Comics : The step after Screenplay
During many of the “behind the scenes” of movies made in Hollywood, I’ve noticed some footage being spent on checking out the characters and many scenes drawn in a comic book format.
This after the screenplay has been written or God only knows what draft stage it is at and before the actual shooting of the movie has commenced. I view this as an amazing concept which clarifies many details of the characters and scenes.
In fact I would love to see the entire screenplay in comic book format “before” the shooting goes on floors. The comic book will help give a better picture of the story. It could provide how the story moves, is there any lack in pace?, do they lose grip over the flow at any stage?, do the characters come out as they were defined on paper?, do the scenes have the punch as they are conceptualized on paper?…
Not only that but various camera angles, sets, locations, can be chosen based on the comic scenes. Perhaps the camera should be kept on the floor looking up on the characters, perhaps it should move back to give a wider glimpse of the scene behind the characters, perhaps the colors of the characters’ wear should be changed to match the scene…
I know that the dress designers (in the Indian movie industry) create sketches of the characters and the various dresses they have to design for those characters… but a comic book on the entire screenplay can help resolve so many issues, doubts and confusions the director, writer, actors and technicians may come across during actual filming. A comic book could help resolve not only all these hurdles, but could also be an effective tool in saving costs and time.
I’m not sure how far film makers in the Indian Film Industry use the comic book format to check out the impact of the screenplay… if not… why not?
Tags: Production, Teaching Film-making
Anurag Kashyap
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Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
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Interesting thought Oz. to add to the Comic book, i would also like to see the story board of the movie. Story board if used by a director( I am sure not many use it, as many believ in spontaneity) would give us an idea of how he wanted his camera to move and at what angles he wanted to shoot the particular scene. I would be a great idea to hand out the comic book and the storyboard with the purchase of original DVD.
The process is known as storyboarding. Here in Hollywood it is a very common process to storyboard. Especially if you enter the studio structure, the entire film, shot by shot has to be storyboarded before shooting. Storyboard artists in Hollywood get specialized training and are paid a lot of money for this field of work, because it’s not just simple illustrations. You have to also include the cinematographers lighting schemes and include a basic idea of the kind of emotions the director is looking for.
I produce commercials and in the advertising business, we take this process a step further. Once we storyboard the entire ad, we scan the boards into the AVID and cut it together, and try to animate it as much as possible, and actually edit together a 30 second spot for the client to see, with basic voice overs/dialogs, music and sound design, over the illustrations. This process is known as animatics.
Directors like Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg in fact have now moved past storyboarding into a process known as pre-vis. Pre-vis is a widely used process, in fact a necessary process for shots involving visual effects or CG. In movies like King Kong, Peter Jackson actually had his associates enact the roles of the actors in a motion capture studio, and using the motion capture, their movements are then loaded into a 3D program that animates the characters, and pre-vis artists build a basic plot of the environment around them. This is then burnt on a DVD, and when he is on set, he has every shot to refer to on his portable DVD player with camera movements and actor blocking, and he just re-creates it on set.
If you are interested in checking out how pre-vis is used, I suggest you rent the DVD for King Kong Production Diaries. Its a 2 set DVD released before the movie came out, and it has a lot of footage of how Jackson used pre-vis.
As for why it is not used much in India, a lot of Indian filmmakers in fact have started storyboarding. It’s a huge improvement considering most filmmakers shot without a completed script until a few years ago. But I do know for a fact that Karan Johar storyboards his films, and Shahrukh Khan insists on storyboards for his own productions, since he started doing it with Main Hoon Naa. There is a very limited pool of specialized storyboard artists in India, and most filmmakers don’t find that investment necessary. Sad but true. Heck most producers still dont find it necessary to invest in writers. Lets move past that first before we get to storyboarding.
On a side note, you can in fact purchase storyboards of movies. Some films release the books. For example, The Matrix storyboards can be purchased at Barnes and Noble.
Yes,storyboarding indeed is an interesting process.Many directors like the coen brothes,chris nolan an wachowski brothers(Hell!If the won’t then who will?http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ff/0133093) use a detailed storyboard before shooting the script.
Another intersting aspect is the treatment which comes before storyboarding and even the screenplay.According to writingtreatments.com,
A treatment is essentially a breakdown of your movie that runs anywhere from a page or two to twenty pages (or even more, depending on the density of the script). A treatment is a blueprint for a screenplay. In essences a treatment is a Short Story.
