Filmmaking Basics/Thumbnail Storyboard/What software for thumbnail storyboards?

CURRENTLY THIS IS AN ORPHAN PAGE

This school is: Wikiversity Film School - Narrative film production This course is: The basics of narrative filmmaking This lesson is: Creating the thumbnail storyboards The pages of this lesson are: Introduction - Creating the thumbnail storyboards If you have problems: Things to worry about! ("Crossing the line.") More things to worry about! (Eyeballs & cameras)

Storyboard worksheet (pdf) • Storyboard worksheet larger (pdf) • Story • Script Outline • Sample storyboard frames • Formatted script • Floor plan.

Tools for storyboarding.

OPTION 1 - Paper and Pencil Obviously, paper and pencil are the best possible tools for thumbnail storyboarding. The only problem is how do you show your sketches to the other members of our jolly crew who live all around the world. If you use pencil and paper, you have to scan your pictures into a computer… and that can take more time than drawing the pictures on a computer to start with. OPTION 2 - Adobe Photoshop A thumbnail storyboard frame created quickly using Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Adobe Photoshop is ideal for storyboarding because it is fast… once you become familiar with the program. Photoshop has round and square marquee tools for making selections which can be filled and stroked to create heads, eyes, and bodies. All you need is Photoshop 4 or better to make wonderful storyboards. An old antique computer is perfect for this. (Though Photoshop is not free, you can use an old version which is almost free. I use version 5.5 on a laptop made 10 years ago.) OPTION 3 - ArtRage(Free demo version) Highly Recommended !!! A very simple storyboard frame created using the free version of ArtRage. ArtRage 2 is a fun painting program simulating simple artist tools. Ambient Design is a New Zealand based company founded by Andy Bearsley and Matt Fox-Wilson who came from MetaCreations Corp. They offer a free version of ArtRage 2 which has only some of the features of the full version. Still, the free version is more than enough to do this project. Note 1 ArtRage 2 requires a graphic tablet since a mouse is not a good painting tool. I tried using a mouse and could not do it. You must have an artist's tablet attached to your computer to get the benefit of pressure sensitivity. OPTION 4 - Camera Some film directors prefer to get real actors and have them walk through the script. As the actor move into position, the director photographs them. This way the director can use the actual lenses in the actual location. OPTION 5 - FrameForge 3D Studio 2 - (Free demo version) Good news! I have just discovered this wonderful program called "FrameForge". FrameForge 3D Studio 2 is a fun program which you can being using almost immediately. Download the free demo version and try it. I think you will like it!!! For more info, look at the article on the right.

FrameForge 3D Studio 2 The FreeDemo Version The young person looks at the movie poster. A wonderful opportunity FrameForge 3D Studio 2 FrameForge is a great 3D storyboarding program. It is designed for professional storyboard artists to create lens accurate images for real motion pictures. Best of all, this program is well designed and well written. This is rare! The Advantage of FrameForge FrameForge has a unique advantage. The program teaches you about lenses. FreameForge 3D Studio is an excellent program for people who do not understand the impact of lenses. Unless you are an expert with SLR fixed-focus cameras, I strongly suggest that you start with the freedemo version of FreameForge 3D Studio to experiment with the way camera lenses work. After you know this, then you can begin creating thumbnail storyboards with pencil and paper. The Free Demo Version You can download a free demo version of FrameForge. This free version has limitations but the demo program works well enough for completing the storyboards for our movie while learning a tremendous amount about camera lenses.

Other Software Not Recommended Sketch Up has a free demo version of SketchUp 5 which is fully working for 8 hours... which is enough time for you to experiment with the program creating storyboards. The program is absolutely fascinating but too awkward for storyboarding. I will continue to test this. There has to be some use in filmmaking for this wonderful program. Not Recommended Open Office 2 has a draw module which is designed for full size pages. It has no paint features for drawing expressions on the actor's faces. Therefore, creating small thumbnail storyboards is difficult.

