Cartoon SNAP

Storyboard: The Close-Up

The storyboard artist is really a director at this point in the production process. It's up to the storyboard artist to direct the eye of the audience toward whatever is most important at any given time.

Click on the full-screen button (at the bottom right
of the video), to make the video nice and BIG!

When the emotion or the reaction of the character is especially important , it's time to cut to a close-up. A close-up can best be defined as a head-and-shoulders shot

There’s no real room for the character to move, so the audience can focus on the expressions and emotions of the characters. The way characters act and react is always very important to understanding the story.

A common mistake of less experienced storyboard artists is framing their shots too tightly. Even a close-up should have a bit of breathing room, unless it is the rare occasion of an extreme close-up.

Shirley MacLaine The Apartment

This also has to do with pacing... it's best to save those high-impact shots were the moments in the story that have the greatest impact.

If a storyboard artist were to fill their board from start to finish with lots of crazy angles, fancy camera moves and extreme close-ups, it would leave no room for the artist to show any real impact when it's really needed. It's all about contrast.

In the next video, the topic is the "three shot" -- and the interaction between three characters.

Questions or comments?
I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below!
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Other posts in this Storyboarding Commentary series:

Have You Seen These Super-Funny Steve Mellor Comics?

Steve Mellor funny comics marvel goose rider

Lately on his CartoonRetro blog, Shane Glines has been featuring the cartoon stylings of Steve Mellor

Steve Mellor funny cartoon Marvel superhero comics

Steve Mellor draws some of the most gorgeously goofy and garish graphics I’ve ever seen!

Steve Mellor funny cartoon comics Marvel superheroes

There’s a ton of scans from a variety of comics.

Check ‘em out at:

http://cartoonretro.blogspot.com/2010/04/goose-rider-by-mellor.html

http://cartoonretro.blogspot.com/2010/04/steve-mellor-crazy.html

or you can see all the Steve Mellor posts at:
http://cartoonretro.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%20Mellor

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The storyboard commentary video series will continue shortly...in the meantime, check out the previous posts and leave some comments and/or questions at the posts listed below:

#1 - Storyboard Scans and Overview

#2 - The Establishing Shot

#3 – The Pan Shot

#4 – When to Cut

#5 - Staging and Design

Staging and Design – Storyboard Commentary Video

Today's storyboarding commentary video talks about staging and composition; planning out your drawings to leave room for characters and actions. Also, designing props and background elements that aid in your storytelling.

The video window above looks small, but if you click on the full-screen button (at the bottom right of the video), it'll look nice and BIG!

A little bit of planning can make a big difference. This scene was staged with the second panel in mind. Knowing that Mary-Frances was going to enter the scene and admire Bessie’s pile of work, we left plenty of room in that first panel.

One of the best bits of advice I ever received was, “stage a scene based on the widest action.” It’s usually not necessary to zoom in super close on the characters…it’s nice to leave some breathing room. This allows for nice negative shapes around the characters, and allows you to draw the key players and props with easily-readable silhouettes.

Every character is drawn with a specific expression that reveals their character, and (as we’ll see later) advances the story.
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Yesterday I went through the comments again on the last few posts and answered a ton of questions that were asked there. So if you left a comment before, you may wanna check back on those posts (see links below) to find your answer. If its not there yet, it’ll be coming soon.
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Other posts in this Storyboarding Commentary series: