Hey there, my name is Rembert Montald. I’m here to talk about a profession that does not often get
taught or talked about, namely storyboarding. If you have seen storyboards for films,
you might be under the impression that it's the same as sequential art, like a comic book
adapted from a script to give the rest of the departments a starting point to work from.
And while that's true to a certain extent, there's more to it.
One of the main differences between storyboarding and other sequential art
is that the end result is often confined to the same aspect ratio, so, the same canvas. So,
as a storyboard artist, it is important to guide your audience from shot to shot.
To better understand this concept, we're going to analyze a specific scene.
But before we dive in, I want to give you a brief history about the man that put this together,
his name is Milt Kahl. He worked for a studio in Burbank.
Perhaps you've heard of it. He was also part of a group called The Nine Old Men.
Nowadays, an animator gets one character for the entire duration of the film. Back in the day,
the animator got an entire sequence to himself. After analyzing a lot of sequences and films
from the 30s all the way to the 70s, I was always amazed by certain sequences. Even if it was in
shots like Saludos Amigos with Donald Duck or Bagheera in the Jungle Book all the way
to The Aristocrats and in Sleeping Beauty, The Prince, there was always something that
made those performances stand out to me, and it was Milt Kahl who was behind them every time.
Usually they would give Milt the more human characters because they're the hardest to draw
and he was one of the best draftsmen. But he was always creating for the more eccentric characters.
So, how do you study storyboarding? That is the question. Painters do studies from old
masters. We do studies of scenes in certain films or commercials,
what we like and we study them shot by shot and analyze why the decisions were made,
which angles were expressing the emotions and the story the best.
We are responsible for continuity from scene to scene and shot to shot. If you ever saw an object
change location in a shot, that is called "a break in continuity", but continuity can also be broken
by other things than physical objects. Like an eye line or a direction or the position of characters.
When things move in one direction, they should stay moving in that direction,
unless we physically see them turn. And when characters are speaking to each other,
they should remain in the same position to not confuse the audience. I drew some boards out from
the 1967 film The Jungle Book. This sequence is between the tiger, Shere Khan and the snake, Kaa.
This tiger is a straight up evil character who wants to kill this kid. He interrogates the snake
to know about the whereabouts of the kid. It's such a great character study as well, to have
two characters with opposite personalities having the same goal, which is having this kid for lunch.
Usually, in a shot, the character that is higher up in the composition is dominating.
This is a great exception to that rule because the snake at the start of the shots
is higher than the tiger, and towards the end he is lower, so, it switched.
Also the way this shot is animated, this sequence, is really interesting. Is deceptively simple.
Not a lot of things are moving, but by doing so, making it simple, the things that do move
become more important and that is where our eye is drawn to, what moves through the bush.
It's a primal instinct. We always go for the things that move. It grabs our attention.
♪Trust in me and just in me. Shut your eyes
and trust in me♪ [Bell rings] Kaa: Ooh! Oh, now what? I'll be right down. Yes, yes, who is it?
Shere Khan : It's me. Shere Khan. I'd like a word with you, if you don't mind.
Kaa : Shere Khan, what a surprise.
Shere Khan : Yes, isn't it.
At first we see the tiger moving from left to right,
this brings us to the first and most important thing in storyboarding that I see
gets broken a lot in portfolios is things that move in one direction should stay moving in one
direction. In action sequences, this can be broken because breaking continuity is also a message
of chaos and in an action sequence, that can be useful but try to avoid it most of the time.
So, we see the tiger turn, we have clearly informed the audience
the tiger is now changing direction. In the next shot,
we see the snake hanging, the tiger comes in on the right. As soon as he pulls on the tail of the
snake to ring, we see that the two characters create an action line going through the image.
Not only does this give us a center focal point, but also divides the image into equal
negative shapes. The negative shapes are as important as the positive ones.
Sometimes it's also interesting to see what the artist left out instead of what he put in.
So in the center we have our focal point and pay close attention to when we flip to the next shot
where the exact same point is now. I know here it is in the middle of the canvas but this is no
accident, that is deliberately put there so that the focal point
stays in the same position to not tire the audience.
