Storyboard

As always the first thing to do once there was is a clear idea outlined is to create a storyboard. In terms of storyboarding with this particular script is the fact that because it is a western, we have the advantage of the cinematography style typical to this genre. This includes many close ups, medium shots and long establishing shots. This is something I personally believe we should exploit and so discussing this with my group, we have decided that not only will the typical shots that are seen in westerns help establish a mood, it will also make our life as animators easier as we do not have to show the legs in the shots.



I couldn't find a storyboard from any westerns however this is a storyboard style compilation of stills from Fistful of Dollars. However you can see the shots that are commonly used in the western genre....

- Close ups of the face to show the tension and emotion in the characters face, particularly in a scene of confrontation.

- Medium shots, mainly with two characters showing the relationship between both characters

- Establishing long shots which set the scene or mood or simply letting us know that we are in a dusty old western town.

I think though one of the most effective shots is when the camera is behind the character and we only see his legs in the foreground and in the background we see the other character. These two characters usually have large importance in the narrative and this conflict usually effects the whole outcome of the narrative.

Bearing all this in mind I went on to create my own storyboard (this can be seen in my RVJ) trying to take advantage of the cinematography and apply it as much as possible. As a group though, we all did our own storyboards and there were very interesting ideas coming from all directions. In the end we decided to go with Mohammed's storyboard which was the simplest yet it still retained the important qualities to creating the mood.





This is the final storyboard that was used for the animation although a few shots were improvised, where Trinity turns around when he hears the gun click we have a close up that cuts straight to a medium shot of him shooting the 2 bandits. This idea was inspired by a scene from the matrix when we first meet morpheus. I thought the use of a seamless cut would add to the tension of that moment.

Unfortunately I cant find a video to embed however im sure we all remember it.