The Last Post

A Summary 

I have a lot to say about how I handled this project, it was definitely a learning curve, and in reflection, my research influenced my practical first and my essay second, so you could say I did it the opposite way than was recommended. I do believe that the project was successful, and I learnt a lot from my research.

Most Useful Sources 

My most useful sources came from contacting practitioners, I made a lot of contacts in this module, and each supplied me with different answers. This was incredibly useful as it meant I had to triangulate all my knowledge into one coherent essay and practical response. My most useful sources were "Storyboarding: A Critical History" by Chris Pallant and Steven Price, and "Grammar of the Shot". These supplied the basics on contextualising storyboarding as a process, and base cinematography knowledge which is key to any storyboard artist.

What I would have done differently 

If I were to redo this project, I would definitely have started my essay sooner, however due to my nature I ended up going down a rabbit hole of books, where I would find some knowledge, and then find another book specifically to do with what I had found. I have read a lot of books this module, and I should have sifted through the unnecessary stuff first, and started my essay. In many ways my practical came first, which is natural as a practitioner, but I feel as though my writing may have suffered due to putting this practical first in places. I somewhat feel as though the extensive research which I carried out was not shown to it's fullest potential in my essay, but my development in my practical should back up the knowledge which was gained through this research module.

The Final Week

In this final week, I have taken all of Mat's feedback from tutorials, as well as feedback from my peers in order to finish my essay, and get it bound professionally. I have also put together a few more storyboards, just to wrap up my knowledge with the practice, and make sure that I had taken away what I aimed to when I started this project.

This was an VFX board I made using the character of "Bumblebee" from the new movie character sheet. I had previously been told by Bianca Ansems that I should respect the Director's wishes, and Ryan Adams had told me that I should expect a revised version of the board to come back, and I should not be precious about my work. Therefore I made a revised version of this board, just to give multiple options. 

I am happy with how both of these board worked out. I am open to criticism on all of my boards, so if there is any confusion I am happy to clear anything up. Both these boards almost show different scenes, and they indeed could, however the main point of these scene was to have the main character transform from a car into a robot, and both achieve that, but one is more action based, and one shows a potential key frame which could be used in a final film as a "money shot". 

A Lotta Practical

I will start off this week by saying I gained some great responses from Bianca Ansems, a freelance storyboard artist. She gave some really helpful tips which I took on board and have referenced in my essay.

In terms of practical, I have made a lot of progress this week, making a lot of different boards for different reasons. My first board was a Godzilla board, my main goal with this was to make a readable, clear storyboard, that a VFX artist could use as reference to make a finished VFX shot.

My next board, I decided not to make another main storyboard just yet, I decided instead to make a few test panels, just to test my base knowledge, and see how I have developed through my research at this point in the year. I will put all of these panels below, some are meant for live action, some for animation, hopefully this is readable when you see them. There is perspective tests, and framing, as well as camera movement tests.

My next shot, is something different, for this panel, I wanted to go for a key frame shot. This is when a board artist, will make a quick few key frames using the actual style that the final film will be in. This is purely to capture colour, and is as close to a final thing you will get from a storyboard panel.

Further Practical

I have made a lot of progress on my boards this week, I have made a lot of progress in making a lot more storyboards to use in my final outcome. Thanks to the advice from Douglas Ingram, I made an animated car chase, and I also made a live action board for a dialogue scene, as well as some establishing shot practice.

Live Action Board for testing the 180 degree line rule:

Car Chase Board Inspired by Douglas Ingram:

I am happy with how this turned out, I think it reads well, and the perspective works for the style of the board. It is supposed to be animated so it relies heavily on some exaggerated proportions, and some background movement as opposed to specifically making the cars move.