The story told in detail stage-by-stage as it unfolds. This does everything that a synopsis and an outline so and a lot more. It reveals the full story and its structure, and shows the main and secondary characters their personalities, relationships, and how they change and develop. Treatments have different functions: a writer may compose a highly detailed treatment in preparation for the first draft, but this will have to be scaled down to meet requirements of busy producers and development execs. Length: 6 to 12 pages.
- Sumeet, that’s a neat idea. As Vijay rightly points in his comment, they do it in Hollywood.
- Vijay, Thanks for the tour. That is infact really really interesting. Am gonna read more on story boarding and pre-vis… it completely makes sense. Spending a bit more on story boarding/pre-vis actually helps you get a better grasp on the story and flow. Not only that but it helps you prevent from making errors (atleast many)… for producers it should serve as a valuable tool to make a final decision on investment… If Karan Johar uses story boarding… it would be interesting to find out if he didn’t catch the lack of flow in the story (KANK) in the storyboarding… or was it intentioned to be that way…
Thanks for that piece of knowledge
For example,here’s the treatment of the first few scenes of e.t.;
“E.T.”
Commentary by Richard Michaels
TITLES: “E.T. – THE EXTRA-TERRESTIAL”
[The letters are in soft-purple against a black background. Purple is
traditionally the color of that which is sacred.]
EXT: NIGHT SKY: NIGHT
The black screen becomes a night sky. The camera angles lowers to show a
forest against the night sky.
EXT: LANDING SITE: NIGHT
In an opening in the forest stands a spacecraft. The view of the craft is
obscured by tree branches. The atmosphere is misty, with blue lights coming
from the spacecraft.
[The opening scene is misty and diffused. This forces the audience to pay
close attention to the images on the screen. The characters are not clearly
seen. This engages the audience, as they attempt to see what the aliens
really look like.]
One creature walks up the gang blank and into the ship.
INSERT: ALIEN HAND
A strange hand, with two long and slender fingers protruding, move aside a
branch that obstructs the view.
[This concentrates the audience's attention. The creature going into the
ship is being observed by another creature. Who are they? What's going on?
This is another technique that forces the audience to focus on the action.]
INT: SPACECRAFT’S GREENHOUSE: NIGHT
The inside of the ship appears to be a greenhouse. There are sounds of
water dripping. Cone shaped objects (possibly alien plants) sit among earth
plants. Vapors flow up from the plants.
[These images all appear non-threatening. The aliens are inferred to be
collecting vegetation,and are thereby inferred to be harmless.]
[Like many of Spielberg's other films, the opening sequences contain almost
no dialogue. The story is told without verbal exposition. He forces the
audience to become engaged in the storytelling process by giving them just
bits of information that they have to piece together into the story. He
doesn't insult their intelligence.]
EXT: SPACECRAFT: NIGHT
A group of the aliens work in front of the spacecraft. Suddenly, they hear
a dog howl, and they all stop working. Red lights begin to glow in their
chests. It appears as if their hearts have lit up at the sign of danger, as
the red glow seeps through their translucent skin. After a moment the red
lights dim and they return to their work.
[This sets up the prop of the red-lights signifying danger. These small
creatures are endearing and non-threatening. They are like children, which
is immediate grounds for audience empathy. The thought that they may be in
danger from wild creatures in the forest, also creates empathy for them.]
- Chaitanya – very very exciting… to read about your thoughts on “treatment” – that’s the word someone used when I was talking to him the other day on a story I’ve published…
I don’t think Chaitanya meant treatment in the traditional cinematic way. “Treatment” technically means a short synopsis of your screenplay. People vary on how long it should be. Some say 1 page, some say 4-5. A one page treatment is hard to write but forces you to think of the dramatically relevant points of your 90 page screenplay.
This is probably the first few scenes with commentary on why they are powerful. Chaitanya, correct me if I’m wrong here…
Shripriya,you are absolutely correct.
- Shripriya/Chaitanya, I’m a bit confused here. I thought treatment was the way you would execute a screenplay – or is “treatment” the way the screenplay is written?
oz,treatment may vary according to the writer.A detailed treatment will tell you how the screenplay is to be executed but otherwise it’s the short story version of your film.
