Story Boarding

First things first Once you have determined your audience, your product, and how you want to sell it (use of humor, drama, etc.), and you have completed a script for your commercial you may begin to story board. Storyboarding allows you to draft out what you want in the video.

Different ways to storyboard With a template. With photos. When you storyboard with photos you take pics of what shots you want to have. Through the computer Old School animation – taking paper and pen and drafting out ideas. This especially helps if you are not working alone. Allows for quick exchange of ideas.

Know your story first Before you put pencil/pen to paper make sure you have an idea of what sort of shots you want. You can figure this out through the script you have written. Does there need to be a CU on your product? Character? Is there dialogue – where is the person/product in relation to the camera?

When you storyboard Decide what parts of your script work best for video. Does the audio that you have written in your script work with the video? What part of the script works best in graphics (i.e. the Logo, where you will shine it or whether you decide you want to use computer graphics to show something you may not otherwise be able to show.)

Remember The story in the video needs to move forward, not back. You can tie the beginning of the video to the end in order to make your point – but it has to be clear. Example is the Subaru Dog Commercial.

When you storyboard place the text such as the Visual camera angles, the dialogue or any graphic text below the frame. When drawing your storyboard – it doesn’t have to be fancy. Simple illustrations to show what you want is all that is needed.

Knowing what to put in your next frame First you start off with an introduction (more for you client than the audience). Next you decide how the story/commercial will begin. What frame you think should kick it off first – what will grab your audience’s attention. Frames after that – Create a new drawing for every major change of action or scene or camera angle.

Assignment Due Tuesday after spring break Create your own commercial. (It can be a product or a PSA). Write a 30- 60 second script in the two column format. Create a story board for your commercial. Remember to place any camera shots or dialogue below the story board frame. We will present in class.