Can you build a house without a blueprint? The answer to this question is: you can’t. In the same way, a short film/video without a storyboard is like a house which has no foundation. If you were to step into a house and find the floor missing, you would definitely walk back outside. Viewers too will say goodbye to your film/video if they find that your video was hastily-made and without a proper storyline.
Even though storyboarding is so crucial to a video, there are few marketing executives and creative heads who set aside time for storyboarding. Most of the time, the production team works along with the script and shoves storyboarding to the backseat.
However, storyboarding is just as important as a good script. By storyboarding, you can find the vision of your film/video. If you want your film to have a professional look and feel, then you need a storyboard. Here are five tips on how to create your own storyboard.
1. Master the visual alphabet
For storyboarding, it is crucial that you master the visual alphabet. It really does not matter if you are not great at drawing, because anyone can learn an alphabet that is comprised of basic shapes like circles, triangles lines and squares. It’s true that anything, right from a dinosaur to a car can be simplified into basic shapes that any anyone can draw. Since shapes are not at all hard to draw, you can quickly master the visual alphabet and come up with a storyboard.
2. Keep sketching
Remember to keep sketching several versions of your frames, until you are satisfied with your paper camerawork. This way, you can zero in on the perfect shots and save time and effort while shooting the video. Set aside a few hours to experiment with your pencil and sketchpad, as a storyboard is the most important step in the entire filmmaking process.
3. Invest in a digital drawing board
Investing in a digital drawing pad is the best investment that you ever make. These drawing pads are easy to use and can be setup in the blink of an eye. The pads come with every possible drawing feature and since all the drawings will be automatically saved on your computer, you can stop taking pictures or scanning images. It’s important to select a drawing pad that has good sensitivity and precision.
4. Sketch out the keyframes
If you were making a 30 second video, your audience can perceive over 720 distinct frames. In this case, you don’t have to storyboard each of the 30 seconds, all you have to do is sketch out the keyframes. Frames that have a particular significance either in terms of the content, script or camera are known as keyframes. Start off your storyboard by drawing keyframes and later you can fill in gaps with transition frames.
5. Use PowerPoint
If you are not a pro at any of the popular video editing software, you can stick to Powerpoint, as this software, though simple is a great storyboarding tool. Once you have your frames ready, you can pop them into PowerPoint and insert the dialogues. With the slide show feature in PowerPoint, you can also preview your storyboard.
Do you want to try outsourcing storyboarding? Not only can you save on time and effort, but can also get access to the skills of professional artists at an affordable cost.
Interested to know more?
Editor
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