In Hollywood, the commonly followed rule for a treatment is to write your story in 3 pages, essentially like a short story. When it comes to writing, most Hollywood scripts follow a clear cut 3-Act linear narrative structure, so you divide the treatment into 1 Act per page. After that it’s upto you how you want to go about writing your screenplay. In film schools here, we are usually taught to write the scenes out in prose first, and simply describe what happens in each scene. That way, you can form a complete skeleton for the script. After that you can re-visit scene by scene and re-write it as it would play on screen. Write the dialogs etc. There are many amazing writers who do none of these things, and simply start writing as it would play on screen without any prep work. It depends on what gets you going.
Oz, Vijay
The point earlier about storyboarding and Shahrukh Khan reminded me about this. I saw the storyboards for his recent movie Don on its website (http://www.donthefilm.com/base.htm). It was the first time I saw story boards being used for a Hindi movie. But I was sceptical as well – if this was something that was done later to add some kind of authenticity etc. But, it was interesting to see it. The pictures flip with what was on the storyboard with what was the result when it was shot.
Taylor Montague: I know that, like Hitchcock, you lavishly prepared for the scenes that you were shooting.
Roman Polanski: Except I don’t storyboard.
Montague: What do you usually do to prepare for a scene? I’ve read that you take meticulous notes on actors expressions and the way they’re supposed to react in every little situation. Do you work with that kind of detail?
Polanski: No, my direction comes from actors’ rehearsals. I rehearse and I let them free in the beginning rather than the other way around. I hate having a storyboard and coming on the set and trying to fit people into the mechanics.
Montague: Is it too forced?
Polanski: No, it’s like ordering a first class suit by a leading tailor in Paris, then trying to find a person that will fit it. I do it the other way around.
(excerpt from a polanski interview)
well i’m not an anti-storyboarding propagandist, i thought Polanski in being facetious, is also providing keen insight, in another interview he said, (i’m paraphrasing) that in the beginning of his film career, he swore by storyboards, but soon realised that he was trying to control the film, and that film being organic has a life of its own, and is bigger than the filmmaker who is creating it.
but then Kurosawa did his storyboards himself, for “Ran” he drew intricate colour storyboards, also for “Dreams” i think.
i think for complex action sequences, and ad films, storyboards are crucial.
“The comic book will help give a better picture of the story. It could provide how the story moves, is there any lack in pace?, do they lose grip over the flow at any stage?, do the characters come out as they were defined on paper?, do the scenes have the punch as they are conceptualized on paper?”
oz, i can understand your excitement, unfortunately a storyboard is only a visualization tool, it can’t do those magical things you mention, all that happens on the editing table, or it doesn’t happen.
When you are working a tight schedule and have elaborate shots to do, storyboarding is an essential process. You can’t go on set and try to figure things out because time is money. I have not seen “Don” yet but I am not suprised that Farhan storyboarded it. I would also imagine that the film’s cinematographer Mohanan, would have demanded it. Although this is his first feature film, Mohanan is a vastly experienced cinematographer from the advertising industry. Most cinematographers and directors who migrate to feature films from advertising bring that discipline along with them. Case in point, Rajiv Menon, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Kiran Deohans etc.
I also want to add on a side note, that there are many exceptional storytellers for whom these organizational methods and processes don’t necessarily work. Heck, take someone like Wong Kar Wai, regarded as one of the world’s dinstinctive voices in filmmaking: the man shoots without a script. He has an idea for a film, brings actors together, and just goes on set and starts filming, without writing anything. From having read Anurag’s production diaries, we know he too doesn’t like to plan too much and prefers to rely on instinct. There are some creative minds that just cannot function in tight, disciplined environments.
-As usual, good one, Oz.
Two famous names come to my mind – folks who religiously believe/ed in storyboards – Hitchcock and Scorsese.
While Hitchcock used professional “storyboarders”, Scorsese is known to draw his own pics! His storyboards for Taxi Driver are phenomenal. Very minimalistic – few lines, no jazz – and yet so effective.
[Apologies for the repost. Thanks to my left arm some of the text in the previous comment got auto-deleted.]
Vijay,Wong kar wai is a great example.After watching his films,I really was shocked that he never uses a script.But then on the flipside,his movies take more time to finish.’In the mood for love’ inspite of not having too many locations or characters took one and half year to complete.But I like his style.He’s great.
