View source for Prepare to Board! by Nancy Beiman

[[Category:Books]]
This book is about visual storytelling and design.
Three parts, Content, Technique, Presentation
Visual scriptwriting (board-driven films?)
The "Why" must precede the technique
Easier for toons to break physics than story.
Sound and visuals hang off the story.
Character and Story can develop from each other [See also, Robert McKee's Story, where a character ''is'' a story, just not necessarily the one you're telling]
Animators do the magic of bringing worlds and characters to life.
=Part One: Story Content=
==First, Catch Your Rabbit==
A story needs character and conflict, developed simultaneously.

Established early, and grab the reader.

Animation pre-production is "development" - the act of improving by expanding, enlarging, refining- ''growing'' the story.

ingredient 3: imagination - animation about what could possibly happen

feature animation starts withoutline/treatment, then developped visually.

story is the clothesline the gags & characters hang on
===Linear and Nonlinear Storytelling===
Linear: A, to B, to C. Or C, explained by B, explained by A.

Nonlinear: creating effect or mood rather than telling story
===Limits are a foundation, not a box===
It's easier to construct within limits, within guidelines.

Character created in isolation from story is just a design, not a personality.
===Brainstorming stories from lists===
Brainstorming lists of story elements:
; characters : anything, human, animal, anthro, feral, fantasy, alien, aquatic, avian
; locations : can vary greatly in scale, in space, under a microscope, in the laundry, in a pineapple under the sea?
; situations and occupations : occupations to vary up the situations that can be defined under "work"
; conflicts : weaknesses, desires, perils, opportunities

mix and match from the lists!

Draw thumbnails of the combinations; the characters and situations

A story should be told by the most interesting characters!

what if - how can we make it even more interesting by mixing it up
===Researching Action to break from cliche===

Take a sketchbook and draw everywhere, and gesture people in action

stronger poses, and better actor, to draw from the truth that's stranger than fiction

also draw pets

===Quick Sketch and Thumbnails===
rough thumbnail drawings are the starting point for characters and storyboards

===Go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!===
Adapt and exaggerate reality, not just copy

Believable, not realistic.

Visual hyperbole, caricature, stylize

Humans are hardest to exaggerate
===Researching Settings and Costumes===
You can find stuff on the internet - go look for art/culture of different times

Production can make use of all sorts of art comprehension and life experience

Learn a little about a lot of things

Study film too!

==Types of storyboards==

Live action boards rough guide for film's staging, for later filming. Live action is edited in post.

Animation boards create the acting and scenes along with the cinematography. Animation is edited in preproduction. Animation storyboard ''is'' the film.

Everything is indicated on animation boards because the film is edited from the boards before it is animated.

Animation editor creates and updates the animatic with the director, to set the pacing/length of each shot and check in finished footage as it's completed.

===Comic Boards and Animation Boards===

comics have something called storyboards, but it's more like a sketch of the layout, with all kinds of different frame shapes. 

tv/film boards are designed for a specific final size, the frame does not change size

Animation board artist must be an actor - they craft the character's performance. Characters not yet designed may also use storyboard as reference.

===Television Boards and Feature Boards===

one-off films will be developing simultaneously, and involve a lot of experimentation and rework.

TV series will have character designs and scripts (usually) done before storyboarding starts. Are usually very fast, close to on model, illustrates the script.

All action/editing planned before animation begins.

* Features can take years
* TV animation is done on a tight budget, boarded in just a couple weeks. 
* Commercial deadlines set in stone based on target airdate
* short films are typically done in months, as a student project

Storyboard planning makes the production run on time.

==Putting Yourself Into Your Work==
===The Use of Symbolic Animals and Objects===
===The Newsman's Guide: Who, What, When, Where and Why===
==Situation and Character-driven Stories==
===Stop if you've heard this one===
===Defining Conflict===
===Log Lines===
===Stealing the Show===
===Parodies and Pastiches===
==What If? Contrasting the Possible and the Fanciful==
===Beginning at the Ending: The Tex Avery "Twist"===
===Establishing Rules===
==Appealing or Appalling? Beginning Character Design==
===Reading the Design: Silhouette Value===
===Construction Sights===
===Foundation Shapes and Their Meaning===
===The Shape of Things===
===Going Organic===
===Creating Characters from Inanimate Objects===
===Across the Universe===
==Size Matters: The Importance of Scale==
===Practicing your Scales===
===Stereotypes of Scale===
===Triple Trouble: Working with Similar Character Silhouettes===
===Getting Pushy===
==Beauties and Beasts: Creating Character Contrasts in Design==
===The Great Dictator: Charlie Chaplin's Character Acting===
===I Feel Pretty! Changing Standards of Beauty===
===A Face that Only a Mother Could Love?===
===Gods and Monsters: Contrasting Appearance and Personality===
==Location Location Location: Art Direction and Storytelling==

=Part Two: Technique=
==Starting Story Sketch: Compose Yourself==
===Tonal Sketches===
===Graphic Images Ahead!===
===The Drama in the Drawings: Using Contrast to Direct the Eye===
===The Best Laid Floor Plans===
===Structure: The Mind's Eye===
==Roughing it: Basic Staging==
===I'm Ready for My Close-up: Storyboard Cinematography===
==Boarding time: Getting With the Story Beat==
===Working to the Beat: Story Beats and Boards===
===Do You Want To Talk About It===
==The Big Picture: Creating Story Sequences==
===Panels and Papers: A Word about Storyboard Materials===
===Acting Out: Structuring Your Sequences===
===A-B-C Sequences: Prioritizing the Action===
===Arcs and Triumphs===
===Naming Names===
==Patterns in Time: Pacing Action on Rough Boards==
===Climactic Events===
==Present Tense: Creaging a Performance on Storyboard==
===Working with Music===
===Visualizing the Script===

==Diamond in the Rough Model Sheet: Refining Character Designs==
===Tying it Down: Standardizing Your Design===
===Your Cheatin' Part: Nonliteral Design===
==Color My World: Art Direction and Storytelling==
===Fishing for Complements===
===Saturation Point: Colors and Tonal Values===
===Writing the Color: Color Scripts===
===O Tempora, O More or Less===

=Part Three: Presentation=
==Show and Tell: Pitching Your Storyboards==
===The More Things Change: The Turnover Session===
==Talking Pictures: Assembling a Story Reel or Animatic with a Scratch Track==
===This is Only a Test: Refining Story Reels===
==Building a Better Mouse: Creating Cleanup Model Sheets==
==Maquette Simple: Modeling Characters in Three Dimensions==
==Am I Blue? Creating Character through Color==
===Creating Color in Context===
===It's a Setup: Testing Your Color Models===
==Screen and Screen Agan: Preparing for Production==