it
wouldn’t sell the pitch the way it should, and the leader of the project probably wouldn’t go ahead with
it. In comparison to a movie there are benefits with having a storyboard in just black and white. Black
can be used to represent parts of a scene that should represent evil or be dark in general. The white can
be used to represent something that should possess life. Using black and white in an advert would
reflect the same meanings – but this could also depend in the genre of the advert-. Camera movements,
framing and angles are all pointed out for the storyboard as are the duration of the shots. Once again this
makes production much simple. The effective use of this is that it gives a basic and structured guide of
what the director is supposed to do. The storyboards of adverts that I have just analyzed are different
compared to how other storyboard artists would usually do it. These storyboards are more computer
generated other than it being detailed drawings or sketches. One way in which doing storyboards in a
computerized way is that colour can easily be applied. Instead of doing it in different contrasts of black
and white, and shading, colour is already added and makes it much easier when it comes to production
and it helps consume time . This just helps show how you make storyboards in your own preferred way,
using either format will still help you with pre-production. Overall, I think the use of a computerized
storyboard is completely fine and has its own benefits and you still get the same end result.
 There are no specific colours attached to the
ANALYSIS OF STORYBOARDS storyboard but given the description of
what each shot signifies, it is easy to suggest
- MUSIC VIDEOS Inthethis shot we can see a POV of
girl as she is looking up and
what colours will be used. The first and
second shot are possibly filmed in a natural
noticing that she has people environment due to leaves and the first shot
glancing over her. saying that the girl is 'lying on the ground'.
In the first shot, the action that is
happening in this shot is the girl is
lying down on the floor. The
location is outside because the girl
is 'amongst the leaves'. Leaves are
only seen outside therefore
indicating she is outside, possibly
because she is drunk. The shot is
an extreme close up shot for the
beginning of the music video. The
girl's eyes are closed which could
suggest she's either unconscious or
sleeping and her facial expression The use of words to illustrate what type of sounds should
looks happy as it looks like she is be in heard and used in that exact scene adds emphasis to
smiling. It allows an emphasis of an the scene and makes it seem more dramatic. In this scene –
emotion on the character at this shot 8 – we should be hearing police sirens and be able to
time. see police lights, which would be blue and red which will be
flashing in this shot.
SUMMARY FOR MUSIC VIDEO
Storyboards for music video differ to how other storyboards usually look and are
presented. Other storyboards such as film or adverts, the graphic images are
quite detailed and specific with what it is trying to show. In terms of the graphics
with music video, it doesn’t look very detailed and sophisticated, but it is
still enough to visually establish what is going on. There are more descriptive
notes used in comparison in film or adverts where only short brief notes are
used. The notes explain what is happening in each frame and is supporting the
image because the image itself doesn’t hold up and give off a lot of detail and the
plot and narrative. In the notes for each frame, it says what shot type will be
used, camera angles and explains what it is going to happen. This helps to
communicate essential technical details for crew members. The sketches make
the music video seem like it will be animation. Unless you want your music video
to tell a story, there is no need to worry about dialogue because the music will be
playing during the video. There is no indication that there will be any use of
dialogue or any type of conversation.
ANALYSIS OF STORYBOARDS The storyboarded documentary is
- DOCUMENTARY used to show a difference between
what is considered a 'normal' life
Most documentaries compared to 3rd world countries and
normally begin when we the lives of those involved in the
are introduced to the main situation. The purpose of the
person documenting the storyboard is making people feel
programme, as they arrive empathy towards those who are less
in some type of vehicle. In fortunate than us and make them feel
this shot we can see that that a change needs to happen so that
the documentary begins people don’t have to live through
with a bus as the first shot. those unfortunate circumstances.
Storyboard artist show close up
images of young children and early
people who are sruggling in a sense.
The following shots familiarizes the audience with the setting and
By trying to reach out to a specific
the surroundings of the location of the documentary. It helps to
target audince, it can help make a
gives the audience an insight of what it is like and they're expected
change because it will then enforce
to see while watching he programme. There will also be a brief
the audience to do something to help
introduction of the family in the beginning before getting a deeper
these people out.
insight later on in the show about their personal life.
ANALYSIS OF STORYBOARDS
- GAMING ➢ There is a black screen as the establishing shot in
the first frame of the video game storyboard. There
is also dialogue/narration in the background, but
we cannot see who is speaking.

➢ The second frame and opening shot of the video

game is off smoke filling up the camera. In the
description and notes underneath the frame, it
lets us know that everything will know be in
slow motion after cutting out of this frame.

➢ In the third frame,it is showing a shallow DOF.

This stands for a 'depth of focus' which means
that where objects appear acceptably sharp in
an image. In the video game, players will see a
DOF of a cigeratte and an extreme close up of
the mouth. This shot is the in same shot from
the last frame.
 Locations are show in the frame of
the storyboard which helps
visualize where the setting of the
shot is in the video game.

➢ The fourth frame shows

effects in the shot of the
smoke from the cigarette and
it shows the man holding the
game clearly. In the following
frames there is action
➢ In the last two frames you can see that happening where the man
the gun is being removed from the has fallen to the ground while
mans hand and is being thrown on the what seems to be the 'villain'
floor walks out the building.
SUMMARY OF VIDEO STORYBOARDS
The design document is important. When you create a storyboard, you
create a visual map of your game. This can help you shape the
vision and flow of your game. Gaming storyboards and music video
storyboards are generally similar because of the graphic images used
in the frames. There is enough detail to see what is happening but by
itself it can't support itself without the notes supporting it. However,
there are other gaming storyboards that have more detailed drawings
but in this case it isn't. Depending on the type of video game, it can
depend on the type of detailed drawing used. It is important to
establish what the game is about. In video games, there are a lot of
different angles that will be used when focusing on the characters.
Overall, we have learnt a lot of general amount of information about
storyboards and the history behind it. Storyboards started off as
simple drawings and used to decide whether someone should go ahead
with a plan to direct a film or tv show. In today's society, using
storyboards are a significant part of the pre-production planning
process. Technology has massively grown along with how storyboards
can be adapted in order to help with production. Storyboard creators
are able to be even more creative and spontanueous in their work
when they have developed technology on their side like CGI or motion
capture. Without the use of storyboards, production like film, music
videos or adverts, wouldn’t be able to reach its high level of production
because storyboards help see the potential of an idea.
CONCLUSION: THE IMPORTANCE OF STORYBOARDS

There are multiple genres of video production such as film, music video,
advert and much more, but storyboards are the key to seeing how
everything should be set out to help tell a story. The importance of a
storyboard comes from piecing together every shot, angle, action and
from this you are essentially creating your own masterpiece. It is really
efficient in terms of highlighting weak areas that you don’t want to bring
to production because you want your work to be seamless and flow.
Identifying any problematic areas before filming will save you money and
time which is important to think about in any production setting. Using
storyboards help to validate if a project is going in the right direction.
Storyboards are constantly being used in video production and no
medium will be able to outdo the expertise that storyboarding is able to
provide.