One thing i learnt while making my Short Film was to be verrrrry insightful and have a loooong forethought of what you are doing while working on the storyboard. Eg: You gotta know the conditions you are working on, gotta keep in mind the lighting issue especially if you are working outdoors, gotta to be very practical about the camera angles…. For us we had a ‘pucca’(concrete) storyboard, but for various reasons, many of them didnot practically workout…so had to improvise them. It takes a hell lot to make a good movie…it takes a HELL LOT
May be the ad connection had something to do with it,Ray too was a strong believer in story-boarding(He happened to be an illustrator before he became a director).Most of the articles published on him in several Bengali magazines after his death, carried some of these story-boards.The level of details were simply amazing.Also there were some pics with the same shot visualized at alternate angles.No wonder the final product came out so refined after all these hard work.But then again each creative person has his own style of creativity. And we sideliners try to connect the dots to write the grammer book
Oz:
Satyajit Ray used to sketch whole his story of film on paper first before starting the real shooting. Even when he was a young student, he cultivated this habit that he would go to watch a movie and before that if he was knowing what was the story of film or on which novel etc this movie was based, he would sketch his own version of that story and then watched the film and later compared his version with director’s version.
But then creative process is very different for individuals. Ray was good in sketching so he could do it. Salim Javed described scenes in words in depth. And then there are actors who do lot of rehearsal to make a impact about a scene. Thing is which method works for whom.
I’m really big on the idea of story-boarding…
not only because thats where i earn my money from (haha) but because I think its usually the only balancing factor in a team full of creative minds, raging egos, and differing ideas about everything…it keeps some order on big sets
basically, it helps to keep matters somewhat linear in what is otherwise a very open-mind, open-space, open-heart kinda workspace
the few directors ive worked for, all of them had one reason to get their ideas story-boarded- to keep the artistic reigns mainly in their hands…which I think is reasonable- that’s what the director is there for
anyway, just a little clarification- Farhan Akhtar used storyboarding right from the beginning of his career. He had a storyboard for DCH (a beautiful one, I must say…ahem), he had a storyboard for Lakshya…and one for Don. I think that’s still one thing that keeps me hooked on to Farhan, besides DCH of course…he storyboards!! haha, but thats a bias, sorry
but yeah, storyboarding in india goes a long way back actually. If you ever get a hand on Sholay’s story board, it is an absolute must-see…the detail Divecha and Sippy have gone into, uff, its brilliant. But Sholay is still late…Naya Daur was storyboarded as well.
Saba: Thank you so much for your insights. I had no idea Divecha and Sippy storyboarded Sholay, or about Naya Daur for that matter. Now I’m going to begin my hunt for a copy of the Sholay storyboards.
Completely agree, storyboarding is the balancing factor. Otherwise when you are on set, and everybody from the DP, Director, Production Designer wants to push their preferences, it can get chaotic. It’s so much better to get all those debates sorted out while storyboarding, so when you go on set, you stand by whatever you agreed upon, and all of it is there in front of you in the form of illustrations.
- I’m absolutely loving this amazing inputs in the comments section of this post by you guys. Saba – I had no idea Sholay was storyboarded as was Naya Daur (wasn’t it BR Chopra who made it?)
Vijay – if you find the storyboard of Sholay would you please share it on PFC… It would be quite a trip to go through Sholay’s storyboard…
- Saba – HELL!!! You into STORY BOARDING :o Email me some storyboards we can put up on PFC!!!
- Guys – what we are missing is something from AK… Does anyone know if Anurag storyboards? He’s a painter so I’m guessing yes. But then as he mentioned in a previous post most of what he does comes out on the sets itself.
Ray was good in sketching so he could do it.
