Asturmas Studios - Storyboards

Storyboarding, or picture writing, is the origin of all written languages, used by ancient cultures before text evolved and as a natural bridge to text. The Chinese language was built using pictographs. Egyptians used storyboards, or hieroglyphics, first etched in stone and later written on papyrus, to organize a complex society and to rule the ancient world.

Look at any comic strip and you’ll see picture writing in action. A storyboard is a writing format, generally a set of boxes (or rectangles, circles, or other shapes) placed in a logically sequenced order. Each box or frame is a place for the writer to put information, pictures, symbols, or text.

Storyboards appear in many forms, from emerging literacy books to emergency instructions on airplaces to technical textbooks. When writers in various fields want to make ideas easily understood, they choose a storyboard format or one of its close cousins: the flow chart, the time line, or the PowerPoint presentation. Storyboards are widely used because we know pictures combined with text offer a rich synthesis of information that can entertain and inform. The pictures in picture writing can be simple cartoons, photographs, or sophisticated technical diagrams.

"Sons of War" Feature Film 2012 Written By John Kano

Genocide in Sudan

Single picture frame

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"Deadlands" Motion Comic 2013 Director Gary Ugarek WNR Films

Gary Ugarek on Deadlands the Last Stand

"Jewel Lee" One of The 12 Girl Assassins

"Master Sifu Wong" Artwork by Anthony Sturmas

Color and Form

"Nemisis" Artwork by Anthony Sturmas

Johnny Games by Charlie Boy Productions

How Are Boards Used in Film Making?....

Film historians credit Howard Hughes for developing the storyboard concept just before 1930 -- the year he released the film Hell's Angels, which involved staging complicated scenes that re-created air battles [source: Wildsound Filmmaking]. Moviemakers began to realize the need to plan out the steps in movie scenes. The storyboard is not the same as a script; it takes the script a few steps further and gets into the technical aspects of scenes to lay out the shots the director will oversee and the actors will perform. It also adds the flow to the actual shooting of the movie. For example, when Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn started his charging two-gun attack in 2010's True Grit, the script likely described the players, general scene and action. The storyboard described the sequence of shots, such as close-ups, versus distant shots, shots of the gunmen he charged and the bluff above.

The storyboard helps give the film crew a visual picture of the film and prepare in advance [source: Indie]. Over the years, storyboard artists have worked with filmmakers to help capture the essence of a film. Some moviemakers have drawn rudimentary boards with stick figures and then hired graphic artists to make them more professional and detailed. That is what The Lord of the Rings' director Peter Jackson is said to have done [source: Videomaker.com]. Filmmakers, video and commercial producers who don't consider themselves excellent artists can create storyboards -- and in less time than Howard Hughes' day -- with storyboarding software. Of course, you will have to be better at running 3-D animation software than you are at drawing if you choose to use a graphics program.

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Director Gary Ugarek

Since the original script for Deadlands III is taking forever to get financed and most likely never be shot as written I decided that if I make a 3rd film, I would scale it back and focus solely on the Rescue Shelter aspect of an outbreak. it is somethng I touched upon in Deadlands 1, but never was able to really flush out.

So based on some story outlines, I order storyboards to be made for specific sequences that would be in the film if it gets made. This particualr storyboard is what I call "The Standoff".

The Resident CDC expert at the Shelter (character name - Melisa Walsh) is trying not to be extracted by the military team lead by Capt. Morganelli. Some city residents step in to protect her from the group who are under orders from someone high up the government food chain. She is the daughterof a significant political figure but wants to stay behind to help the sick and injured, and not be sent to an underground bunker to live out her days in seclusion.

When the residents step in to help, headed by Dave, a stand off ensues at the rescuse shelter, which is housed in the Patterson Park High School in SE Baltimore.

This is the storyboard panel. Enjoy

http://playingwithdeadthings.com/

http://forum.homepageofthedead.com

Storyboards Released for Deadlands 3

Director Gary Ugarek has just sent us a couple storyboards for the third film in his Deadlands franchise. Now Deadlands 3 has an interesting past. It was originally going to be part 2 but because they could not come up with the funds to make that movie he developed another screenplay. Recently he revisited the script for three and revised it a bit.

