Storyboards

Storyboards- credit of creation to Howard Hughes in 1930- are the vision of the mind of the creator of a piece. A storyboard is a board of specifics, not generalities. Instead of an idea of what the film is going to be a storyboard shows exactly what will be seen. Each shot, each angle is defined in a storyboard. Tweeks and adjustments may be made but the core of the brain of a film is displayed in a storyboard. Even in Sports Journalism storyboards are quite important. Whether it be a documentary on a specific athlete or event rife with interviews and film clips or if its a highlight show with newscasters and highlights of the nights action. The concept is created for what the film or show is going to consist of, but that is not enough.

A storyboard takes that general concept and gives you every individual shot or angle. It presents the nuances of what the creator wants the audience to see and feel. A smirk, a facial expression, the "dunk of the night", a great play, a tear falling, any single moment that will bring the overall feel of the story alive. To highlight a game you can't just pick and choose random plays and hope that those plays express the feel of how that game went. You have to be able to tell a story with each image that will convey what was going on. Peeling away the layers from a 48 minute game into a minute and a half highlight and still expressing the true suspense or aggression of that game needs careful thought. Taking an hour of interview footage and 3 hours of highlights and properly bringing them alive in a 2 minute clip cannot be randomly done.

Every look must be carefully set in place, often even before you have the look on film. A story board gives you the map in which the journey of your film must go.