Storyboards

Storyboards are a visual mockup of a film or animation. They have various degrees of realism from stick people to life like images.

Storyboards give film makers the advantage of deciding before filming, where the camera is going to go, what the characters are going to be doing and how the overall shot is going to look and how each one will progress to the other and create the continuity needed. It is advantageous when the film needs to be shot correctly the first time and also helps to work out any kinks in the filming. It is most needed in films that contain visual effects that are added after the film is made as it helps the actors and director know where the effect is going to be in the final product.

The disadvantages to having a storyboard is that they can be very expensive depending on how the film makers want them to look. Also it takes away part of the improvised creativity of the direction if a storyboard has to be strictly followed.

In this example of a scene from the Golden Compass that has been storyboarded, there is a description of the shot and arrows on the images to show the movement of the camera. They are also numbered and dated so the directors can keep it in order and easily reference each shot and scene.

In the actual filming of the scene it is a little different to the storyboard but the way the camera moves is the same. The monkey is animated in after the scene is shot and the storyboard helps the actors and the animators know how the scene is suppose to look.