STORYBOARD PROCEDURES:

Procedures for the three authoring areas. Each has its own very special needs, and all three areas are often combined to do certain tasks; film productions, DVD and EPK's can use all three areas to fulfil complex job requirements.

1: ANIMATION STORYBOARDS - Graphics can be used to show the steps of a product's manufacture, its function, set-up instructions or a demonstration of its use. The storyboard artist is required to use their ability to see the story take place and sketch what animations should occur. These need easily followed sequential frames. In some cases, it should be noted that the storyboard comes first, and then the scriptwriter or multimedia developer might only need to refer to the artist’s work during its adaptation into an INTERACTIVE SCRIPT and FLOWCHART.

2: DIGITAL MOVIE STORYBOARDS - Recorded images can show a message from the President, interviews with band members, or non-documentary footage. This requires another type of storyboarding talent; in addition to being artistic, the MOVIE PLANNER must realise what motions make good drama. A storyboard for movies must show what the camera does.
Imagine what movements will add to the momentum of plot, character and dramatic conflict.

Animated storyboards (called ANIMATICS) for digital movies are an excellent idea. By mixing animation and movie techniques, still-frame storyboards can be scanned into non-linear editing software - the storyboard becomes animated, to clearly show the exact timing of each of shot. The director then only needs to create what is necessary, without shooting extra coverage.

3: WEB-PAGE STORYBOARDS - Interactive components and web-page development. All of the previously mentioned material can be translated for the Internet with HTML and VRML languages. Writing detailed flowcharts and storyboards before you create web-pages is crucial, especially when designing pages that have multimedia applications with VRML elements.

Web-page storyboards must include all the information necessary to keep track of the placement of multi and hypermedia. If you have it all written down, the task of placing these items on the screen becomes organized, easy to follow and maintainable. This is important because hyperlinks for web-page development are often changes in address (URL) rather than simply moving from one file to the next. Make your links solid by articulate and detailed planning.

A COMPUTER IS USUALLY INEFFICIENT FOR THE STORYBOARDING PROCESS: If you can’t draw, use stick figures to indicate actors and objects in the field of vision, the direction they are facing or moving towards. Martin Scorsese drew his own very simple storyboards for "Taxi Driver" (1976) in black and red pencil. Elaborate on selected frames at a larger scale for finished, presentation storyboards, or make full-size concept illustrations if you really need to impress somebody.

An exception to the 'NO COMPUTERS' rule: Software exists for interactive storyboarding, designed to create actual working prototypes with a stylus and clipart. As working models, these roughs can actually contain buttons and links, with all the information about the tools to be used in the application, methods of navigation, comments about memory size, delivery formats and budget information, which can be presented to clients in person, online or EPK.

Some interactive storyboard programs create QuickTime movies; still-frame storyboards offer limited effectiveness since they don't show the timing of each shot. The exactness of QuickTime can save half the cost of a production.

"An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it."
Orlando Battista