Couldn’t resist adding this snippet about Ray. He was VERY GOOD at sketching and in his early days, he did work for Signet Press and designed covers for books that they published. Notable among these was Jim Corbett’s Man Eaters of Kumaon and Nehru’s Discovery of India. Another peice of trivia I have heard about Ray was that he designed the original Wills cigarette packaging, but I can’t find the links now.
haha ozzie, ur really getting into the whole storyboarding idea, arent you
im currently working on a rearward assignment for practise- which is basically drawing a storyboard for a movie that has already been made… and then getting someone who knows how to follow storyboards but hasnt watched the movie, to see if they envision something similar to the movie…its a lot of fun, but a real challenge trying to get it right…so anyway, Im working on one for Govind Nihalani’s Dev right now, which should be done in around a week…I’ll send it to you then
saba.. sounds awesome! but curious as to what made you choose Dev of all films :-? lookin fwd to it nevertheless! \:d/
feel free to leave out that nasty kissing scene between fardeen and kareena.. wtf was that?? :-&
Vijay: sometime on ur search, if you come across this new set of computer-generated sholay storyboards, could you please let me know? apparently some dude at FTII has done a really awesome set that’s worth talking about…which sure counts for something considering every second person does a rearward on sholay (well, in canada, more on the godfather…but every indian storyboarder tries sholay at some point in his career)
i didnt even know they had a storyboarding course at FTII…do they?
striker: oy nahi yaar…you didnt like Dev? well, i had my reasons…
a) I love the movie… therefore own the DVD… therefore always have it close to my heart…that would be the convenience factor
b) storyboarders are often treated as inconsequential little extras…which is OK coz we know we are not…but at some point it gets to the self-esteem, so you start searching for challenges- things like tall people in full frames seen from the back, things like 5 minute dialogues between two people sitting on a couch…that would be the ego factor
c) people have the impression that artsy-partsy films dont need storyboaders, its more instinctive…instinctive, fair enough…but getting storyboards made does not mean lack of instinct, it means you bring your instinct to the storyboarding sessions…which is why storyboards are equally consequential in a Nihalani movie or a Woody Allen movie as they are in a wachowski brothers or a ram gopal varma movie…that would be the ‘fight for your brigade’ factor
d) i know quite a few people who havent seen Dev, so I guess the rearward works better that way…haha, that would be the common sense factor
so those are my reasons…but Im also working on a rearward for Eternal Sunshine so if ud rather see those, Ill send those :d
(these sites have the cutest emoticons, haha)
Saba, I have some contacts at FTII. I will ask them to check and see if I can get some of those Sholay storyboards, but honestly, I am not too excited about the idea of storyboarding for an already completed film. The fact that storyboarding is the first step of the visualization process is what makes it exciting. If someone is storyboarding an already visualized piece of work, it would certainly make for great practice, but for a third person, it doesn’t say too much about the process itself.
yup, thanks vijay.
about storyboarding an already completed film- of course, not very exciting to the third person, or the first person to be honest…
it’s just one of the better ways to practice and test your storyboarding skills…its basically to see if you can express the directors’ ideas in a well-enough way where the different crews working on the film, i.e: camera crews, lighting crews, etc can understand what basically needs to be achieved…so when my friend who hasnt seen dev looks at my story-board and visualizes something close enough to the actual movie, I know Ive done a good job putting the director’s vision onto paper…which is basically the whole purpose of our existence as storyboarders- we arent the creative force, more the tools used by the creative forces
its only the second best practice you get besides actually working with a director on a film…
haha, but ofcourse, its only more exciting when you are drawing storyboards for a director…because then you actually have a point and purpose in life
saba.. mera woh matlab nahi tha. i found Dev to be an avg movie.. decent but nothing amazing.. obviously the performances of the veteran actors was the highlight of it all. i’ve never watched a fardeen movie bc of fardeen or a kareena movie for kareena. but going back to your point about storyboarding a movie that most people wouldn’t have seen, then yes, this one definitely stands out as one.. and probably one that at least has a worthy story to tell. if it wasn’t for the tonsil hockey between fardeen and kareena and kareena’s singing, i probably would’ve made it thru the movie without cringing
- 6:30 am on a Saturday morning and the first thing I’m doing is reading PFC… these discussions are getting extremely addictive. Now somehow if I can find a way to move these discussions and turn them into projects… :-?
PFC Authors – the new project will contain a storyboarding room… what say? Now if you will excuse me I need to brush my teeth and make some “adrak” chai.
oz, i “porpoje” an investors room to make those projects come to life ;)
wow! this has to be the most informative thread ever!
Thanks a ton, Oz for the topic.
You are right, Oz. This particular discussion deserves to be formulated in a report/thesis. I am very willing to work on the idea.
the way PFC is growing; i believe oz will end up having his production house, tv channels, etc
:-”