Simulated Storyboards - PPP3 Engage Practical

Whilst visiting Arcus Animation Studios, I was given the task to create my own storyboarded version of a brief that they had already done previously.  I really enjoyed this task, although it was really difficult to come up with different ideas to the one that was already on the sheet, purely because it was tempting to use the ideas that were already there. However narrative wise I felt that I did quite well, making it different to the original narrative. The story for the commercial follows Hayley, who wants a place at university but hasn't got accepted yet, using a superhero theme, the narrative promotes a guide to applying for a place at Middlesex University.

Notes on boards:

+ Board 1 - I started the narrative with a long shot of the main protagonist, Hayley, setting the scene for the story. I then cut to a medium shot of Hayley as she levitates books around her and reads them. I used the same shot for three frames as to show a continuous action as the narration is spoken over the action. To represent the dialogue “She’s clever, she’s switched on and she’s talented” I used the books and the titles of the books as well as them moving around her to show the knowledge and skills that Hayley already obtains.  Next, an over the shoulder shot to show the page that she is reading with the camera panning into the page to smoothly transition to the next shot – A close up of a Superhero.

+ Board 2 - I wanted the following frame to show Hayley in the Superhero’s shoes, as she wants to become a superhero. The next shot is a long shot with Hayley in a dynamic stance as she looks at the city below her, a cry for help can be heard. This transitions to the next cut, an over the shoulder shot of Hayley peering down to see the commotion. The following long shot depicts Hayley flying down to reach the person in dismay. Hayley flies into the foreground. Cut to her walking an old lady across the street. (I wasn’t too sure about this addition, but I didn’t want Hayley doing too much of an Heroic act as I wanted the ending to have that dynamic stance rather than at this point in the story.)

+ Board 3 - The following two full close up shots are a reaction shot to the narration “But for some reason, she hasn’t secured a university spot.”  Before panning out as Hayley dramatically cries ‘nooooo’. I wanted this to be fun and very superhero ‘cheesy’. If I were to change this sequence I would change the close up shot of Hayley to a low long shot power angle to make it more dramatic as the shot used at the moment isn’t that interesting. The story then cuts to Hayley in a different ‘job’ I took this as a super villain, she laughs as the person in the background is tickled. I think this would benefit from the person being in a tank of sharks or crocodiles to go with the super villain theme. Then cuts to an extreme close up of a hand holding submission forms.  I quite liked the change from a long shot to an extreme close up as it worked well aesthetically and sequentially.

+ Board 4 - The first frame shows a ¾ run of Hayley as she races through the street. I wasn’t too keen on this angle, I would prefer to cut this out or change to a profile run so that the visual narrative would flow better to the following panel. This shot shows Hayley arriving at the door, long shot as she skids to a halt. Next shot shows the submission office closing, she arrived too late, missing the submission – works with the overhead narration. To transition to the next scene I made the camera pan into Hayley’s eye which worked quite well with the following close up of Hayley’s eye in a glass beaker. The next frame is a full medium shot of Hayley mixing different solutions together. I wanted to show her powers in this scene, through floating beakers.

+ Board 5 - Following suit from the previous frame, the camera pans into the main glass beaker as black smoke oozes and looms from the contents – the next frame shows the same previous full medium shot of Hayley as the room fills up with this black smoke, entire screen goes to black. Next frame shows the black smoke disappearing and cutting to a long shot – I think this part could do with being edited from a cut to a slow panning out, so that audience see Hayley is fine but when the camera pans out more, they see the entire room has been attacked, debris falls in the background. Cut to a new scene – narration “maybe she got better grades than she thought” – high angle of Hayley holding up her grades. I felt that the following was lacking with the shot, it didn’t mix that well with the previous high angle, it would have been nice for the paper to fall to help the change to the next shot and change the angle to a straight on view rather than ¾ to work with the perspective.

+ Board 6 - These shots are continuous with Hayley sliding off screen as the next main element takes over. I decided to depict the next part of the narration as it was explaining how to apply which I felt required a motion graphic like check list to help the information reach the audience in a clear and easy to understand visuals. I chose a chalk board to depict the checklist and as the following shot shows an eraser clearing the board as the chalk piece draws a computer screen, with the camera panning into the drawing for an easy transition to the next frame.

+ Board 7 - In these frames they depict the actions said through the narrative, with finding the contact information –the next frame showing the eraser swipe across the screen which leads to the next frame. This frame shows Hayley talking on her mobile, as the narration continues, describing that she called to check her place at university, with the following shot being an extreme over the shoulder shot of her phone, reading accepted. I felt that this sequence was okay, it wasn’t as interesting as it could have been, but I did like the addition of the extreme over the shoulder shot as it made it more visually interesting. The following two frames show Hayley’s reaction, a full close up to a long shot as she jumps into the air.

+ Board 8 - The next shot shows Hayley continuing to fly from the previous scene, and has changed into her superhero outfit. I particularly like the following shot as it works really well with the angle – I would change the following two shots however, with her landing in front of the university straight after so that the following narration “great teaching staff – combined with great facilities” could be shown with examples of classes, with different super hero powers and tests happening in the background as Hayley looks around the campus.

+ Board 9 - The last few frames show Hayley in class with her new made friends, these two shots switch from behind shot of Hayley to a front view with the teacher in the foreground. This helps to give depth to the environment as well as give the audience an idea on space in the frame. With wanting to be different to the script I made the ending less dynamic and linked it with the beginning sequence of her stood next to her Hero. I would have liked to add a few more frames here showing them saving the earth from a super villain which I believe would have been a better ending to the narrative.

James gave me amazing advice on how to improve my storyboards:

+ Ensure that you include backgrounds in your panels, there needs to be a sense of depth, an environment for the story to take place. This will help the animators with the layout of the frame.

+ The ending of the narrative felt too flat, there wasn't good impact at the end. - Being honest I did rush the ending of the storyboards, I thought that I had to complete the storyboards that day, so I rushed the last two pages in a panic to get them finished. I completely agree with James, giving it more thought I would have ended the narrative by Hayley saving the day.

+ Really liked the take on the explosion in the lab, it was different and was thinking outside of the box.

After negotiating with Mike, this is my response to the Engage brief, a simulated storyboard rather than a competition brief. This simulated task was amazing experience towards my practice and far more beneficial than a competition brief; I really enjoyed the challenge of creating different ideas. 

I want to come back to my practical with knowledge that I have learnt from COP3 to see what theory and different camera direction I would apply to these boards.