In the newer version, he takes 6 of the characters from that screenplay, Dr. Melisa Walsh (a leading CDC Virologist) who is also the daughter of a prominent political figure. Dave, a local Baltimore city resident, Capt. Morganelli (leader of the extraction team) his right hand man Cpl. Hanson, and brother and sister survivors Carrie and Jason, and throws them into one of the last standing and full operational rescue shelter left in the city. However, things are not so peachy, the dead are winning the war, and government is finalizing the plans to move everyone within the political hierarchy into an underground bunker based out of West Virginia. The esteemed political figure assigns Morganelli and his team one last task, extract Melisa from that shelter. However, Melisa doesn’t want to go. She wants to stay and help, and when the teams becomes too forcible Dave and a gathering of local residents now calling the last bastion of safety home decide to step in and protect the good old Doctor. As the stand-off ensues between the team and the citizens the undead threat begins to take its position on wiping out the last of humanity. So our heroes and villains are making one last stand for survival, to make it out alive and hopefully protect the shelter.

http://www.horror-movies.ca

"The Cannolis" Animated Series Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas 2013

"The Cannolis" Animated Series 2013

"2D BG" Sample Concept Opening Shot of the SB

"The Cannolis" Animated Series Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas 2013

"GITL" Music Video: Storyboards and Directed by Anthony Sturmas 2010

On Set...

"3D" Model by Bryan Sanders for Music Video

Matte Paintings for The Music Video

Opening Shot. Mother and Child

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“What does a Concept Artist Do?”

The Concept Artist sketches ideas for game worlds, characters, objects, vehicles, furniture, clothing, and other content (often starting with hand-drawn pencil sketches). These sketches form mockups/visual prototypes for key areas of a project. The Concept Artist also suggests level designs, color schemes, and the overall mood and feel of the game. They are usually very good at perspective drawing and architecture. Although not involved in creating the actual game art, the Concept Artist will help determine the look of many aspects of the game.

Concept artists generally draw worlds on paper. Some artists work with pencil, while others are “matte painters,” like the artists who paint amazing backdrops for movies. A good Concept Artist at EA needs to be able to draw straight into Fractal Paint or Photoshop using something like a Wacom digital pen and tablet. They must generate high quality digital images quickly that will inspire the team and can even be used as temporary placeholder art. They need to be very good at “perspective style” artwork and real and organic architecture. The Concept Artist should also be able to lay out a storyboard for game sequences. They often play an important role in design meetings by sketching out ideas during brainstorming sessions. A lot of their art appears in the original design document for a new game. Comic book artists are often well suited to this job.

Animated Storyboards vs. Live action storyboards

Impossible action/viewpoints/transformations
Posing of characters is highly specific in-frame
Framing is tighter??
Layout is more specific
Background details become very important?
Are animated more heavily in animatics
Are revised more
Other elements are drawn outside of frames edge due to signifigance
Model sheets are needed for reference
Color is more specific
More direct?
Super crisp
Scene = shot

Live Action storyboards:

Posing is less signifigant/ only framing heights important
More realistic action...though not always
Camera moves are extremely specific
Backgrounds are looser...or left out at times
Animated less in animatics
Revised less
Color sometimes less important
Sometimes elements are drawn outside framing edges, but usually only for camera moves
Less direct
Characters don't require model sheets for reference
Costumes are not as tight as they might be in a layout of the designs
Crisp but mainly for text/notes/arrows and things
Scene = sequence

"The Cannolis" Animated Series 2013

Great Article on How Many SB you need:

There's the MTV music video style, where each shot may last only 10 frames (1/3 of a second in NTSC 29.97 fps, or a little less than 1/2 a second in PAL 24fps) over a four minute period.

Then you might have an action film style, where each cut may go anywhere from 6 seconds to 1/50th of a second (any faster, and it won't register on the human eye).

So, what helps to figure out is how you wish to tell your story visually to fits its needs.

If you want suspense, then your shots might be longer. Alfred Hitchcock was notorious for giving visual information to the audience that the characters on screen did not have. Shots would sometimes linger for 15 seconds or more at times. This helped to build suspense. John Carpenter would do the same on his horror films.

By contrast, George Lucas preferred to keep the audience riveted with tons of visual info, so his shots were very quick and from many viewpoints. This tells why there are so many shots for his films (1500 is a low figure), so it's a given that if you need a storyboard for every shot, then there's going to be a ton of boards needed.

On films I've helped to edit, a moderate to quick editing style was preferred (horror /action genre). The longest edit clips (represented by one storyboard per "edit clip" or "shot") were about 12 seconds, while the shortest was around 8 frames (just less than 1/3 of a second). Even though a sequence may last up to a minute or two, still there were many quick clips used to create the entire sequence.

If your project has a lot of action, no matter what genre, staying around 6 seconds (as the longest duration) per shot is best, and even then you'll see that 6 seconds can be an eternity.

Today's viewers are accustomed to seeing quick shots, and still be retaining information. It is important to not give the viewer too much time to linger in a shot, unless, as mentioned before, it is important to do so.

Assuming your project was a 6-8 minute skit, and you planned to use 6 second edits, then that would work out to around 10 storyboards per minute, for a total of around 60-80 boards per 6-8 minute skit, give or take a few boards in either the fewer or more direction.

Also, for those who don't know:

It is a great idea to scan into the computer the storyboards, and place them on a time line in your editing software to check if your story pace would read visually how you planned for it to, then add or subtract storyboards as needed.

