Why+do+a+Storyboard+and+How

** Why Do a Storyboard? **

A storyboard is a sketch of how to organize a story and a list of its contents.

A storyboard helps you: 
 * Define the parameters of a story within available resources and time
 * Organize and focus a story
 * Figure out what medium to use for each part of the story
 * How to Do a Rough Storyboard? **

A multimedia story is some combination of video, text, still photos, audio, and graphics presented in a linear or nonlinear format in which the information in each medium is complementary, not redundant. So your storyboard should be put together with all those elements in mind.


 * The first thing to tackle is the part about the story. **

Divide the story into logical elements 
 * 1) Title on top of storyboard
 * 2) There will be at least 4 papers handed in: 1)Event & Nut & Summary & Job Duties Page 2) Storyboard Boxes Page 3) Characters Page 4) Setting Page
 * 3) The **event** or situation (short one sentence)
 * 4) A lead or **nut** paragraph, essentially addressing why this story is important and why your audience will find it entertaining.
 * 5) Written **Summary** [Beginning (intro), middle (climax), end (conclusion)]
 * 6) **Jobs Duties** (all jobs must have equitable time and effort commitment)
 * 7) Storyboard Boxes Page
 * 8) A) Illustrating where characters are, how they react in their setting, and how the camera is going to capture the image.
 * 9) B) Timing for scenes (video limit is 3-5 minutes)
 * 10) C) Audio noted (brief description of type of sound or music planned for scenes)
 * 11) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D) Pan, Zoom (in or out), Tight Shoots, Shot Patterns for dialogue, Special effects and Transitions
 * 12) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Characters page rofiles of the main characters in the story (pictures or detailed color drawings)
 * 13) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Setting Page outlines the sets that will be used during the film (detail is appreciated)


 * Next, divide the contents of the story among the media -- video, still photos, audio, graphics and text. **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> When you're done breaking a story down into its elements - both in terms of its content and the different media you could use - you need to reassemble all that into a rough storyboard.
 * 1) <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Decide what pieces of the story work best in video. Video is the best medium to depict action, to take a reader to a place central to the story, or to hear and see a person central to the story.
 * 2) <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Decide what pieces of the story work best in still photos. Still photos are the best medium for emphasizing a strong emotion, for staying with an important point in a story, or to create a particular mood. They're often more dramatic and don't go by as quickly as video. Still photos used in combination with audio also highlight emotions. Panorama or 360-degree photos, especially combined with audio, also immerse a reader in the location of the story.
 * 3) <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Does the audio work best with video, or will it be combined with still photos? Good audio with video is critical. Bad audio makes video seem worse than it is and detracts from the drama of still photos. Good audio makes still photos and video seem more intense and real. Avoid using audio alone.
 * 4) <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> What part of the story works best in graphics? Animated graphics show how things work. Graphics go where cameras can't go, into human cells or millions of miles into space. Sometimes graphics can be a story's primary medium, with print, still photos and video in supporting roles.
 * 5) <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> What part of the story belongs in text? Text can be used to describe the history of a story (sometimes in combination with photos); to describe a process (sometimes in combination with graphics), or to provide first-person accounts of an event. Often, text is what's left over when you can't convey the information with photos, video, audio or graphics.
 * 6) <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Make sure the information in each medium is complementary, not redundant. A little overlap among the different media is okay. It's also useful to have some overlap among the story's nonlinear parts, as a way to invite readers to explore the other parts of the story. But try to match up each element of a story with the medium that best conveys it.

A rough storyboard doesn't have to be high art - it's just a sketch. And it isn't written in stone - it's just a guide. You may very well change things after you start filming. <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What storyboarding does is help point out the holes in your story. It helps you identify the resources (time, equipment, assistance) you'll need to complete the story, or how you have to modify the story to adjust to your resources. A good way to learn storyboarding is to take a newspaper feature story and sketch out a storyboard of all the elements in it.