The best board artists will consider the point of the story and whether the mood requires a
camera move. They won’t overuse pan shots, truck-ins, or truck-outs. When trucks and pans
are used, they keep them simple, especially for television. Wide fieldbackground shots are
expensive and those of more than two or two-and-a-half panels are normally avoided for
traditional television. Panels that involve a pan move are connected. Most storyboard panels are
now formatted in proportion to a twelve-field. One quarter of that panel is the size of a six-field.
Traditional animation production doesn’t allow technically for truck-ins to closer than a six-field.
However, most productions can now accommodate computer trucks that can go from a one-field
to a one-thousand-field. And producers of CG animation usually encourage sweeping camera
moves. In either traditional or CG animation overlays give the impression of multiplanes.
Courage the Cowardly Dogdeliberately avoided pans,wipes,dissolves, and other tran-
sitions other than the cut. According to Bob Miller, who was storyboard supervisor the first
season, the director felt that camera moves would remind the audience that they were watch-
ing a cartoon.
Transitions and Hookups
Scenes must hook up to the scene preceding and the one following. Transitions must be
made. We can cut from a girl looking at her reflection in a river in the final shot of scene A
to the next scene, B, where we cross dissolve to the liquid reflection of a witch. Then when
we pull back, we see that the witch is stirring a caldron of soup. If we end with a close-up
of a character, the following scene of that character in a long shot has to match in back-
ground, props, action of the pose, and direction of gaze of the character. The relationship of
all characters must be the same.
Artists will avoid cutting from a character in one scene to the same character at a similar
size in the next scene. Otherwise it will look like the character animated or jumped from
one spot to another in the space of a single frame. Board people watch out for the same
problem with similar backgrounds in two adjoining scenes.
Shots are motivated. If a character turns to look at something important, then the audience
sees what she was looking at in the next shot. And we see it from that character’s point of view.
Storyboard artists avoid cutting on an actor’s line if they can help it. And they listen to
the voice track to be sure there’s enough space to cut if a new cut is added.
Before each transition board artists write one of the following:
- FADE IN(or FADE OUT)
- CUT TO:
- WIPE TO:
- DISSOLVE TO:
Visual Storytelling
As a writer, visualizing your story will help the board artist. Consider this: We establish
Jefferson High. School is in session. We cut to a close shot of a poster: “Halloween Party,
Storyboard for Writers 165