"Sons of War" Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas

How long does it take to make a 30 seconds animation?

Actually, for a stop motion animation, the standard fps setting is 24 fps for movies. A lot of hobby animators use 30 for a smoother animation, but convert it to 24 fps if it'll go onto a DVD. Only beginners should use 12 (if not even 15), but it should only be used to get used to the animations, and move up to 24 before making an actual video.

Since it takes 24 frames to do one second: 24*30=720. So it'll take 720 frames for a quality video. I would only recommend making tests if you want to use 12 fps, not a video though. You can time yourself and see how long it takes you to animate each frame, but if you run on a very rough estimate about 5-10 seconds a frame: 720*5=3600, 3600/60=60; 720*10=7200, 7200/60=120. So if it takes you 5-10 seconds to shoot a frame, that'll be about one to two hours of animating. But again, you have to time yourself and judge how fast you animate.

Take your time! This is an art of patience. If you think 7200 frames is bad, just think about the Nightmare Before Christmas! It's about 76 minutes long, at 24 fps, that equals out to about 109,440! To that number, 720 frames is pocket change, in a way of speaking. But just take your time, do the best you can, and don't get discouraged!

"2d Sculptures" Based off 2d Characters

"Deadlands" Motion Comic 2013 Director Gary Ugarek WNR Films

Basic Understanding of The Basic Rules of Cinematography...

In control of creative content. You are visualizing (and improving) the idea or script.. Lots of responsibility, but lots of freedom...A good story artist is always in demand…

Story is the one discipline that is still not being outsourced..
Job security & career path for growth with many diverse projects..
Whether it's freelance or contract work, storyboards are…

Staging: The positioning of characters in each scene for maximum emotional content and clear readability of actions. In Animation it refers to the purpose of directing the audience's attention, and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene; what is happening, and what is about to happen. This can be done by various means, such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, and the angle & position of the camera. In live-action this is referred to as 'Blocking'.

Storytelling: Each panel's sketch clearly communicates to an audience the important ideas expressed through the action of each scene. This is all compromised of different types of shots, framing / editing principles, and scene transitions, and how they are used by filmmakers to help tell a story. These depict many elements like the poses and expressions of the characters, as well as how the scenes will cut and how close (or far) the camera is to the subject.

How Rough Can the Boards Be?

The rule of thumb is that the more specific the board is, the better the final product tends to be.

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"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

“Ufologist” Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

A foul-mouthed, unemployed air guitar enthusiast that moonlights as a "Ufologist," stumbles across the most important case of alien visitation since Roswell...

Christopher Farely from Atom Nine Adventures (2007)

"Lone Wolf" Concept Artwork by Anthony Sturmas

"Enemy in My Sight" Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas

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Is it Possible to Film Without Storyboards?...

With the creation of a film or animation, it is often important to start with a storyboard. A good storyboard helps to plan the narrative of a film or animation, scene by scene. It becomes a blue print for the production.

A storyboard looks like a traditional comic strip and can vary in quality from rough 'thumbnails' to high detailed frames.

After the storyboard is produced and approved by the client, the filming or modelling of the animation can begin.

The book ‘from word to image’ starts with a quote from Alfred Hitchcock “I think one of the biggest problems that we have in our business is the inability of people to visualize”. Storyboarding is the pre-production process of literally drawing shots on paper that will become the template for your intended film or animation production before you begin production.

It is both an artistic and logistic process allowing the film crew to have a visual idea of what the director wants in the scene before the actors, actresses, props and set get involved. The role of a good storyboard artist is to prevent a lot of wasted time in filming aspects of the scene that are not what the director is looking for, as well as streamlining or eliminating unnecessary scenes and filming requirements from the production.

Film making is hugely collaborative and a good storyboard represents a road map that can keep everyone on track during production. It lets you see the plan ahead of time and allows the various departments involved to prepare in advance of the cameras rolling.

You can use storyboards in all types of motion projects to help you organize your work and give your clients an idea of what your final project will look like.

Trying to remember everything you want to do even in a short animation piece will be impossible, as a project grows in length, storyboarding becomes more and more useful. The storyboard also helps you think visually.

I would not use storyboards on simple productions such as talking head shots, this would be a waste of time and money; nor on unpredictable situations such as random pick up shots at a shoot or sports event such as a football match. In these circumstances you would be better off creating a shot list for the types of shots you want to capture.

A good storyboard artist will understand about cinematography and editing which will allow them to create a realistic storyboard. Considerations include aspect ratio, lenses, composition, perspective, as well as how things will cut together. It should also be clear and concise so that anyone, at a glance, can understand it.

The storyboarding stage can be taken a step further and may be followed by mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence.

