Story Boarding

 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

2013 - Action/Sci-fi - 2h 26m

Here is my video clip!

Welcome back to the vlog channel!!! Today I created by very first storyboard for one of my favorite movies: Catching Fire! Storyboarding is a critical process in film making. They plan out visuals, guide the scene's flow, and ensure that each frame serves a purpose to the overall clip. 

What I learned:

The first thing I realized about storyboarding while re-watching the example videos provided, was that they are basically the blueprint for the visuals and film. They're sketches or frames of a scene that give an outline of how a story plays out on screen. Storyboarding helps us imagine a scene before filming, giving directors a better idea of what the final product should look like. They don't ONLY provide an image in your head, but also help with pacing, flow, and timing! Each frame connects one shot to the next, allowing the viewer see the story through a carefully structured portrayal. It was also a relief knowing that storyboarding doesn't have to be THAT detailed. A simple sketch works perfectly fine. As long as it conveys the main idea of the scene, its doing its job. :) 

Importance:

Storyboarding is vital during the film making process because they help translate ideas from your head into something attainable. Planning every scene allows the set directors and writers to spot mistakes before they become serious issues. For example, they can tell if the pacing is too slow or if there's unnecessary/boring scenes. These are a lot easier fix while looking at a storyboard rather than already filming. Storyboarding can also be an important communication tool as it keeps everyone in production on the same page. It helps the director, sound mixer, and editors visualize the story in the same way since they are all looking at the same guide. 

Challenges: 

The main challenge I encountered while storyboarding was the drawing part. I have very little artistic ability, so trying to make the scenes understandable and similar to the clip, was quite difficult. I knew that they didn't need to be too detailed or pretty, so I didn't worry to much and it shows... my drawings were very ugly. It's easy to add too many random details in the sketch that makes it look cluttered instead of clear and simple. I also found it difficult to represent movements in the frames. For example, when Katniss and Peeta were moving in the carriage, I just added arrows showing where they were going. I also realized how difficult it must come for people who do storyboards for real movies. I was struggling doing 32 frames for a 2 minute clip, so I can't imagine people that do it for two hour long films.. I also regret picking a clip with SO MANY cuts because it was very tiring drawing all the frames. 

Here is my storyboard⬇