Storyboard and framing dialectics

Objectives

In this lesson, we will learn and know the practical tools necessary for comic strip narration.

What is the storyboard?

The storyboard is a drawn script invented in the field of animated films; the long processing times required careful planning. Later in action cinema, too, they started to employ storyboarders to design scenes. In comics, the cruder and faster drawings, preliminary to the finished page, started to be called storyboards. The storyboard already contains texts in balloons and captions, as well as onomatopoeia. It is basically a rough comic strip, which can already be read.

The scene outline

Before drawing the storyboard our story must be broken down into a scene list. A list that serves to choose the appropriate grid and to organise the pages. These have a precise mechanics: Page one is always odd and attracts the reader's attention. From page two onwards, all even-numbered pages, on the left, welcome the reader after the page-turner, especially after a change of setting. From page three onwards, the odd-numbered pages, on the right, carry the story forward, especially in the last vignette, where a small cliffhanger, or a break is desirable.

Check on the page

The storyboard allows you to see immediately what you have only imagined up to now, even if the drawings are not very well defined, you can check the acting of a character, the right alternation of shots and so on. Even if the drawings are poorly defined, one can check the acting of a character, the correct alternation of shots, etc. A prior visualisation helps to focus better on locations and costumes; especially in the context of a comic set in another era.

Not forgetting sound

What would the world be like without the sounds that animate it?

Writing dialogue

The dialogue in the balloons not only takes the reader forward in the story but also brings the world we have imagined in our comic to life. Already during the drafting of the outline, or in the development phase from the idea to a first written draft, dialogues can come up spontaneously. It is therefore advisable to write them down separately. Write them in the form of a play script, name or initials of the character and a line, followed by another character and a reply. Short sentences instead of long monologues, rhythmic and natural exchanges of lines. Inserting dialogues on the storyboard checks their presence in the panel. If you need to give the right space to a particularly long and important dialogue, spread it over several balloons, redistributing the order of the pages.

Reciting them is better

No dialogue is perfect from the first draft, they need to be rewritten even several times. The best way to check if the dialogues work is to recite them, read them out loud with another person. Listening to them, the words pass from their abstract dimension to the real one, you understand their rhythm, their naturalness, you sense the passages to be shortened and those to be deciphered. What noise does it make? To complete the world constructed in the comic strip, we must not forget the function of onomatopoeia. How many background noises exist in our daily lives? Without the story it would be unreal. Music, for example, can and should also be included. Drawing a stave or placing the lyrics of a song in the air serves to evoke an atmosphere just as much as accurately drawing a background.

The point of view

How close or how far away we are from a scene it's more important than you might imagine.

Closer or further away

The point of view, or the camera, is like a third character that the reader does not perceive. On the contrary, he identifies with it, becoming a direct witness to the story. This is why being more or less close to the protagonists of the story determines the level of empathy and contact with them. Wide, Medium or Close, the dialectics of the shots are a common language for everyone now. In general, being closer creates identification, whether with characters or objects, and being further away communicates greater detachment.

Angles and subjectives

With the camera we guide the reader's attention between moments of strong emotion, close up, and reflection or description, far away. In some cases we even make them the protagonist, observing through their eyes. Angles are also powerful emotional activators. Anything observed from below creates awe or admiration. Anything observed from above makes us superior, almost to the point of contempt.

Attention to alternation

The alternation between shots should be handled with care, it is part of the obstacle course mentioned in the first topic. The choice of shots contributes together with the size and organisation of the panels to the rhythm of the story. Too many close-up shots can create a sense of claustrophobia. On every page there must be at least one descriptive/revealing view, even and especially in long dialogue sequences.

Research agenda

The storyboard is also a useful tool for completing research.

Before moving on to the final

Nothing is created and nothing is destroyed... it's a law that doesn't only apply to physics, because even if we have to tell an alien world, iconographic research helps to make it more likely. Already in the story design phase we look for visual references by creating mood boards. After the storyboard it is clearer what we still need to improve the backgrounds, the costumes or to find references for anatomies and perspectives, especially for the designers. All that is necessary to have a concrete vision of the scene, before the final drawing.

Conclusions

Nothing is created and nothing is destroyed... it's a law that doesn't only apply to physics, because even if we have to tell an alien world, iconographic research helps to make it more likely.

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