Effective Storyboards and Planning

Film Featurette:

1. Walk from front door of classroom to a distant part of the room; invent some purpose for doing so
2. Plan 6 camera moves, all in one take, that captures the event (no more, no less)
• This will work better at full wide-angle (or close to that)
• Don't improvise; plan it out first (storyboard) so everyone knows where to be when
• Keep the camera as level and still as possible; move around like you have a full cup of hot coffee and don't spill any
• Make all moves slow, deliberate, graceful
• Try to finish with a dramatic shot/framing
3. Zooming is probably too hard, but be creative; choreograph a dance between camera and actor
• around
• over
• under
• near
• far
• high
• low
4. Storyboard those six moves using digital camera (set to small size); frame the shots just the way you want it to look with the video camera
5. Upload stills to Pages template (Word Processing > Miscellaneous > Storyboard; 1 page only) See how here.
6. Add scene directions and dialog
7. Export as PDF (File > Export; Quality=Better)

1. Shoot the scene exactly as storyboarded (hand held; steady as possible; don't spill any) so that all 6 moves are in one continuous take
2. The whole scene should be roughly 20-30 seconds; certainly less than one minute
3. upload to iMovie '09 project (Do NOT check Analyze for Stabilization while Importing footage)
4. Stabilize footage (see how here)
1. Import clip into iMovie '09 Event (Do NOT check Analyze for Stabilization while Importing footage)
2. Select the portion needed and add to a project
3. Double-click project clip > Clip >Smooth Clip Motion; Adjust Maximum Zoom
5. Share > Export > Medium

1. Upload storyboard as a media file (not the Paper Clip; you want the one-page PDF visible) and movie as a media file (BOTH in same Blog entry)
2. Share storyboard with whole group and then movie; how close are they?