Character Design Brief:
Storyboard and Animatic
Script to storyboard...
The next stage of the project is exploring the storyboard process. I will be using my script pages (see previous blog) as the basis for my storyboards, translating the written word to the visual language of shot composition.
Ahead of creating a more polished set of storyboards (18 shots), I sketched out these sheets as a starting point. I also used my sketchbook for rougher, loose thumbnails to begin to narrow down the essential shots.
There a couple of revisions I need to make to these rough storyboards. I need to establish a more definite sense of the room. I could use a wide shot of the captain just to provide the viewer with an understanding of where everything is. Also, I may revise the set of 18 by removing a shot or two. Ultimately, I want to have a strong collection of varied shots, all necessary and telling a clear story.
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I sketched out an extra few shots as shown below, following the script. These may not make the cut for the purposes of this short project, but it seems a shame not to include the final face-off between Belch and Chancer.
Refined storyboards
For the final animatic, I need to prepare a series of more polished storyboard drawings. I'm using a black coloured pencil, and then adding colour digitally on Photoshop (my first time using Photoshop for drawing). I enjoy the blend of traditional media and digital, making use of the organic textures from pencil on paper and also benefiting from the clean and easy process of adjustable colour layers.
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Introducing a very simple warm and cool palette, I wanted to establish a sense of place and atmosphere; black and white alone would lack a certain depth. These storyboards need to be clear in their storytelling, and colour helps to add a bit more visual information for an instant read of the setting and characters.
Most of these shots will not require an elaborate camera movement.
For a pan across the pirates as they mock Chancer, I've pieced together several drawings (below), allowing room to move from left to right.
Similarly, I extended this picture of the poster downwards, to allow for a camera move to see the details as the captain reads from it.
Here is an additional title card for the animatic, using the textures of the scene.
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I'm thinking it works as a title for the context of the scene, if not for for overall story, and almost like a chapter title.
Inspiration for storyboards...
In anticipation of creating these storyboards, I searched for visual reference from various sources online. I found many modern examples of purely digital illustration but I was most inspired by the traditionally drawn examples. There's a grit and spontaneity that resonates with me and matches the approach I took in my character design process. I arrived at my character with rough sketches on paper, which has informed my aesthetic for the overall story.
As a lifelong fan of Aardman, I inevitably looked for their cinematic storyboards. These samples from 'Chicken Run' (2000) gave me a steer on how I wanted my work to look, with a charming, sketchy line and simple warm/cool colour scheme.
I particularly responded to this series of concept illustrations for the film by Michael Salter. Though they're not exactly shot-by-shot storyboards, they effectively and instantly communicate the point of the scene. That clarity of storytelling is what I need to consider most with storyboarding.
Animatic
Here's the finished animatic with sound, music and dialogue. I was able to source music and sound effects from royalty-free sites, and the dialogue I recorded myself.
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It has been a long time since I deliberately recorded my own voice, but here it was necessary to overcome those reservations. I distorted the speed and pitch for a few of the clips to distinguish the different characters. It was surprisingly fun to piece together, clipping out phrases from a session of various takes and improvisations.
I found that in translating the script to an animatic, some lines felt unnecessary in the edit, and I put in a few extra utterances that came through spontaneously in the recording session. The rhythm of the edit felt like it needed more brevity than the somewhat wordy scene as written in the script, which works on the page but less so in video. It's been a helpful insight into how I imagine a team would work on evolving a show during the stages of production/post-production, adjusting to what works onscreen.
Working on the animatic has made me wonder how I can apply what I have learned to the stories I make in my own time. My long-running comic strip series, Fridge & Fly, is usually shown as slides on Instagram or TikTok, but I often see comics instead presented as video clips. It's not my preference but is quickly becoming the standard of how many consume comic strips.
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Working on this module has been the most direct parallel to what I would hope to end up doing. I love writing original characters and stories, best realised in the form of comics (more Beano than graphic novel). The principles of character design, script writing and storyboard composition all feed into the experience I will need to create more sophisticated comics in the future.