Today we learned about how to convey and story, and the different ways to do so. Story and narrative are two different things.
The story is the events that happen and the order in which they do, whereas the narrative is how these events are told or recounted. This can deal with the perspective of the story, and how fast certain plot points are progressed.
We were given a very brief and vague prompt for a story, and had to come up with a storyboard for it. The prompt was about a boy, named Biff, who meets the girl of his dreams, Amy. However, the next day he's drafted in the military and posted over seas, and Biff wonders if Amy's parents has something to do with it. I came up with a simple version of what the story would be from Amy's point of view.
I decided that Amy was also going to fall in love with Biff instantly, as the prompt gave me the impression that this would be a romantic comedy, with a lot of crazy revelations and twists along with humour.
I thought it would be interesting if Biff didn't show up for a date with Amy the next day, and then Amy meets a new boy and becomes interested in him instead. Then, Biff would return from overseas a week later, and reveal what her parents did. I didn't get to finish, but Amy and Biff would get together, and get away from her parents for good.
I also wrote a short script of the scene for when Amy meets the new boy. I wanted it to be a stereotypical romantic meeting, but it would also have an audience shouting for the opposite.
This was what I managed to draw for the scene. Unfortunately, I ran out of time before I could finish, but since the script was done, I left it as is. I tried to make sure I conveyed how Amy would bump into Daniel, which proved harder than I thought. I think I did a good job for having such limited time.
The next time I draw up a storyboard, I'll be sure to use pencil instead, as everything would look cleaner. I'll also be sure to add more dynamic poses for the characters, as everything's a bit stick figure due to time.
There are also different types of shots that can be represented in a storyboard. For example, there are wide shots, medium shots, close ups, and extreme close ups. These will all have a different effect on a scene, so planning out what kind of shots will be needed to convey the story, narrative, emotions and anything else is important.
For example, if there is a new location that a character is visiting, an establishing shot may be needed to show it to the audience. A shot could also be filmed from a first person perspective so that the audience can experience how this character is feeling more accurately.
It's also important to remember that a camera doesn't have to stationary, and can move along with the characters or other things in the scene. A character could be running, and the camera could be tracking them. A camera can also have other movement, like a pan around a round, towards something of interest, or following a character's movement. A camera can also zoom in and out, which can be described by drawing a bow in the storyboard panel, and them connecting arrows to the end or beginning of the zoom, depending on what way its going.
There's also the matter of going to the next shot. When watching a movie or television series, people don't notice when a shot changes, but it's an important thing to consider. A shot could just cut to the next, or fade to black or white. The screen could also wipe left or right as a transition, like Star Wars scenes do. There are many ways to change a shot. In kids cartoons, if the scene has a definite ending, or a character is travelling to a new place, there's a longer transition, usually visually entertaining for children.
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