Storyboard it all?

this is where it gets complicated though. This is a very low budget indie film. The DP and Director are the same person. I was originally calling myself the director, because at the time I fully thought I'd be doing all of it. Since, the entire project started from my ideas and thoughts. I was put in contact with our DP/director while searching for locations. We decided that since he actually had directorial experience, he would do most of the actual directing. I've done literally everything else however. I spoke with the him about what sort of detail needed to go into the storyboards, and he told me that he didn't see a reason to storyboard the entire feature as some of the shots are "basic" knowledge stuff and to only storyboard the shots that need to be "seen" on paper in order to figure out how they look.
 
Is this your vision ?

Master

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Profile

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Actors

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If it is, great.

Have you considered anything else ? Moving the camera during these shots or are they all locked down ?

What about doing a lighting diagram as well ?
 
J.R. Hudson said:
Is this your vision ?

Master

Insert

Profile

Insert

Actors

Insert

If it is, great.

Have you considered anything else ? Moving the camera during these shots or are they all locked down ?

What about doing a lighting diagram as well ?
Click to expand...

I have certainly thought about how the camera would move in these shots. I didn't note any of it, because I didn't know if it was something I should be doing without my DP/directors input.
 
As a director, I personally don't board since I also run the camera. I do however sometimes use animatics for stunt sequences. I take photos of the location and drop in a figure that represents the actors. I'm also the type that likes to find my shots on set. Since I use a master style lighting setup, we can light the scene, and I get to move around withing the scene. It works well, for me. Find a style and workflow that works for you, and use it. Take people's input on how they do things, use what you like, throw out what you don't. Good luck!
 
haha

haha

This is like the film vs. digital debate, you will never have the two sides really agree, and there is quite a lot of passion on both sides why you do it this way or that.

I personally think the idea of storyboarding everything no matter what it is... is just hilarious. I started in music video direction, I never had storyboards for anything, and my work turned out great, award-winning music videos that have shown nationwide. You do not need to storyboard to get the results you want. A shot list is just fine. If I was doing complicated green screen work or whatever, yes, I'd storyboard. But you want to storyboard an entire romantic comedy? Jesus what an incredible waste of time! How hard is it to visualize a guy walking into an office and sitting at his desk. Honestly. And frankly if the production designer sets up the desk a bit different than I had visualized, who cares?! It's not going to change the scene, which is either funny and well acted or not, regardless of whether the desk is this way or that way. If it's that bad you move it.

I don't at all like the rigidity of storyboards, it just doesn't make sense to me unless it's something that positively must be perfectly planned like Star Wars or like an action movie with really sophisticated shots. That totally makes sense.

But when it comes down to a romantic comedy, I'd rather make a detailed shot list, know what I want, and wing it from there. It's just not worth the money in the budget to hire a storyboard artist when it's not even going to be what I use. I'm going to show up on set and be like, "Who cares about the storyboards, just put the camera here and let's setup and roll, this looks fantastic!"
 
As others have said, the bigger the number of people working on the film, the more confusion there will be trying to set up each shot. Story boards are a good way to show everyone "almost" exactly what you're looking for.

It might be a good idea to bring all your chef's to the kitchen prior to the start of filming and go through the shots. If there is a lot of confusion you can focus on those shots to story board.
 

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Zblock, is that a frame grab from a movie you've done? I like the look. Can you give us more details on it?
 
Yeah, a short film I did 6 months ago called Bucovina Card game. It got a distribution deal with OUAT Media. You can google it to watch the trailer.
 
One side of my father's family is from the Bukovina, which is what snagged my attention to the name.

I enjoyed the film. I particularly like the guy with the dreadlocks: great look, great expressions, hands-down the most interesting player at the table, to watch.

FWIW I would have liked to see more use of multi-screen - which I think you used very effectively - and less of the players playing and drinking (but not much less). There were one or two shots (high angle down on the table) with a distracting amount of shake. Thought the choice of music was effective, too.

Good stuff. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
 
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