StoryBoard Investigation

Storyboarding

Last week I finally filmed to study portion of my interview which includes the audio that will be used in the entire film. It took me about 6 attempts to organize everything and finally shoot the multi-cam sequence that included 3 cameras all at different angles, 4 light fixtures, a white backdrop, and my subject. I organized everything from bringing in 3 SD cards, getting all the equipment from the TV Studio to the Light Studio, white balancing, adjusting exposure and aperture,  making sure my image size is the same in all my cameras, setting up the mic, adjusting audio levels, moving around lights, making sure the studio was clear of all other people, and so much more. So it was a major relief to get that out of the way and to finally start working on storyboarding my B-roll. Below is a little investigation on Storyboarding.

Storyboards are a drawn version of the movie and serve as the blueprint for the action and dialogue. Each storyboard artist receives script pages or a "beat outline", a map of the characters' emotional changes that need to be seen through actions. Using these as guidelines, filmogaphers and actors gather a general idea of the story they are trying to depict and transfer it from paper to the screen. It allows the story teller, script writer, or director to show the rest of the staff what they envision the film to be like in a visual way. Hundreds to thousands of storyboards can be drawn up for a movie, sometimes they are just thrown away and the artist starts over again.

Storyboards are used to create story. A storyboard originates from written word; for example from a script. A storyboard artist takes the written word and draws it into pictures. The pictures are then taken and pinned on a board, a storyboard. After all the pictures are pinned to a storyboard, the artist then pitches it to the director. The artist wants to give a sense of what this movie could be like and tries to bring it to life. The aim of a storyboard is to get a feeling of what the story could be like as a final film. The storyboard artist attempts to convey what it would feel like to watch the film in a cinema.

According to YouTube, online videos range in length, anywhere from 42 seconds to over 10 minutes. On average, most fall between 2–4 minutes. Keeping viewers’ attention for that long — especially in this day and age — is incredibly hard to do.B-roll can help. B-roll is the extra footage that surrounds an interview. It’s critically important to plan out this supplemental footage when storyboarding and editing a film. The extra footage can provide different perspectives and dimensions to a story, engage viewers visually and keep their attention in check.Without b-roll, interview-style videos would be dependent on chronological and seamless responses, making it hard to edit out unwanted content. Capturing peripheral shots will help you avoid underwhelming talking head footage — scenes where the main action involves someone talking either right into the camera or just to the side of the camera — and provides editors more options for voiceovers to visually piece together the best story possible.
And b-roll can be just about anything — a stationary shot of leaves swaying in the wind, a moving shot rolling over photographs on a desktop, an over-the-shoulder shot of someone rocking in a chair, historical news clips, vintage videos or timelapses. The options are endless, but they must be relevant to the story you are trying to tell.

I started to story board my B-roll footage and am including times I want to switch clips based on my audio. I also have been including pauses that I will be playing music and further illustrating Jack's words before he resumes talking. Im incorporating a lot of smooth motion and movement to give a more professional look instead of the amateur  interview I put together at the beginning of the year. I've been using the "Tash Sultana" interview as a frame of reference since both interviews are about musicians.

Worklog:
Monday-No School
Tuesday- Reserved studio, Messed around with lighting and camera settings
Wednesday- Went over shooting checklist for filming
Thursday- Filmed interview and cleaned up the audio grain
Friday- Messed around with color correction and started b-roll storyboard

Reference Sheet

Reference Sheet

Camera Angles

Camera 1 View:

• Centered
• Symmetrical
• Looking Straight on as if Talking to the audience.

Camera 2 View:

• Side view Close-Up / Extreme Close-Up
• Shallow depth of field
• Looking off to left
• Rule of thirds 
• Rule of thirds intersection on eye

Camera 3 View:

• Zoomed out
• side angle
• object (Soft Box) obstructing some part of frame
• Zoomed out a little. In between distance of Camera 1 and Camera 2.
• Medium Depth of Field

Camera Settings Cheat Sheets

Pre Interview Checklist

1. 3 cameras
2. 3 batteries
3. 3 SD cards
4. 3 tripods (already in studio)
5. Lav mic
6. Set up cameras 1, 2, and 3.
7. set up lighting- Soft Box- Back light
8. White balance all cameras to the same piece of white paper.
9. Adjust exposure so its the same on all cameras
10. Set Movie Recording Size on all cameras to 1280x720, 60fps
11. Plug in Lav Mic to camera 1
12. Attach mic to subject
13. Ask subject to speak normally
14. Adjust Sound recording on camera 1- balance audio levels so they reach 12.
15. Focus cameras
16.  Start recording
17. Ask initial Question
18. Record interview

WorkLog:
Monday- Worked on Day of Production Spread Sheet
Tuesday- Worked on Day of Production Spread Sheet
Wednesday-Went to another classroom to take test
Thursday- absent
Friday- absent

B-Roll Camera Shots

B-Roll Camera Shots

Left to Right "Slider" Shot:

Is a slide from left to right with smooth motion and no rotating of the camera, usually.

This shot requires: 

• Camera w/ SD Card
• Slider for best stability and movement. However you could use a stedi-cam and walk if its a longer shot or just shoot it and use "Warp Stabilizer" when editing.
• Large depth of field

Left to Right "Rotating" Shot

Rotate while moving from left to right. Can move camera to rotate and see 180 degree view of subject. Goes from pointing out, to rotating in, to pointing out again.

Downward Zoom "Reveal" Shot
Moving forward and zooming in while also panning down to reveal subject. Every dramatic and adds a sense of nobility to subject by first pointing to the sky.

