Vive la Difference! Animation and Live-action Storyboards
“While directing short (animated) subjects, I soon discovered that the original planning of the overall picture, where the director had complete control of the project, was where the picture was actually made good . . . having OK’d the picture and taken delivery of it from the story department . . . the final result was assured.”
—David Hand, director of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
Live-action and animation storyboards differ dramatically from one another. Live-action storyboards provide notes for camera angles, rough blocking for the actors, and the general setup for each shot. The figures on the storyboards do not represent specific actors since the casting may not yet be set. The board artist will roughly block the characters’ performances without making detailed breakdowns of the action. Arrows are used to indicate a character’s motion in the shot. A lengthy description of the action within the scene often appears beneath each panel. One or two panels suffice for each shot unless the camera is in motion. Live-action storyboards are used by directors, art directors, and cinematographers as a rough guide for the film’s staging.
Animation storyboard creates the characters along with the settings. The storyboard IS the animated actors’ performance. Every part of the film is planned in storyboard stage—character designs, acting, action, pacing, story, dialogue, effects, camera moves, and editing.
[Fig. 2-1] Live-action storyboard. Staging is blocked and extensive notes describe the action in the scene. Reproduced by permission of Doug Crane.
[Fig. 2-2] Storyboards from my theatrical short film YOUR FEET’S TOO BIG. Dialogue and brief descriptions of action are written on separate slips of paper beneath individual panels. The characters’ emotions are portrayed in detail.
[Fig. 2-3] The feature animation artist depicts camera moves as individual drawings on separate panels. Here is a cut from a medium close-up to an extreme close-up.
Each scene of an animated film has its action and acting depicted on a series of individual storyboards. All actions and camera moves that will appear in the film are drawn on the boards since an animated film is edited on the storyboards and in story reel before it is actually animated or shot. Although animation “pencil tests” and trial renders will be made during the production process, the final camera work is not done until all of the creative work is completed. Animation camera work is a technical process recording performances and camera moves that were planned in story and layout at the beginning of production. Animation storyboard and layout artists are the equivalent of live-action cinematographers and editors.
An animation editor creates the story reel or animatic with the director. These are composed of digitized storyboards that are edited to the length of each scene so that the pace of the film is established before the animation begins. The editor replaces the storyboards with animated scenes as they are completed and assembles and breaks down synchronization for voice tracks, music, and sound effects for the final soundtrack. Animation is so labor intensive and expensive that it is important to eliminate wasted footage before it is created. Figure 2-4 is a rough comparison of live-action and animated film-production methods.
[Fig. 2-4] Comparison of Live-action and Animated Film-production Methods
The most obvious difference between the two media is that live-action films are edited in post-production. Animation is edited in pre-production. The animation storyboard is the film, as director David Hand (BAMBI and SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS) stated at the beginning of this chapter.
Live-action storyboard artists function as assistant directors and assistant cinematographers. They draw blueprints for the composition and lighting of the shots. The final composition is determined by the director and cinematographer. Live-action storyboards do not depict or influence the actor’s performance. A good rule of thumb is that animation is produced backwards from live action. A flow chart describing the anatomy of animation appears in Figure 2-5.
[Fig. 2-5] The bulk of the creative work in animation is done in preproduction. Animation production takes longer and costs more if story or design changes are made after animation and modeling have started. Postproduction will generally take the least time, although this will vary depending on the project.
Stop-motion animation is a notable exception to the animation production chart depicted in Figure 2-5. Stop-motion characters are actual three-dimensional objects. Animators work in (very slow) real time on miniature sets. Stop-motion productions will use detailed storyboards and animatics (usually done as a “pop-through” using the actual puppets), but otherwise their production resembles that of a live-action film. Puppets and sets are constructed during pre-production as the storyboard is completed. The camera work is continuous during production and the cameraman contributes creatively to the look of the film. A stop-motion film is partially edited in post-production. Time must also be budgeted to digitally “clean up” or mask out the supports and rigs behind the puppets so that they do not show in the finished film.
Comic Boards and Animation Boards
Comic and graphic novel artists also use storyboards to rough out their projects before creating the finished artwork. There is, however, a major difference between film and comic storyboards. The comic artist has complete freedom to design frames and panels on the page. Panels may be vertical or irregularly shaped. Effects can be added to the panel borders, or characters can burst right through them.
Figure 2-6 is a page from the graphic novel David Chelsea in Love by David Chelsea. The shattered, jagged shape and varying size of the panels suggest the cramped conditions in the building’s stairwell and the emotional attitude of some of the characters. The action in some frames overlaps others. A cinematic quality is conveyed by the characters’ movement through numerous panels that depict progressive action. A close-up shot inserted at the end draws attention to one character. The page can be viewed as one work of art and as a series of small frames that create an elaborate design.
[Fig. 2-6] A page from the graphic novel David Chelsea in Love. Reproduced by permission of David Chelsea.
