First drafts and Storyboard
We finally have a story!
Now the task at hand was to visualize the words we wrote down. We started making sketches of the space and character in order to begin with the storyboard.
Behind each shot, there was a particular concept or idea, accordingly we chose the right framing and camera positions that did justice to the information and emotion to be transmitted in each shot. To us, the composition was as important as the movement happening in the shots.
For example - This is the 3rd shot in the film, and here it was important to establish the 3 main elements of the story, the space, the character and the action the character performs. Accordingly we chose a wide shot which gave the idea of how the space was and how it was surrounded by nothingness
The Storyboard changed constantly as we found narrative elements which didn’t work the way we expected them to. Putting our thoughts into drawings helped us a lot to understand better how we could express the core of the story.
Considering we were doing a 2 minute short film, the narration had to be simple, yet attractive. Also, as the duration of the film was s short, it was very important to be critical of the shots and judge whether we really needed them.
For example - This shot here was chosen as it was a striking visual and we wanted to show a contrasting calm through gentle bouncing after the character slips and falls.
At this point it was also important to keep in mind the layer of sound. As sound was conceptually important to our film, we adjusted the illustrations in order to include the presence of each tone. The resonance of the vibrating strings had to be clear and understandable. Therefore, we parallely started doing research about sound and thinking of a conceptual sound design, as that would determine the kind of shots we planned in the storyboard. This helped the evolution of the storyboard and strengthened the storyboard simultaneously.
As soon as we had the Storyboard, we could start doing the Animatic. Putting all the drawings together in a video made us realize which parts work and which not. Seeing the timing and order of the scenes in this format helped us to rearrange improving the storyboard.