You will see in later shots that even when they are off center, the focal points will
remain around the same area. He is startled by the tiger and decides to go down to take a peek.
He goes down and he keeps going down in the next shot.
Usually, I track with the camera a little bit as well.
They used to be afraid to do this back in the day because camera movements were really expensive.
Nowadays, with computers, it's much easier to do and they sometimes, in my opinion, overuse it,
like being overly dynamic. So, the snake stays consistent in his movement. He looks left,
he looks right but the tiger catches him off guard. He is on the other side.
There is something interesting that happens in the animation here to guide your eye;
he comes in from behind the tree. Which is again
in the same focal area as a snake as you see as we flip between shots.
When the tiger is about to sit down, you can see I drew this action line through the body.
The gesture line is important to also guide your eye in the picture frame and
when the gesture line in the pose moves, it guides your eye where to look next.
In this case, the tail is pointing towards the area where the snake will enter the frame. So,
the snake enters on the right, so it goes with the continuity. It's something very basic, but again,
something that I don't see in a lot of portfolios. The focal point is now between the two characters
and when we move to the next shot, you see that it nicely lands on the tiger in its medium shot.
In another video, I will show you all the different shots that you can use and the
names for it, because they serve their purposes and it's important to have a variety of them.
Shere Khan : I just dropped by. Now forgive me if I've interrupted anything.
Kaa : Oh no, no, nothing at all.
Shere Khan : I thought perhaps that you were entertaining someone up there in your coils.
Kaa : Coils? Someone? Oh no, I was just curling up for my siesta.
Shere Khan : But you were singing to someone. Who is it, Kaa?
Kaa : Ah, um, oh no, I was just singing, uh, to myself.
So, now there is this dialogue scene between the snake and the tiger
and we cut between them. I love that it's not just cutting between over the shoulder shots
and reversing that constantly, which is something they use a lot in soaps and normal television.
Here they keep it simple and very elegant solution by cropping in on them.
So here is a good example to prove my point; the snake leans in a bit forward as he is talking to
the tiger. When he leans forward, notice that the focal point moves as well and it exactly
landed on the tiger's face. As he opens up his claws, notice that they both are looking at them.
Another very simple and powerful way to grab the attention from the audience is simply having the
characters to look at something. So, try this experiment; if you're walking in the street or
in a public area, just look up at the sky. Even though there is nothing, if you keep
staring at it, you will notice that people around you will start looking at it as well.
This primal curiosity is a very powerful tool for us to use in film to guide the eye. Back to the
sequence, the claw became the focal point now. As he starts talking, it switches back to the tiger.
But notice for a second how simple this sequence is and it's hard to keep this simple.
All the characters have their gesture line in the image point and guide your
eye towards the center. Again, as we cut from that wide back to a medium close up,
the focal point from the tiger lands on the snake. As we switch back to the tiger,
he is scratching his nose. The paw goes from left to right as we cut in the action.
Movement is always an excellent motivation for a cut. It makes the transition that much smoother.
Movement moves a focal point and your eye. In this case, back to the snake.
Shere Khan : Indeed.
Kaa : Yes... Yes, you see I have... Trouble with my sinuses.
Shere Khan : What a pity!
Kaa : Oh, you have no idea. It's simply terrible. I can't eat, I can't sleep,
so I ssssssing myself to sleep.
Watch again how in every wide shot, all the gesture lines force you to look towards the
focal point. I keep pointing this out because I’m just amazed how well this is executed here.
As we cut back, we see that the head of the snake is right in that green area again.
Going back to the tiger and then the wide shot again, you can see it lands nicely in the space
between them. Again, gesture lines, important. The tiger moves in with his head, and notice the space
of the head again as it overlaps the position of the snake head perfectly again in the next shot.
Look how simple the line is again here. If you take away all the characters and naturalism,
the gesture line alone should be as powerful as a minimalist abstract artist.
Strip away all that realism.
Kaa : You know, self-hypnosis. Let me show you how it works.
Kaa : [singing] Trust in me...
Shere Khan : I can't be bothered with that, I have no time for that nonsense.
Kaa : Ssssssssome other time, perhaps?
Shere Khan : Perhaps.
