Storyboard Artist // J Todd Anderson - No Country for Old Men

J. Todd Anderson is a storyboard artist who has worked primarily on the work of the Coen brothers, but has worked on other films as a storyboard artists and collaborated with other directors also. When collaborating with the Coen brothers as the role of a storyboard artist, they go through the film shot by shot and it's his responsibility to 'establish scale, trap the angle, ID characters and get the action'. After the shots have been established, he does a more detailed draft of the storyboards, he then reviews them with the directors and makes necessary final adjustments by adding expressions, props and includes arrows to indicate camera and the on screen character movement. Anderson's storyboards are then photocopied and given out to everyone in set, so everyone is aware of what is going on. Thus, his storyboards are imperative to make sure the vision of the film is understood and communicated well to everyone involved in the making process. 

This gives you a good indication about the role of a storyboard artist, especially when working on a film. They have to envision the film and the appearance onscreen based on screenplays and scripts. It is also vital to have good communication and work well with other members of the crew, including and especially the directors and directors of photography as demonstrated in the case of Anderson's relationship with the Coen brothers. 

Storyboard, No Country for Old Men

When looking at the storyboards produced by Anderson, you notice the commitment to producing interesting camera angles, and that he is good at telling a story to the audience through the use of camera positioning. The above panel shows the camera positioned at the level of the characters legs in the right third of the shot, and the direction that they will be travelling through the the left two thirds. There is also an arrow that communicated the path that the character is going to be taking the the scene. The level of detail also communicates the setting of the scene being a car park, although the line work is simple it is of a level that is easy to interpret. 
The panel below shows a close up shot of a characters torso and face, the shot after he is shown about to walk through the parked cars. You feel the sense of movement and advancement of the character by glancing over the panel, but for added information arrows are added in, which also tell the director and director of photography the movement of the camera during the scene. Information about the scene including movement and action is also written below each panel, so as to make the aim of the scene clear to the members on set, and to make sure that everybody understands. The type of shot is also listed, for example, on the first panel the word 'wide' is used to describe the angle and type of shot, so a wide shot of the character and setting is used.

The method in which Anderson's storyboards are produced is traditional, using pencil and ink. I enjoy the idea of artists working this way and producing the storyboards by hand, only to be drawn over or altered as necessary. It gives the impression of a very raw and sketchy initial interpretation of the films production and vision. Furthermore, it is a way of working that's been used for so long, and doesn't really need the perks to design that digital techniques bring because it's such a simple process.