storyboarding in media studies on mediaedu filetelling your video story visually, rather like a...

01/07/2008 18:32Storyboarding in Media Studies on Mediaedu

of 10http://www.mediaedu.co.uk/tutorials/storyboarding/index.php

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Keywords[audience]

noun

1. the assembled spectators or listeners at an event.

2. the readership of a book, magazine or newspaper.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press.

StoryboardingJeremy Orlebar

The important part of a storyboard is the story. It is a way oftelling your video story visually, rather like a cartoon strip.Essentially a storyboard tells the story of your video in small hand-drawn pictures. The great thing is you do not have to be a goodartist. Pin men drawings are fine.

The importance of a storyboard is to see how all the shots fittogether to tell your story before you go out and shoot the video.This is like having a visual script.

A storyboard should show the:

Position of people in each shot – who is on the left and who on



the right of the frame. The girl is on the left and the boy on theright as you are looking through the viewfinder of the camera, andas you see on the screen. This is known as camera left andcamera right.

Shot size. This is the size of the person in the shot. It tells youhow much of the person is showing in a shot. This picture showsthe head and shoulders and is called a Medium Close Up. It is themost popular shot size on television.

There are traditional shot sizes such as Close Up, Medium CloseUp, Medium Shot and Long shot – see attached chart.

Draw on the storyboard any important background buildings orlocations which may be essential for the scene. This image ofpalm trees and a swimming pool are essential for this scene froma travel documentary.



It could be a haunted church cemetery if it is a spooky horrorstory and you need a suitable background.

Make sure you include in the storyboard drawings ofimportant things that happen. If a character is sitting at a deskand an assassin comes into the room threatening to kill him unlesshe hands over important documents then you need a close up ofthe desk drawer open with a gun inside.

You will need this shot in the film. The next frame of thestoryboard after the close up of the gun might be the assassincollapsing mortally wounded onto the floor. This keeps up the paceof the story.

So the storyboard is showing the main shots in the video and howthey go together to make up the story.

Drama For a drama production the storyboard is created by the director



and scriptwriter with help from all the group. Everyone can thensee exactly how each shot will be framed and how the story holdstogether. It shows how each shot should look, and how it linkswith the next shot.

Standard Shot Sizes Used by Television & Film

BIG CLOSE UP or BCU

CLOSE UP or CU

MID CLOSE UP or MCU



MID SHOT or MS

LONG SHOT or LS



The whole story should be shown in about 16 frames dependingon what happens. The more action the more frames you will needto draw. You only need to draw the important scenes from thestory that show how the story develops. It helps to show thecharacters to see who is male and female and what they might bewearing – jeans or special costume.

Some stories may benefit from using some make-up such as ascar or wound or having a character with very long hair.

Remember the golden rule for drama: everything that you see ineach shot is there for a purpose. If there is a man wearing a bighat then the hat must have some purpose – to hide a knife, toidentify him or just because that is part of his personality.

Factual or documentary programmes

Factual programmes can also benefit from a storyboard. First toshow how the factual story will be presented on screen and toshow how key sequences will be shot.

For example, if your programme is about the future of aviation orthe effect of aviation on climate change then you might want yourpresenter to stand in front of an aeroplane. You can visit anaviation museum where they have aeroplanes that you can go upto, and take pictures of your presenter in front of say Concorde.



The framing and sequence of shots are affected by where yourreporter stands. This can be worked out most effectively by doinga storyboard.

TIP You can do a storyboard using pictures from a digital camera.Using basic electronic editing you can put the pictures together thesequence you want on the computer and then print onto A4.Everyone in the group can have a copy.

Remember that a storyboard is created to help you make yourgroup video. It can be changed – several times if necessary -before the final shooting.

You will be surprised how easy it is to shoot the video when youhave a really well thought-through storyboard.

Hand drawn Storyboard Examples

Below are some examples of hand drawn storyboards to give youan idea of what's expected. If you click on any image, it will opena new window with three much larger versions that you will find

easier to see.

Storyboard Example 1 (one page)



Storyboard Example 2 (page one)

Storyboard Example 2 (page two)

Hand drawn Storyboard Blank (.jpg)

http://www.mediaedu.co.uk/tutorials/storyboarding/examples.php





click on image to download

Collins Storyboard Blank (.pdf)click on image to download

http://www.mediaedu.co.uk/tutorials/storyboarding/index_assets/Collins%20Sitcom%20Storyboard%20Template.pdf

http://www.mediaedu.co.uk/tutorials/storyboarding/index_assets/storyboardtemplate.jpg

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