Motion pictures and computer graphics are more restricted in their staging. The motion picture screen or computer monitor is an unchanging ‘frame’. The animator creates variety in staging by moving the camera, animating the characters within the frame, or cutting to a new camera angle. The borders of the screen/frame are a standard size that cannot be modified by the filmmaker. All storyboard panels will have the same proportions as the screen. Wider boards are used for widescreen films. The frame is always horizontal. Some standard screen ratios are shown in Figure 2-7.
[Fig. 2-7] Academy Standard and Wide Screen ratios. There are many other variations but all film and new media frames are horizontal rectangles.
The animation storyboard artist must first and foremost be an excellent actor. While it is true that the voice actor gives 50 percent of the character’s performance, it is the storyboard artist’s work that determines the acting that we see on screen. The animated characters are developed on the storyboard before the voices are recorded. The animation storyboard artist performs all the character parts during pitches, whether they are male, female, animal, human, or inorganic; he or she creates dramatic pacing and cutting and indicates the settings and emotional moods that layout artists and animators will develop in the final film. In addition, storyboard drawings are frequently used as acting and design reference for character designers who may be working on the production at the same time that the boards are created. So the animation storyboard artist is also a bit of a casting director! (Pitches are discussed in Chapter 18.)
[Fig. 2-8] The Animated Character Casting Call involves working up a variety of character design suggestions and deciding which ones work best in the story. Storyboard drawings are often used as reference for the designs. Some animated walk-ons become “stars” after appearing in supporting roles for other characters. (Donald Duck, Goofy, and Porky Pig are former “bit” players!)
Television Boards and Feature Boards
Animated features and short films will have all sections of the pre-production—character, story, production design—in development simultaneously. There can be a great deal of ‘wiggle room’ and reworking of character designs and story points during the comparatively long production time. It is not unusual for entire sequences to be dropped or character designs completely reworked during production because of a story change. The feature and short-film storyboard artist’s main concern is telling the story. The character model is of secondary importance since the designs might not be finalized before the storyboards begin. A feature or short-film storyboard will depict camera moves on several panels. Field guides will usually not be included since individual drawings may be replaced or revised later.
[Fig. 2-9] A feature-film storyboard will draw out camera moves on several panels. Modular board construction makes revisions on one or more panels easier.
A storyboard for an animated series is produced very differently since character designs and finished scripts will nearly always exist before the storyboards are drawn. Sometimes the protagonist will be an established character with designs that may not be changed. Whether old or new, a “Bible” of final character, prop, and set designs will be handed to the storyboard artist and the character and prop models must be strictly followed when boards are drawn. Television storyboards contain detailed camera moves and are very clean and tight, as shown in Figure 2-10.
[Fig. 2-10] Animation boards for television series differ considerably from feature boards. The television board will include field guide (camera) moves and sometimes lengthy descriptions of the action. Reproduced by permission of Nelson Rhodes.
The television storyboard must illustrate the script as written using characters, backgrounds, and props drawn ‘on model’ or exactly the way they will look in the finished film, in every panel. Precise descriptions of the action are written in special panels below the drawings and all camera moves are drawn on the storyboards. These types of boards are technically much more difficult to draw than feature boards, since they usually do not allow for variations in design or reworking of the story. The board artist must follow rules of perspective and include background detail since television storyboards are frequently enlarged and used as layouts in production. The character drawings on the boards may also be enlarged and used as animation keys. Acting is important but all props, characters, and backgrounds must be tight cleanups.
All animated action and editing is preplanned before the animation begins. It is crucial to avoid wasting time as well as money since feature animation can take years to finish. Television animation has a tight production schedule with little time allocated for change and revision. Commercial deadlines are written in stone. A commercial must be finished before its air date. There will not be an opportunity to ‘make it up.’
How long is a short film? Will the principles used in constructing a feature apply to a short film or student production? Yes, but with one difference. The budget for a student film is measured in time. An incomplete film may result in a failing grade.
I expect my students to have their characters and settings designed and their storyboards up on reels with final dialogue track approximately one-third of the way through the project’s schedule. The middle third is devoted to layout, animation, and other production matters such as modeling and rigging, and the final third is spent tweaking the animation, scanning and coloring drawings, lighting and rendering computer films, and completing post-production. Animation post-production takes much less time than it does in live action unless the animation is combined with live action or special effects. (Stop-motion animation needs time for digital cleanup as discussed earlier in this chapter.) Sufficient post-production time must be budgeted for compositing and rendering the final images and mixing the soundtrack.
The computer has made animation much easier and cheaper to produce than previously. Computer scanning and testing programs appreciably shorten the production time of drawn and stop-motion animation. Computer graphics gave animators virtual tools for a new digital branch of the art.
[Fig. 2-11] Improper planning in story and preproduction will result in ever-increasing trouble down the line. Reproduced by permission of Brian P. McEntee.
But computer graphics won’t save a weak story or a poorly planned production. Errors and omissions in preproduction will snowball into major problems for all types of animation as production gets under way. It’s essential to know what your film is about before you start animating since it’s very hard to ‘fix it in the editing’ at the end of the production.