Straight Ahead Zoom Shot
I wouldn't use this shot in my film because it's more sophisticated and this technique is too much street style and rap music video ish. But maybe I can utilize it in a later film.

Horizontal Plane "Tracking" Shot
I would like to use a version of this shot in my film where I track down the length of a guitar shaft ti reveal Jacks hands strumming and then zoom out and rotate to his face so I will be combining both this shot and a Up to Down "Rotating" Shot.

Crane Shots
The camera is attached to a crane that can capture shots from high angles and either pan up or down or any combinations of shots. Can add a rally dramatic effect. One of my favorites is tracking the subject from behind then lifting up in a smooth motion to reveal landscape and location.

Ariel Shots
Drones or helicopters catch the entire setting of a scene from a birds eye view.

Tilt Shots
Tilt shots are when a camera moves up and down from a fixed axis. Usually tracking something with the movement, revealing an object, or casting away from a subject.

Tracking Shots
Shots in which the camera is on a track or something that allows the camera to follow a subject as it moves.

Rolling Shots
The camera moves diagonally making the image slanted and usually suggests intoxication.

Zoom Shots
Using the camera lens to zoom in and out. (zoom out and zoom in shots)

Panning Shots
Where the camera slowly moves side to side across a scene on a fixed set of axis.

Arc Shot
Using the camera in a circular motion around an object to show subject from all angles.

I made this to refresh my memory on the different shot types involving movement. I know all the still shots because we did them in previous classes but we never really studied movement. So above are a bunch of different shots that involve movement. I feel the use of movement enhances films and makes them look so much more professional that with still shots. Its more realistic to the human eye because we are never really looking at something completely still. Our breathing causes a constant rise and fall of our chest that then moves our heads and eyes as well. Without even realizing it we are constantly looking at things while moving. Therefore its only natural to have our cameras moving while making films. Its also more interesting because you see more from different angles than with a still shot. I'm not saying I'll never use still videos in my films because I am. I will Have three cameras set up in my interview on tripods and they will al be stationary. This is common in interviews because you usually only have one take so incorporating movement would be complicated and require man power I do not possess. But by contrasting movement with stillness in my film I will be able to differentiate the interview from the B-Roll and illustrate how Jack is always moving in his life, he's always doing something. And this interview is a moment in time when he is still so that footage will be still.

WorkLog:

Monday-Went in Lighting Studio and set up multiple cameras and messed around with lighting again

Tuesday- Talked with photography teacher to reserve lighting studio and what times and dates would work.

Wednesday- No school

Thursday- 2 hour delay, went in film studio and messed around with lights

Friday- Started sketching different B-roll shots I want to get

Tash Sultana Interview

Tash Sultana Interview Principles

Tash Sultana is an Australian multi-intrumentalist and singer-songwriter. She grew up in Melbourne and was gifted a guitar from her grandfather when she was three. this is when her music career started. From then on she learned to play numerous instruments, write songs, and sing. However, her life didn't come without struggle, she became addicted to drugs and partying and her career was damaged because of it. In this interview below she discusses her journey and the challenges she has overcome and the problems she has recognized to get past her faults. I wanted to write about this interview because I am hoping to do something similar to it with my Jack Life on ADD interview and needed something to base my editing and shot collection off of. Plus my Theme for this year is "Journeys" and this interview illustrates Tash Sultana's journey.

The first thing I noticed was that they did started the interview with her biggest struggle and that was dealing with drugs, so it really helped set the tone for the entire film. It is a two person interview and mine will not be like that but I love the background they use. She has lights framing her head that are blurred out and create a soft bokeh effect. And the interviewer has musical equipment in the back of his shot which shows her interests as well since she is a musician. All of this sets the tone for the viewers and visually gives an insight to who she is before she even tells us.

This is how I want my interview with jack to turn out, artistic and less tense. My previous film was fast paced with no space in between the words of the subject. In this interview there are pauses where B-roll footage just roles and soft music with her singing plays in the background. It's really moving and doesn't thrust a bunch of emotional banter in the viewers face but instead eases into the story and adds suspense. While collecting my B-roll I want it to look like this, dark color scheme, low lighting, lots of movement, different angles of the same shot, etc. I want to make a narrative almost and not just have my subject tell their story. My goal is to present their words with video that will evoke the emotions they are feeling into the audience, to support what they have to say and make it beautiful.

The B-roll is of her playing her instruments, showing segments of her youtube videos, and just illustrating a laid back, creative, and deep personality. The thumbnail for the video is a great example of the b-roll and was used a lot. It's of Tash singing and playing the guitar on a stage with a few scattered instruments but really dramatic lighting. The pointer light to the right adds the feeling of an onstage presence while also illuminating her hair and shoulder which gives an outline and distinction be tween her face/hair and the black background.

 


The editor also uses different color schemes to group shots and distinct them from one another. For example the interview part gives a warm feeling with her yellow hat, warm lighting, and orange bokeh and blur behind her. This gives comfort to the viewers and this shot is usually shown while she is speaking about harder and deeper topics. The b-roll of her on stage singing is a colder more washed out scheme and separates itself from the actual interview. It is usually accompanied by her actually singing and the sound of her voice and music. The pictures of her child hood are given a oink undertone to maybe display her innocence back then and contrast it to the woman who has made numerous mistakes and challenges she has dealt with. Then there is a black and white scheme which grouped together shows her numerous self recordings and adds a feeling of the past because thats what they are from.

Worklog:
Monday- looked at cameo effect
Tuesday- watched color correction video
Wednesday- researched lighting effects in after effects
Thursday- watched multiple interviews
Friday- watched Tash Sultana interview