Storyboard - Pre-visualizing a film

Storyboard – Pre-visualizing the film

During the pre-production there are various stages involved for making a film. ‘Storyboard’ is one of those stages. As I had said previously in my other posts a lot of time that as a director narrating your story, and forming it into a screenplay for example will help you make the producer or cinematographer to understand, and visualize your story almost the same way you want them to. Storyboard is the best way to share the vision of the film. You see, storyboard is the stage where you create the film through drawing them sequence by sequence. It helps to exactly get how the film should be made, and how the frame will be set during the shoot. Storyboard is very time consuming for sure, as it takes a lot of time to create a film through the drawings, but it helps in saving the time when it comes to the production part. Due to this stage as a director you also get the liberty to even create a much better idea for the film like in the particular shot or scene. It is basically the pre-visualizing part of the film.

In our Indian cinema, this particular stage is hardly used in films, as maybe this consumes a lot of your time, and also it is optional for the film makers. But in my point of view making your film perfect this stage will be a bonus point to complete your desire regarding that. There a specialist who helps in this, and money is surely involved with the result which is worth it. Making a storyboard of a film involves in creating the characters by drawing them (either free-hand, or can be computerized as well) on a paper. This will include by making the actions of the characters sequence by sequence, as well as making sure that which part of the frame they will be acting out. Adding the script into it is also the next stage. The camera angles are very vital to be mentioned, as without that part it will be incomplete. For example, if you want to take the close up shot of the character’s emotions, then it has to be made in that way. But shots like ‘Pan’ where the camera is rotated or moved then it can be highlighted such as into a box with the arrows moving into the direction as you want the camera to be moved. 

Imagining something into your mind, and then seeing it in front of your eyes is very different, and also sometimes gives different results. So through storyboard, you get the opportunity to see your film before shooting it, so there is a scope of changes, and improvement in a particular part of the film if it is required. This stage is very helpful and more over necessary in animation films, as you are creating a non-realistic world. Even historical genres, such as epics, storyboard will be essential for this. In the creative direction part this plays a very important role, and also makes the job much easier the way you will want the sets to be designed. The appealing part of the film also is contributed through this stage of film making. The helpful things to keep in mind during this stage are by being more cinematic, and also very logical. Even you have to be careful in picking a theme which you want to create that particular ambiance. One very essential point is to put your film into the paper so that it help you look into the visualizing part. Storyboard can be optional is some genres, and also can be ignored, but it can as well as can contribute a lot to the film.