The Sixth Sense - Storyboard Video

What is the purpose of the story-boarding?

The purpose of story boarding is so you can go to the film shoot ready with exactly which shots to use. For example without a storyboard, you'll be wasting time and money thinking about which angle/shot to use and what could go next. Also, if you've got a story board you can see which kind of cinematography effects to use, such as lenses and how the depth of field could be used in a scene. Furthermore, with a story board you can show the kind of effect for the actors, for example you can choose a shot type to create the correct atmosphere for the film. You can also see where you need to cut certain shots, and how they will flow, rather then turning up to a shoot and cutting at wrong points. Also, it can be handy with certain props you may need, such as in the sixth sense example, they had to create a door knob to create the reflection effect, but if they hadn't planned that before, they would have been very stuck as to how to acquire that shot. The good thing about story boarding is that you can alter how different shots can be, so edited could be manipulated.

How can you show lighting/camera movements/angles?

You can show lighting by shading in the areas which will be in shadow on the storyboard drawing, so the ones without shade will be lit. This could be done for example with a mans face being half in shadow and half in light, so you would shade half the face in and half the face not.

Camera movements can be shown using arrows on the drawings as to which direction something will happen. For example if someone turns their head, they would draw an arrow of which way the character turns there head. Also, you would include notes as to how the camera will move.

In terms of angles, you would draw the character in the correct angle and have notes on the bottom saying exactly which angle you are going to use.