The snake goes up to hypnotize a tiger, so we cut to the wide shot again, and he keeps
moving in the same direction which makes for a smooth cut. Notice all the lines again and
the tension it builds. The tiger slams the snake down and all the gesture lines have changed again.
The tension gets released in this fun curling animation. I really love this one. This
tutorial does not only talk about how important it is to have the focal point
move from shot to shot, but also how the gesture lines and your body language,
and not just gesture lines, characters and also be environments can help you guide your eye.
Towards the end of the shot, the tiger speaks, making him the focal point.
But before we cut, the snake starts speaking,
switching the attention again between them. As we cut to the next shot, you can see that he is
literally cornered. It always tells you something about the situation that he's in.
Again, nothing in animation is a coincidence.
Why do you think most superheroes stand with their legs open in the most poses they do.
Creating that triangle shape is a very powerful symbol for balance and strength. It's a lot of
support on the bass. Same with Rubens, he used X because X symbolized life and birth to him.
So, every shape in his painting is constructed out of X. Nothing in animation is a coincidence.
Every little aspect of your painting or artwork or film should reinforce the story.
For example, a background painting of someone's room
should already tell you a lot about that character's personality.
If there's a guitar in the room with dust on it, that tells you already that
the character is creative, he's a musician, but he's kind of lazy. These little details
are very important. You may not notice them at first, but you can feel them.
Use every tool you have to reinforce the story. Use it in your advantage.
If you're going to screw up, screw up in the right way. Better make it too dark than not dark at all.
Better make a film too scary, than not scary at all. Aim for the more dynamic.
Shere Khan : But at the moment I'm searching for a man-cub.
Kaa : Man-cub? What man-cub?
Shere Khan : The one who's lost. Now where do you suppose he could be?
Kaa : Search me?
Shere Khan : That's an excellent idea.
I'm sure you wouldn't mind showing me your coils, would you, Kaa?
Kaa : Ccccccertainly not.
So, as we cut again in the movement
from the close to the wide, the bob pulls out of the shot and continues to pull out
in the wide. The focal point is the tiger again since he is the one that is speaking.
Look at the nice cornered feeling represented in the overall gesture.
Again, a nice touch in this animation, as he steps away from the snake leaving him on the ground,
a stark contrast with how it started. He is on the ground and the tiger is now superior.
As the tiger moves away the bob points towards the snake,
which nicely introduces you again to him as a gesture of the pod [sp] points you back towards
the snake. As we cut towards the next shot, the focal point switches nicely again in between.
Another way to make a switch and dialogue work or to let two characters occupy the
space on the canvas between shots is letting every character have its space on the canvas.
Here in this example, the negative shape of the snake
is the positive shape of the tiger. Look how we say it in the word "negative shape"
which is quite literal here. The tiger is a negative space for the snake and vice versa.
Notice in between the cutting of the next couple of shots, their spaces respect this rule. Cutting
between shapes and these positive and negative shapes is an excellent way of transitioning.
The most common way of transitioning between shapes is from an eye to a sun
or a moon or objects that have the same shape, they transition nicely into each other.
A more or less known way to transition between shots
is not just cutting because of the motivation of one shape but the entire canvas. Closely
observe when your eye switches between these shots, the similarities are very apparent.
It can be really fun to experiment with this and it can help you solve difficult transitions
or come up with more creative ones. Another excellent way to transition or cut from a shot as
a motivator is sound. I’ll be taking this sequence from Once Upon a Time in The West as an example.
So, here in these boards that I drew up, the bandit who is waiting for the lead character
traps a fly in the barrel of his gun and he holds it against his ear and the buzzing
sound it creates will be a motivator to cut towards the train coming into the station.
The compositions look nothing alike, but we have this nice transition in sound.
So, as you can see and here, sound is a very powerful motivator to cut or transition
between shots. You can cut between shots that have nothing to do with each other. Like this one ---
that worked, didn't it.
There are many more ways to guide your eye in film from shot to shot and I would love to share
them with you, but we'll keep those for future videos. Hope to see you next time. Bye, bye.
If you want to see more of Rembert's work,
check him out at rmontald on Instagram or sharkyspoon on Art Station.