FROM SKETCH TO SCREEN.

PAPER TO BROADCAST.

Sometimes you have to rely heavily on a storyboard. When you do and the shot works out, the result can be exhilarating.

Storyboards are set in stone. They’re binding.

The best results we’ve had in production are when there is a creative process allowing for a shifting away from an idea and allows for collaboration and experimentation. A storyboard is safe. And the best results we’ve experienced were not safe ones. 

A storyboard however has a purpose. And on a complex setup or shoot, especially when you know  time will be a pressure test, a storyboard can be a life saver. Take Greatness needs Grassroots campaign we produced for Grid Worldwide for FNB as an example; we had about 90 minutes with the Springboks and had at least 6 setups. 

We got pretty much everything we needed and the storyboard was what saved us because a storyboard gives everyone in production a really clear idea of what they need to achieve - in this case especially your D.O.P., art and wardrobe departments. and your A.D.

A storyboard frame is also super helpful when creating an animated storyboard (animatic) so you know exactly what you need to shoot and the more time you spend on your frames in pre-production, the better off you’ll be when your calltime comes around. 

Director Greg Lomas loves looking back at a frame after the madness of a shoot and the dust has settled, “I find it very rewarding reviewing a project, looking at the final frame and the storyboard and seeing how close you got and what you were able to achieve thanks to a simple, small pencil drawing. In the flurry you don’t realise it, but that storyboard is your liferaft.”