TV Directing 05: Storyboards
I used to storyboard all my shoots meticulously. Eventually I realized that no matter what you do, you can't draw reality. The measurements and perspectives you draw always don't match reality - so you spend time trying to match you shots and you miss the opportunities for what exists on the set to use. I stuck with the storyboarding notion for long enough to try 3D boards with perfect measured precision of actors and locations and it still didn't match reality enough. There are too many organic factors.
What I find matters most is shot lists. This is what everyone needs.
What I do today is pre-block my shot with an overhead view of where the actors are in their various key positins and then I set overhead shot angles. If there is something specific I want I will draw oval heads and body shapes in a board to show that particular camera.
I find this much more efficient.
The only true storyboarding I will do now is if I have access to the location - sometimes I will take photographs of where I want the shots to be prior to the shoot and then I'll do simple shaped blocks for people drawn on top of the photos.
The commercial world uses the boards as a sales tool for the client. Sometimes boards are also used for features as a sales tool for the studio. I was told the movie "The Matrix" was basically drawn out as a comic book when they pitched the movie which was the key to what sold the film. It turned out to be a big success. "Tank Girl" was also storyboarded out with great precision. I read the boards for the whole movie and it seemed like it might be great. But - the movie... is not. Just to point out that the quality of the boards is not directly related with the quality of the finished product.
But especially for TV Directing. Everyone needs to know where the camera will be set up and the basic coverage. This is true for most circumstances, so be careful before you spend a great deal of time drawing pretty boards unless you're creating a sales tool.