Storyboarding

Storyboarding is method of expressing your camera set ups and camera movement to others.  If your shooting it yourself, then it's reference to the cast and crew about what you want the movie to look like. If you have a Director Of Photography (the guy who's running the camera's), the storyboards are a way for him  to reference what you want and what's coming up without him having to wait for you to tell him.  If they have an idea before hand, you'll save yourself some shooting time.  When you don't have to take extra time to explain camera movement, then you're more likely to meet your schedule and let's face it, if you meet your schedule, you won't go over budget.

There are several very good ways to put together a comprehensive storyboard:

Drawing- If you can draw then you're ahead of the game a little.  If you can't draw, find some way to express you vision on paper for others to follow.

Photographs-  You can take the photos and then even plug them into your screenwriting or scheduling program.

Video (Blocking)- This is a good way to kill a few birds with one stone; you get an opportunity to work through the blocking (movement) with your cast, you have a video reference and you get a feel for the location and how your scene works in the movie.

Planning Your Shoot

How do you plan your shoot?

So, you’ve got your script.  You’ve structured your short story around items that are easily available.  Now’s the time to jump into planning your shoot or pre-production.  Pre-production is planning the execution of your movie and how you’re going make it happen.  You may be doing a short film or a full-length feature and most likely you’re on a limited budget.  The only way that you’re going to be able FINISH it and not spend more money than you wanted to and that is to have done your diligence in pre-production.  It’s very easy to go over budget and run out of time if you’ve over looked something in pre-production.  It’s easier to throw money at it to fix it when you’re in the heat of filming than to take the time to find a creative way to fix it (time that you’re most likely not going to have). 

See Jungle Full Line of Software

Start with the four major things:

Who:  What people are going to be involved, both cast and crew?

What:  What are you shooting?  Do you have a script?

When:  How many days are you going to shoot?  When are you going to shoot?  Does your script call for a specific season or seasonal setting?

Where:  What are your locations?  How many are there and what will you need to your whole company (all people involved) to these locations.

The more detailed your planning before you shoot, the smoothly your shoot will actually go!

See the full line of props at the The Maverick Store.

Scriptwriting Basics

A script is basically a blueprint for your movie. In today's segment we go over the over the mechanics of writing a script.

Four Basic Items

1. Who your characters are...
2. What they do...
3. Where they go...
4. What they say...

-DON'T let the fact that you might not be comfortable with script writing stop you from getting out there and shooting the idea in your head.

STORY IS STILL KING!  Don't let anyone ever tell you different!  Dito Montiel wrote the script for “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” on a Steno Pad (he did all of his rewrites from scratch on the same Steno Pad).



Here are some options on scriptwriting software & homework "Save the Cat":


      


Click here to download the Screenplay Template.

And make sure you copyright your work!