Directing the story : professional storytelling and storyboarding techniques for live action and animation / Francis Glebas.
Publisher:
Elsevier/Focal Press,
Copyright Date:
2009
Description:
xi, 346 pages : color illustrations ; 22 x 28 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Part 1 -- 1: Goal: Why Do We Watch? -- Why do we watch movies? -- 1001 nights of entertainment -- What's at stake is nothing less than life and death -- Dramatization through questions -- 1001 nights entertainment revisited -- Critique: Is it too late to turn back? -- Entertainment explained -- Opportunity from criticism -- What is the audience doing? -- Reverse-engineering approach -- Why do we watch and more -- Promise to the reader: Intuition illuminated! -- Secret of storytelling is story-delaying -- Points to remember -- References -- 2: Common Beginner Problems -- Where do you begin? -- Catch-22 of the character-driven intuitive approach -- What can possibly go wrong? -- What do directors direct? -- Speaking metaphor -- Show and tell -- Every shot is a close-up -- What is a story? -- What is character? -- Critique: Introducing Scheherazade -- Points to remember -- References -- 3: Beginning Basics -- History and function of storyboards -- Various types of storyboards -- Production process -- Beat board -- Storyboarding overview -- Story reels -- Refinement process -- Pitching -- Gong show -- How to tell a story with pictures -- Breaking down the script: what are story beats? -- How to storyboard a scene -- Staging the action -- Critique: Scheherazade's storytelling -- Points to remember -- References -- 4: How To Draw For Storyboarding: Motion And Emotion -- Only 99,999 to go -- From stick figures to balloon people -- Walt Stanchfield's gesture drawing class -- Caricature -- Designing interesting characters -- Story drive of emotions -- Drawing the four main emotion groups -- Miscellaneous drawing tips -- Drawing for clarity and the use of clear silhouettes -- Mort Walker's The Lexicon of Comicana -- Technical aspects of storyboards -- Critique: 1001 drawings -- Points to remember -- References. Part 2 -- 5: Structural Approach: Tactics To Reach The Goal -- Once upon a time -- Critique: Developing character relationships -- Points to remember -- References -- 6: What Do Directors Direct? -- How to get attention -- Map is not the territory -- Selective attention -- Keeping attention -- Keeping structure invisible: tricks of attention -- Power of suggestion -- How the brain organizes information: Gestalt -- Director as magician -- Hierarchy of narrative questions -- Critique: Scheherazade directs attention -- Points to remember -- References -- 7: How To Direct The Eyes -- Visual clarity -- What I learned from watercolor artists: the missing piece of design -- Where do I look? -- Design equation -- Directing the eye with composition -- Magical effect: How a picture makes you feel -- Light and shadows -- Points to remember -- References -- 8: Directing The Eyes Deeper In Space And Time -- What is wrong with this picture? -- What to use: telephoto or wide-angle lenses? -- How to use framing to tell a story -- Camera mobility -- Alternative approaches -- Trick for planning scenes -- Proximity -- Point of view: Subjective camera -- Town of Dumb Love and SketchUp -- Beware of depth killers -- Points to remember -- References -- 9: How To Make Images Speak: The Hidden Power Of Images -- Fancy word for clues -- Why should you care about clues? -- How movies speak to us -- Mind makes associations -- Crime story clues and signs -- Significant objects -- How images ask questions -- Speaking indirectly -- Everything speaks, if you know the code -- Semiotic square -- Semiotic analysis of the Scheherazade and "Dumb Love" stories -- Points to remember -- References -- 10: How To Convey And Suggest Meaning -- Continuity and causality: how we put juxtaposed images together -- Multiple types of causality -- Screen geography: letting the audience know where they are -- Eyeline matches -- Time continuity -- History of film editing -- Why do we have to tell stories? -- Film as time machine -- Why cuts work -- Why we speak the narration to ourselves -- Points to remember -- References. -- 11: Dramatic Irony -- Who gets to know what, when, where, how, and why (including the audience) -- Can you keep a secret? -- Pendulum of suspense -- Places for dramatic irony -- Critique: What does the Sultan know? -- Points to remember -- References -- 12: Big Picture: Story Structures -- Primitive filmic structures and Propp's story functions -- Hero's journey or the neurotic's road trip -- Three levels of story analysis -- Mentors -- Paradigms of changing the impossible to the possible -- Ending, beginning, and turning points -- Types of scenes -- What happens if you move the structure around? -- Points to remember -- 13: Aiming For The Heart -- Do we really identify with the hero? -- Fears, flaws, wants, and needs -- Love stories: what keeps lovers apart? -- What is so scary about horror? -- Rubberband theory of comedy: aiming for the backside of the heart -- So many crime shows -- Emotional truth -- Music and color: not meaning, but meaningful -- What is it all about? -- Happy ever after -- Piglet's big compilation -- Why we watch movies, revisited -- Story knot and the formula for fantasy -- Emotional engagement of a story -- Points to remember -- References -- 14: Summary: Recapitulation Of All Concepts -- Asking questions and getting answers -- Reference -- 15: Analysis And Evolution Of The Scheherazade Project -- Story evolution: making it clearer and more dramatic -- Thematic analysis and dramatic structures -- Story parallels and repetitions -- Hierarch of narrative questions of the Scheherazade story -- Cuts for length or to make the story move quicker -- Changes made to make the story more dramatic or resonant -- 16: Conclusion: Now We Must Say Good-bye -- What they don't tell you -- Tips for keeping your dream alive -- Things are not always what they seem.
Summary:
Francis Glebas, a top Disney storyboard artist, teaches artists a structural approach to clearly and dramatically presenting visual stories. They will learn classic visual storytelling techniques such as conveying meaning with images and directing the viewer's eye. Glebas also teaches how to spot potential problems before they cost time and money, and he offers creative solutions on how to solve them. Uses the classic story of '1001 Arabian Nights' to show how to storyboard stories that will engage an audience's attention and emotions. With 1001 drawings in graphic novel format plus teaching concepts and commentary. All of the storyboarding examples have a real project context rather to engage a very visual audience on their own terms and teaches through demonstration.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.