Story boards

'Twas one week until thesis

and all through our home

the storyboards were drawn

numbered to fill a tome.

Yesterday marked one week until thesis filming began, and today is director's prep for the movie. Aaron had lots and lots of storyboards to draw, and he enlisted my help because he hates drawing. He would take the previously-drawn thumbnails and enlarge them to show the characters' eyelines, and I would outline the drawings in Sharpie marker. We did this for about three hours last night, until I went to bed. He stayed up most of the night doing this. At one point he went to school. I think he got to bed around 3:30 a.m., his alarm clock went off at 6 a.m., and he was back at school to present his boards.

This is the last step in pre-production. He will present to his professors and dean, who will approve the storyboards or make adjustments to them. He can use these images as guides for next week's shoot, to guide his director of photography and actors, but for the most part they won't need them because they will have them memorized, which I think is amazing.

Copying thumbnail sketches onto storyboard sheets and marking the scene and action on a separate sheet to guide the shooting process. 

Scene 2AB. The important thing is the eyeline. They're not in fire; they're in grass. I was really proud of the POWs beard in this storyboard. Aaron drew the POW to look like him every time, so I changed it up so the POW looked more unkempt. 

Scene 2AC- storyboard 56. Aaron's movie has six scenes. Each scene is marked by the number (2) and the shot (a letter A-Z). Most scenes have more than one alpha, so the go on to AA, AB, AC, etc.

This is a picture Aaron sent me this morning of his storyboards posted for presentation. His movie will only be between 10-20 minutes, but every single second of each shot is planned and approved before it can be taken.