PRE-PRODUCTION UNIT: The Storyboard

The storyboard is based on the third draft of the script as this was developed enough to give a clear idea of the story and the scenes will remain in the same order with similar action taking place (with certain bits getting cut and added).

To create the storyboard, following my research, I read through the script and picked out which action was required to depict each scene. I took into consideration that during dialogue scenes, it is not only the person talking we need to see - we also need to see the reaction of other people involved within the dialogue.

When drawing each scene I had to consider how many people were in each scene to ensure each character is depicted - in some scenes the action of a certain character takes priority, however, it is important to remember that the other characters are still there and need to react to what the character is doing. I also needed to consider how the situation at the beginning of the scene was different to the situation at the end and how this would be depicted within the shots - I needed to consider whether everything needed to be overtly depicted or whether certain things can be done through dialogue (e.g. when Tim smashes the vase in the first scene, I was unsure whether to have a shot of the smashed vase or just the reactions of Tim and Tess, however, I thought it would be more shocking to have a closeup shot of the smashed vase).

It is also important to consider who the audience are most interested in within the scene and within the production as a whole. As VET-MAN focuses mainly on Tim, he needs to be either the centre of attention for each scene or the impact of his actions need to be the focus. I also needed to consider the subtext of the scenes and consider that not only the dialogue needs to be covered but also the non-verbal cues - this was mainly the reactions of characters which I have emphasised through crash zooms.

As the production contains a lot of panning, tracking and zooming, I found this quite difficult to storyboard, therefore, I added these actions as annotations and just drew the final position of the shot.

The storyboard will be developed based on the final draft of the script once this is complete - however, this storyboard based on the third draft gives a clear idea of the plot and action and how this will be captured through the cinematography of VET-MAN.