These days we use a 3D pre-visualization (also known as previs); this involves building the action in 3D where you can fly a camera around in 3D space allowing far more control and options for editing. Previs can include music, sound effects and dialogue to closely emulate the look of fully produced and edited sequences, and is usually employed for complex or difficult scenes that involve stunts and special effects. The previs can be used as the template for full blown visual effects shots later. Previs is a collaborative process that generates preliminary versions of shots. It enables filmmakers to visually explore creative ideas, plan technical solutions and communicate a shared vision for efficient production.

Film and animation production takes a great deal of planning; just as any complex project would. This is why the role of storyboarding is so vital. I would love to hear your views on storyboarding.

Credit: http://www.solutions.co.uk/Blog/2011/The-role-of-storyboarding-in-film-and-animation.aspx

Killer Squirrels

How to Create Movie Storyboards in Simple Steps?

Storyboarding - The Waterboard of Writing

The Process Behind Storyboarding...

With storyboarding you’re not there to express yourself, you job is to make the script come to life. This doesn’t mean you can’t have input on angles, transitions and shot compositions, it just means that no matter how much you’ll like to have the lead character in a bug spray commercial use a pair of chopsticks to grab a fly in mid-air, it’s not going to happen if it’s not in the script. The same is true for the car rental ad that’s begging for a high-speed chase scene or the customer service training video that just cries out for a fantasy sequence of an employee doing a flying roundhouse kick to a disgruntled customers head. If it’s not in the script, you can’t draw it.

Your client will provide a script. Usually it will be pretty tight. Sometimes it will include direction notes and a shot sequence. Whether it’s a traditional dialog script or one complete with a shot sequence, you will need to sit down with the producer and or director and walk through it.

This is where you talk about the intention of each scene, what are the most important parts, how many frames you’ll need, style, level of detail, format (16:9 or 4:3), what reference material is available, the look of the characters, and if this will be made into an animatic (ie. a simple animation that uses pans, zooms, and few key movements to drive the main story line). The animatic part is very important so ask up front. You don’t want to find out after the fact that they need the foreground and background on different layers or when the woman in the script pours a glass of juice they planned to actually have her pour it so they’ll need her arm on a different layer.

Asturmas Studios - Storyboards

Featured pictures

The Types Of Storyboards I offer:

Style Sheet Copyright 2013 "Americas Most Wanted"

The Process...

The Process...

BOIAN: Meaning "Battle," Hence "Warrior." Copyright 2013

The Process...

Media Kit Facebook Cover

Media Kit Facebook Cover

Villians....

"FRONTIERS" Concept Art Written by Geoffrey Ashley

Concept Art for "Spy Game" Copyright 2013

"Ravenz" Concept Artwork by Anthony Sturmas

"Ravenz" Concept Artwork by Anthony Sturmas

Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Rogo (Age 07) - Humanoid

Rogo (Age 19) - Humanoid

"Who is that Girl?" Style Sheet By Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Who is that Girl?" By Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Who is that Girl?" By Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Who is that Girl?" By Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Sarah Rogue" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Copyrgiht 2013

"Sarah Rogue" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Copyrgiht 2013

"Facebook Junkie" By Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Jack The Ripper" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

"Ghost Ship Red" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

Final "Ghost Ship" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

Johnny Games Concept Art for Charlie Boy Productions

"AK Charlie" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Surviving Judy" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

Surviving Judy Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

"Invasion" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

"German Sniper" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

"Intruder" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Dark Matter" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Director Johnathan S.

"Dark Matter" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Director Johnathan S.

"Dark Matter" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Director Johnathan S.

"Dark Matter" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Director Johnathan S.

The Sketch of The Mantra...

"Dark Matter" Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas Director Johnathan S.

“Ufologist” Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

Shot List by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Shot List by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Shot List by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Shot List by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Shot List by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Shot List by Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

"Deadlands" Motion Comic 2013 Director Gary Ugarek WNR Films

"Deadlands" Motion Comic 2013 Director Gary Ugarek WNR Films

"Deadlands" Motion Comic 2013 Director Gary Ugarek WNR Films

2D BG By Anthony Sturmas Copyright 2013

Illustration "Heeere's Johnny!" By Anthony Sturmas 2013

"Radiant Bride" SB's 2013 505 FILMS

"Radiant Bride" SB's 2013

"Radiant Bride" SB's 2013

"Radiant Bride" SB's 2013

"KS" Storyboards/Concept Art by Anthony Sturmas

Color SB Board Art by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Conceptual Art by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Conceptual Art by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

Storyboards by Anthony Sturmas/ For Director Ethan Maniquis Copyright 2013

"The Outfit" By Asturmas Studios 2013

"The Outfit" Scene: The Chase SB32

"The Outfit" Scene: The Chase SB33

"The Outfit" Scene: The Chase SB34

"The Outfit" Scene: The Chase SB35