Question - how much should i storyboard? By this I mean, should I story board each individual camera shot, or just a storyboard for very key points of each scene? I realize that storyboards don't have to be very detailed, I just don't know how to determine what to storyboard.

whatever you feel is necessary to convey the message to your actors and crews.

Theres been times where explaining how the scene would look by words was impossible, so I would sketch it out really quick, or even set up GI Joes and snap a picture.

So a storyboard just needs to convey the general idea of how the scene will work? which means it will depend on the complexity of the scene.

In my storyboarding class we were told you can never have enough! that's great and all but as a bare minumum I would make sure you board out any major camera moves and transitions so you can see how the scenes snap together. But the best advice is probably to have pictoral representation of each setup.

thats true

It also depends a lot on what scale you want your project to be. Big project with lots of people: storyboard everything.

Small project, don't worry about it too much

thanks for the tips guys!

One more thing, my personal advice is to storyboard the hell out it! Many times on set you get this weird tunnel vision and it helps to have the boards to keep you on track or communicate what you're looking for. And remember they can be as simple as stick figures if you want. Plus storyboarding is like editing before you shoot, it's here you can see what will work structurally.

Could you give an example of how you would use a storyboard on set for me, I don't completely understand the handy-ness of it.

Think of Storyboarding as comic book without the words. It helps the production flow quicker if your crew knows what type of set up you want before hand. This way when you get to your location or next scene you arent explaining what you want for an hour. and the crew know where to put the camera and lights, etc.. Even the actors will have an idea of what you want from the storyboard. They can be very detailed, if you can draw, or, what I have done, draw stick figures. I like what Forsaken said about the GI Joe. Good idea.

If you dont have a big crew and it's just you with a camera and a few actors I wouldnt worry too much about it.. just scribble some stuff out real quick so when it comes time for the shot you can just reference it real quick.

here are a few sites I just found when googling, maybe they can help better.

How to Draw Storyboards

Acting with a Pencil

This next one has GREAT examples. Although don't worry, unless you can draw great they wont look like this...

thestoryboardartis

I'm sure a lot of you guys already know this, but I thought it was interesting. Spielberg didn't use any storyboards for Schindler's list. I remember hearing that in film school and not believing it. Then went home and confirmed it online. Although I do find it hard to believe that NOTHING was storyboarded.

Spielberg has never been such a caring director that he'd storyboard, though. Kaminski does literally everything regarding the visuals. Perhaps he storyboarded, perhaps not. Anyway, I would no more expect Spielberg to storyboard one of his films than I would expect the gaffer to.

What on earth does that mean?

Q, I totally forgot about that site!

Its like when you find $5 in your pocket after your pants come out of the dryer!

quote:

What on earth does that mean?

Simple. Spielberg may not have used storyboards, but that doesn't necessarily mean no one else used them on his production. Considering that Spielberg is one of those directors who doesn't directly engage in the visual aspect of the film, this is perhaps not surprising.

Do you have any proof of this? A link to an interview with Kaminski or Spielberg? I'd be interested to read it but it seems like you are just making this up.

I've seen Spielberg displaying his storyboards on the special features of some of his DVD's. They are bad drawings, but his none the less.

I think storyboards can be extremely handy, and if you have the time, I don't see why you couldn't storyboard as much as possible.