What is Storyboarding?

The best way to imagine a storyboard is as a comic book. Except every square is the same size and the words are added below the frame of the square. There is an illustration in these squares for every frame of the film/video that is going to be shot.

Storyboards have been around since the silent film era, however contemporary methods were developed in the animation world (looking at you Disney). Who knew having dozens of illustrators in one place would help you develop a method for drawing out what you want in a film?

We thought about taking the time to research in order to write in-depth about its history, but HEY, we’re making a web series. Ain’t nobody got time for that. So here’s a brief video on it instead.

Why You Need Storyboards?

Storyboards are typically made by the director and the cinematographer (also known as the director of photography). Some directors (think Welles or Hitchcock) will make them on their own, while others prefer the cinematographer to take lead. You even get the odd Woody Allen type director who wants the cinematographer to do it all!

Naturally we ask our cinematographer, Esteban Valencia, why he thinks storyboards or needed.

“As someone working in a heavily visual field, it is very important to be able to speak that language. Pre-visualizing, whether it is through photos, films, storyboarding, etc., to me is a way for the director and director of photography to speak the same language.”

We couldn’t agree more!

In fact, being from our pov as producers/directors, we think storyboarding is important for everyone on the team. While they all don’t have to speak the same visual language, it can be helpful for all involved to see what the visual goal for the project is.

How Are We Storyboarding?

We first started as most people do, trying to draw them on paper. Esteban and our directors/producers, Jesus and Ryan, would all gather in a room in front of a white board, where we’d draw overhead blocking diagrams so Esteban could better draw out the frames on paper.

Esteban was quick to turn to a digital solution called Storyboarder. Here he could easily copy and modify existing drawings, streamlining the amount of new work that needed to be done.

Until Esteban made the suggestion that completely changed the way we work.

“As someone who cannot draw to save their life, Cine Tracer is the way to go to do that. Not to try to sell it, but it is a software program, run through Steam (almost like a video game) that helps you pre-visualize your shots. You can add characters, set walls, art decor, movements, and most importantly, cameras.

You’re able to select lenses, dollies, techno cranes, etc. I could go on and on, but the meaning of this is that you can now see your set before you get to it. You can have conversations about blocking, and figure out plot holes and opportunities in your shots that you would have never been able to have pre-filming.

This is critical.”

Using Pre-Visualization Software

Cine Tracer is a cinematography simulator designed by Matt Workman of Cinematography Database. It’s no wonder Esteban described it like a game, because Matt made Cine Tracer in Unreal Engine 4, like many of today’s latest games.

Cine Tracer allows us to have remote sessions with use of conferencing software. That means every session we get to spend up to an extra two hours working instead of spending it in Houston traffic.

There have been many benefits to the directors/producers, Jesus and Ryan, as well.

Ryan, the more technically-focused of the two, is finding many benefits to the technical aspects of directing when using pre-visualization software.

“We haven’t been using the tool to experiment with different lighting setups, as I think Esteban and I agree that the technology isn’t quite there for accurate experimentation. Without ray-traced global illumination, the software will never allow us to take into account the emergent properties light has when interacting with multiple sources on different material types.

And it’s more fun doing it on set!

So we’re making rather plain white-walled sets right now. But by taking the shots down to their core elements, it’s been much easier to get a feel of the visual continuity of the project from shot to shot. It’s much easier to catch things like crossing the action-axis when you have to move your cameraman over it in the virtual space.”

“One of the most unexpected benefits is that pre-vis is really streamlining the blocking process. You can draw whatever you want on paper, but it doesn’t mean you can capture it on camera. Sometimes the optics just physically won’t allow you to do it.

That usually means there’s a lot of re-blocking of what was done in rehearsals when on set so it works on camera. But we’re doing it all now. And we don’t have to communicate the performance to an actor, we just do it ourselves, saving time.

But I really hope it pays off when we start working with our actors. Since we’ll already know the constraints of the space and the camera, we’ll be able to fine tune the performance more and have more time doing it.”