Introduction To Storyboarding

Storyboard by Mike Butkus

Storyboarding is one of the most important parts of the pre-production process when it comes to any form of motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive sequence. The main purpose of storyboards is to communicate the flow and direction of the sequence to other people working in the production pipeline of a particular project. Overall, the use of a storyboard allows you to pre-visualise and plan a motion picture through the use of illustrations and images. One of the things I like about storyboards is that they're allowed to be rough and expressive, and as long as they are clear and informative you can produce them in any way you want. For example, the images for the storyboard could be created using any kind of medium, from pencil and ink to the use of digital media. Ultimately storyboards are purely there for direction purposes and will never be seen by an audience when it comes to the final finished piece, therefore they don't have to be labored over. It is due to this that they depict the story and the action in a very raw and simplified form, stripping it down of any unnecessarily details. 
However, that being said, storyboards can also contain a certain level of complexity. After all the more detail it contains the more easily ideas and content will be communicated to others. Important details such as expressions, camera angles, and dialogue that takes place in the scene can be included because of this.
It's important when creating storyboards to make sure you convey all of the necessary information and imagery, the best types of storyboards and hence final product is when the storyboard artist uses a mixture of camera angles so that the overall piece is much more interesting to work. From what we have done in terms of storyboards so far, I have learnt to make sure to include any movement if I can in the storyboard which can be indicated as simple as placing arrows to show direction of movement. On top of this notes can also be added to explain what's going on in certain frames and to add any extra details that may be harder to convey through the storyboard alone.
Overall I enjoy the process of creating storyboards and I plan to try different ways to communicate using them in the future using different media and for different types of projects, and to add to this I fully appreciate storytelling in this simplified format, I think it allows you to envision the story well during the transition between concept and final motion picture.