Untested Here are interesting products that I need to test. I have not tried this product Storyboard Artist by Power Products provides professional level features that are easy to learn and access. Creates print boards and QuickTime animatics. Also useful for prototyping games and other visual projects. I have not tried this product Storyboard Quick by Power Products comes complete with pre-drawn image libraries which includes rotating characters; both specific and generic locations plus everyday props. I have not tried this product Storyboard Artist Studio by Power Products contains all of the features of StoryBoard Artist with additional features such as a sketch mode which turns all your frames into a sketch-like look so no matter what you use in a frame, the printed page looks like you sketched it. New version EazyDraw has a free version. My original test of the demo version discovered a bug which apparently has now been fixed. Small windows could not be created in the demo version. Now I must test the newest version. An interesting program but can I load it? GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. The GIMP ORG provides the free source code which then must be compiled in X11. Previously, this program was too difficult to load so I did not recommend it to the average filmmaker. (For more detail, see WikiU Film School - Problems installing GIMP.) New Loader GIMP for the Macintosh now has a new loader. The previous free loader reqires extensive knowledge of Unix code so it was not appropriate for filmmakers. The newest verion is 80 MEGs so I am unable to download it. (Anyone with a fast connection and a Mac?) Totally new options GIMP for the Window was previously difficult to load or was not free. Now there is a wide range of ways to get this program for free (or almost free.) With the introduction of Ubuntu and Edubuntu, all the pain is gone. Also, loaders for Gimp for Windows from Jernej Simoncic apparently makes this very easy. (I have not tested this.)

Completed Homework Assignments - Thumbnail Storyboarding Thumbnail storyboards from the lesson on Thumbnail storyboarding Click on the image to see larger version. Kasturika has completed this assignment (pdf) (23 May 2007) Good job! 10 points Kasturika says, "I used the Microsoft paint application. I took a screen shot of the storyboard, converted it into bitmap image, made the frames separately and pasted them. Then I used OpenOffice.org Draw to export the bitmap image as PDF." Click on the image to see larger version. Niri0n in Sweden has completed this assignment (png). Click on the image to see larger version. (23 May 2007) Good job! 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Wachapon2 has completed this assignment (png). Click on the image to see larger version. (2 June 2007) Good job! 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Tunderboy9 has completed this assignment. (13 July 2007) Good job! 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Vijay Singh has completed this assignment. (17 July 2007) Good job! 10 points This is the first storyboard which looks like a movie. The figures are positioned as in a movie. The size of the figures are as in a movie. Yet, these are still very simple thumbnail storyboards. Please look at these storyboards!!!! Click on the image to see larger version. Mok has completed this assignment. (21 July 2007) Very good job! 10 points Here is a very artistic thumbnail storyboard. Click on the image to see larger version. Fred has completed this assignment. (5 August 2007) Very good job! 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Mpftmead has completed this assignment (png). Click on the image to see larger version. (6 August 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Izwah has completed this assignment. (6 August 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Refardeon has completed this assignment (png). Click on the image to see larger version. (13 August 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Noblerinthemind has completed this assignment using GIMP (png). Click on the image to see larger version. (16 August 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. KinnetiK has completed this assignment (JPG). Click on the image to see larger version. (23 August 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Sushant has completed this assignment (JPG). Click on the image to see larger version. (01 September 2007) 10 points 200px Click on the image to see larger version. Tharun Bhascker has completed this assignment (JPG). Click on the image to see larger version. (5 September 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Moraistelmo has completed this assignment (JPG). Click on the image to see larger version. (7 September 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Elisia Johnson has completed this assignment (PNG). Click on the image to see larger version. (01 October 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Sibte Hassan has completed this assignment. (6 October 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Mattjames17 has completed this assignment. (30 October 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Cristiana has completed this assignment. (08 November 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. William Lewis has completed this assignment. (13 November 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Manuelciosici has completed this assignment. (05 December 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Pruthvirajg has completed this assignment. (10 December 2007) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Davidmp4 has completed this assignment. (21 December 2007) 7 points Click on the image to see larger version. Alideniz has completed this assignment. (01 January 2008) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Sereyaco has completed this assignment. (03 January 2008) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Marcus Mac has completed this assignment. (28 January 2008) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Mike305 has completed this assignment. (01 March 2008) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Vikram_Acharya has completed this assignment. (30 March 2008) 10 points Click on the image to see larger version. Eldorino has completed this assignment. (05 April 2008) 10 points

Completed assignment - Creating the thumbnail storyboard June 12, 2008 -- Rick14 has created a thumbnail storyboard. Click on the image to see larger version.

Reference materials Reference materials for Seduced by the Dark Side! that you might need. All the Lesson 4 Storyboard Frames. This sheet will give you ideas for your storyboards. The storyboard outline. Print this script outline and use the numbers on this script for your thumbnail storyboards. The original story. To get additional information for your storyboards, look at the original story. The formatted script. A possible floor plan for the movie set. This will help you plan your shots.

The Next Page The next page explains why FrameForge 3D Studio is an ideal learning tool. Previsualization with tools such as FrameForge 3D Studio and DAZ Studio Contact your instructor Your instructor for this filmmaking class is Robert Elliott. You can email me by clicking here.

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