Even bad things have their good side.
I have now somewhat recovered from my flu and start to feel the inkling to continue work on Ara’s Tale. But instead of going on, I will right go back to the start again (well almost, the story remains) and will work again on the storyboard.
Why this, you may ask. Well, during my time in bed and nothing to do than let my ideas roam free, I came to the conclusion, that the way the storyboard tells the story, has some problems. There are some parts, which upon hard scrutinizing are undefined and done with the hope, that they will resolve, once the shots will be done. This is a big mistake, as the storyboard should leave nothing open to free interpretation, at least nothing connected to framing, composition, camera angles.
I knew, why this happened. Well, I’ve never done this before, so no big surprise. As I am all alone on this project (no knowledgeable mentor around 🙂 ), I decided I need some guidance on the topic of storyboarding and directing in general. And I found one – and what a gem it is.
I ordered ‘Directing the Story’ from Francis Glebas ( amazon link ) . Glebas does not just give recipes, on how you should go about. He is actually analyzing what makes a film work, why we watch films, why we get emotionally attached, in essence what makes a film memorable.
Working through this book will never substitute real experience. I know that, but it will open up a whole new world and a new view at how films are done, enabling me to analyze why I like certain films. And in the end it will help me to build up experience with a solid foundation.
That means of course adding another undefined delay to the project, but what the heck, if its helping the film, so be it.
I also gave some thought, on how to present the evolution of Ara’s Tale without giving everything away, but still show enough to get valuable feedback. I think I will take the same approach as the Durian team. I will publicly show the evolution of roughly the first minute of the film. That will include the script, the storyboard, storyreel etc. as they evolve. I hope this will allow a more coherent view on the film and probably gain some needed feedback on the actual implementation.
sounds great! maybe I’ll put that book on my wishlist for christmas, or I order it directly 🙂
Hopefully you’ll find time and passion to let us know some key-rules in screenboarding and how you apply them!?
From what I have read so far, this book is indispensable if you ever plan to do a (short) film.
I will see how the storyboard changes from the current version and will highlight the changes and why I have made them. Thus it may give some insight and may also provide me with some feedback.
Sounds reasonable! Just ordered the book, plus this one:
The Animator’s Survival Kit
I might also get Animating with Blender but I’m not sure.
Well, looking forward to your refinements!
I already own those two books. Animating with blender is a fine book, which gets you started on how to organize your project and workflow. It won’t help much in terms of story building, directing or artistic content, but that’s not its purpose.
The Animator Survival Kit is a truly remarkable book. Although I haven’t done any serious animation yet, just reading through the book opens your eyes to a lot of important things.
Books arrived today! Impressive. Thanks a lot for the advice 🙂 Now I just need “Animating with Blender” and I’m good. Plus another year of Blender or so… But for now I can get cracking on the storyboard.
Hope to see more of Ara soon 🙂 Time consuming, but eventually granting immortality!
Now you _just_ need apply all the wisdom in the books 🙂
As of Ara, I am working currently on my first rework of the storyboard. Expect to see some first draft soon.
Very cool 😀
First I’ll have to apply it to my brain… OMG… running out of RAM!
Btw.: I also got this book, and I think it’s in some regard nicer to beginners. But again, you won’t be needing TWO of those. I sure do 😛
Thanks again for sharing all the (freshly gained) knowledge!