There are many ways of directing out there. Some people have their idea in their heads and they improvise depending on the situation, the location, anything. It's a very creative way of filming although with some risks. And you have to be real good. Another way of doing it is planning. Alfred Hitchcock used to say "ok, now we have the storyboard, it's just as easy as filming it!". For In A Dream we used the second approach. Actually, when you use visual effects, it's the best thing to do. Visual effects require very good filming quality to avoid spending long hours fixing things that could have been done in-camera.
So, the first thing to do is to break down the script. For every scene, you need to analyze what you are going to need. Will the camera move? So you'll need a dolly, or a car, or the classic wheelchair. Is the action outside or inside? What kind of locations you'll need? Do you need special make-up? You'll probably need that if you are filming a zombie movie (or find really ugly actors). Sometimes you'll find that it's easier to modify the script a little than trying to do what the script says no matter how much it can cost. Remember what we said in other articles... "Be water, my friend". Be flexible and you'll have fun making your movie.
We decided to create storyboards to help us while filming. We have to say that they helped a lot. A storyboard is like a comic book of your film, where you have an image of every shot, or at least the key shots. There are many ways to do this. Easiest (and not bad at all) is just grab some pen and paper and draw them yourself. They don't need to be very good (just sticky figures are more than enough). It's useful to draw a rectangle with a similar frame aspect ratio to the one in your camera. Then you can draw what the camera will be seing. It's important to draw the framing you want, how the characters move (with pointing arrows) and how the camera moves (zoom in, pan right...). Sometimes it's useful to write additional notes like "camera shake", "pan down, stop, then continue". Another way of making your storyboards is with a computer, using a 3D package, like Maya, 3DMAX, Cinema4D... there're plenty to choose from. We did our storyboards with Maya. You can get a free evaluation copy of Maya if you are a student. Check it out at the Maya site.
It looks difficult, doesn't it? Well, it's not that hard, really. Of course, you need to know how to use the program, so first thing is to get a couple of tutorials. Then you have to model the objects in your scene. But does that mean you have to do it yourself, or pay someone to do it? Not really. For our storyboards we didn't model any of the objects we needed. We just borrowed from internet :) And don't worry, it's legal. There are many websites you can use to download free models. One of our favourites is TurboSquid. You can get from furniture to animals, vehicles, people... If you download people make sure they are rigged, that is they have an skeleton, so that you can move and pose them as you like. Once you have your objects in place, add a camera, position it where you like and take a snapshot! A really big advantage of this method compared to drawing is that you can test real position of cameras. This can be really useful, specially if you shoot in interiors or sets, where space is limited. You can also test different lenses, camera moves, effects.
An advanced method using 3D is to move the objects and the camera in your scene and thus, create a digital animated version of your shot. This is called previsualization and it can be really useful for shots with visual effects.
Here you can see some of the storyboards we used for In A Dream, and the corresponding shot we filmed. As you can see, they are quite close to each other. That's good planning!
Another advantage of using 3D graphics is that you can get a really easy and accurate map of where you should place your cameras within a sequence. We extensivelly used camera maps, storyboards and shooting plans throughout the production and it saved tons of time. It's really easy to get lost in the frenziness of filming. These things helped us.
Finally, in earlier articles about locations, we mentioned that it's a good idea to actually go there, at the same time of the shooting (but in a previous day of course) and film the sequence in a very simple way. You don't need the actors, it can be just you or some friend. This is useful to see if the shots you anticipated in the storyboard are correct or if the location gives you a new idea to try. This is a test shooting we did for the Phone Box sequence.
So, the first thing to do is to break down the script. For every scene, you need to analyze what you are going to need. Will the camera move? So you'll need a dolly, or a car, or the classic wheelchair. Is the action outside or inside? What kind of locations you'll need? Do you need special make-up? You'll probably need that if you are filming a zombie movie (or find really ugly actors). Sometimes you'll find that it's easier to modify the script a little than trying to do what the script says no matter how much it can cost. Remember what we said in other articles... "Be water, my friend". Be flexible and you'll have fun making your movie.
We decided to create storyboards to help us while filming. We have to say that they helped a lot. A storyboard is like a comic book of your film, where you have an image of every shot, or at least the key shots. There are many ways to do this. Easiest (and not bad at all) is just grab some pen and paper and draw them yourself. They don't need to be very good (just sticky figures are more than enough). It's useful to draw a rectangle with a similar frame aspect ratio to the one in your camera. Then you can draw what the camera will be seing. It's important to draw the framing you want, how the characters move (with pointing arrows) and how the camera moves (zoom in, pan right...). Sometimes it's useful to write additional notes like "camera shake", "pan down, stop, then continue". Another way of making your storyboards is with a computer, using a 3D package, like Maya, 3DMAX, Cinema4D... there're plenty to choose from. We did our storyboards with Maya. You can get a free evaluation copy of Maya if you are a student. Check it out at the Maya site.
Making storybards with Maya.
It looks difficult, doesn't it? Well, it's not that hard, really. Of course, you need to know how to use the program, so first thing is to get a couple of tutorials. Then you have to model the objects in your scene. But does that mean you have to do it yourself, or pay someone to do it? Not really. For our storyboards we didn't model any of the objects we needed. We just borrowed from internet :) And don't worry, it's legal. There are many websites you can use to download free models. One of our favourites is TurboSquid. You can get from furniture to animals, vehicles, people... If you download people make sure they are rigged, that is they have an skeleton, so that you can move and pose them as you like. Once you have your objects in place, add a camera, position it where you like and take a snapshot! A really big advantage of this method compared to drawing is that you can test real position of cameras. This can be really useful, specially if you shoot in interiors or sets, where space is limited. You can also test different lenses, camera moves, effects.
An advanced method using 3D is to move the objects and the camera in your scene and thus, create a digital animated version of your shot. This is called previsualization and it can be really useful for shots with visual effects.
Here you can see some of the storyboards we used for In A Dream, and the corresponding shot we filmed. As you can see, they are quite close to each other. That's good planning!
Storyboards comparison.
Another advantage of using 3D graphics is that you can get a really easy and accurate map of where you should place your cameras within a sequence. We extensivelly used camera maps, storyboards and shooting plans throughout the production and it saved tons of time. It's really easy to get lost in the frenziness of filming. These things helped us.
Camera map for the Dream sequence.
Finally, in earlier articles about locations, we mentioned that it's a good idea to actually go there, at the same time of the shooting (but in a previous day of course) and film the sequence in a very simple way. You don't need the actors, it can be just you or some friend. This is useful to see if the shots you anticipated in the storyboard are correct or if the location gives you a new idea to try. This is a test shooting we did for the Phone Box sequence.
Test shooting for the Phone Box sequence.
