8.0 Scriptwriting, Storyboard and Animatics for Film and Animation Production

Subject : Introduction to Film and Animation

8.0 Scriptwriting, Storyboarding and Animatics for Film and Animation Production

The script is the blueprint for the story and contains dialog, character movements, and scene descriptions. Like the old adage says, “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.” Every good movie is produced around a well-written script, and it doesn’t matter how big the budget is, how good the actors are, how incredible the explosions are, or how dynamic the visual effects are unless the story is moving, engaging, and believable. Films with high production values have been known to fl op because the script was poorly written, and rarely has a bad script been made into a good movie. Writing a script is a craft that takes time to learn and requires a tremendous amount of discipline and understanding of story structure, psychology, human dynamics, and pacing. Not only is writing a script is THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT of making a movie; it’s also the cheapest. Whereas Hollywood studios spend hundreds of millions of dollars on digital effects, great actors, explosions, and car chases, the materials involved in writing a script could be nothing more than a pencil and paper—materials that cost only a few dollars. In embarking on the journey to get the perfect script, there are three paths you can take. You can write the script yourself, you can option a script that has already been written, or you can hire a writer to write the script for you. This chapter will look at these three options and at which may be the best choice for your production. Script



8.1 Storyboard
8.1.1 What are storyboards?
Storyboards are series of pictures telling the story of your film and all action in it. The drawings for storyboard are smaller and simpler version of the artwork which will appear in your film. By referring to the storyboard everyone working on the film will know what is supposed to happen and the order it happens in. Storyboard


8.1.2 Storyboard Details
The art of good storyboards is knowing the right level of detail to include. If you include too little, then your animators will be confused and you may not end up with the film you wanted. Alternatively, if you produce storyboards which are as detailed and complete as is humanly possible, you will end by devoting a great deal of time to artwork which will not appear in your final film. The smaller details of the character design will be covered by model sheets and the finer points of background images are better left until the layout stage. The ideal storyboard lies somewhere in between: not too rough as to be unclear to anyone doing animation, layout or backgrounds, but not containing any unnecessary detail either.
The amount of detail you include in your storyboard will also be affected by those to whom you are intending to show it. If you are animating and laying out the film yourself, you can afford to be fairly rough when drawing your storyboard; as long as you can understand them that are all that matters. However, sometimes you may find yourself wanting to show storyboards to people in an attempt to get funding for your film. If this is the case, then it is better to make your storyboards look as impressive as possible, even if it means spending time drawing in detail which is not strictly necessary.

8.1.3 Storyboard Size
There is not set size for storyboard drawing, although they tend to be small to avoid unnecessary detail. Some animators even do tiny thumbnail sketches for storyboards; this force them to concentrate on the bare essential of the characters’ poses, without being distracted by worry about how the drawing actually looks. Thumbnail drawings are also much quicker to draw.

8.1.4 Storyboard Timing
When you begin to draw a storyboard it may be hard to know how many drawings to do. As with detail, you need to strike a balance: if you do too few drawings there will be large intervals of time between panels. This means that the animators working on your film will have to use their own imagination and creativity to fill these gaps. Although this can be helpful since it brings fresh ideas to your film, the obvious disadvantage is that it will mean your losing a degree of control over what your finished film will look like. The alternative is to storyboard every single movement in your film, which could mean drawing two or three panels for every second. This would give you almost total control over what your animators do, but it would also mean devoting almost as much time to storyboarding the film as animating it. This is not a good idea because, although storyboards are important, they will only ever be seen by your animators; your animation will be seen by everyone watching your film.
It would make life easier if there were a firm rule of thumb which could be used when drawing storyboards; for example, drawing one panel for every five seconds of action. Unfortunately, this is not possible since the number of panels you need will depend on the action you are storyboarding. If you are drawing a storyboard for a fast-paced scene with lots of action, you might find yourself drawing a panel for every eight or ten frames. On the other hand, a storyboard for a scene featuring a close-up of two characters talking might need only one panel for ten seconds of action.

8.2 Animatics
Depending on the budget of the production, an animatic may be created once the storyboard is complete. This can be achieved in one of two ways. The storyboard can be scanned and edited in the same fashion as the 2D animatic, or alternatively, very rudimentary models may be made up and blocked out in the 3D space according to the storyboard. These models can be created specifically for the animatic, or if the modeling phase is advanced enough, wire frames of the actual character models can be used. The dialogue will be added as the reel is assembled and the basic camera movements will be incorporate. An assistant editor will assemble the finished scenes and the director and animation director will then sit down together and refine the story, timing and blocking. At this stage it is important to also involve the technical director, lead animator and modeler in order to provide operational feedback. The finished animatic reel will then need to be approved by the producer and client.
Animatics