The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV, and Animation [Paperback]

John Hart (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240803299 | ISBN-13: 978-0240803296 | Publication Date: January 4, 1999 | Edition: 1

The Art of the Storyboard shows beginners how to conceptualize and render the drawings that will communicate continuity to the cinematographer, set designer, and special effects supervisor, or to create the skeletal outline around which an animated program is developed.

Using sketches of shots from classic films, from silents to the present, The Art of the Storyboard covers the history and evolution of this craft and discusses the essentials of translating one's vision onto paper, from the rough sketch to the finished storyboard. Over 100 illustrations from the author's and other storyboard artists' work illuminate the text throughout. Exercises at the end of each chapter help students to develop essential drawing and visualizing skills.

The Art of the Storyboard teaches basic drawing techniques and illustrates the use of perspective, light and shade, and depth of field needed in order to render the human figure in motion. In this book students are introduced to essential components of storyboarding, such as framing, placement of figures, and use of camera angles




-the only book on storyboarding for media

Editorial Reviews

Review

'While this book seems targeted at professional storyboard artists, beginners who want to take a more professional approach toward productions will find it valuable. It is chock full of valuable advice for anyone who wishes to create a visual representation of a production before rolling tape.' - Videomaker

From the Back Cover

A storyboard serves the same functions in many visual presentations as an outline does in word-based projects. Storyboarding is a skill that is very important for beginning directors to develop in previsualizing their shots and sets. It is also a critical skill in creating animation sequences, and is important to the multimedia developer in planning the needs of a project.

This book will show beginners how to use storyboards to communicate their vision to the cinematographer, set designer and special effects supervisor, or to create the skeletal outline around which an animated program is developed, or to plan a multimedia project.

It covers the history and evolution of this craft and discusses the essentials of translating one's vision onto paper., from the rough sketch to the finished storyboard. Illustrations from the author's and other storyboard artists' work illuminate the text throughout.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (January 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240803299
• ISBN-13: 978-0240803296
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JOHN PATRICK HART, MA.

Playwright:
(Comedies,of course)
Most recent: 'NOEL COWARD IN LAS VEGAS' and
'THE MERRY WIFE OF WINDSOR. Off-Broadway.NY.

Professional Photographer,Author,Lecturer.NYC

Published Books:
50 PORTRAIT LIGHTING TECHNIQUES.
PROFESSIONAL HEAD SHOTS
LIGHTING FOR ACTION.
Most recent:
THE ART OF THE STORYBOARD.(FOCAL PRESS).

More? Puhlease!
Staff writer for STUDENT FILMMAKERS MAGAZINE
Prof. of Photography at NYU/SCPS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Amateurish and unfocused, January 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV, and Animation (Paperback)

After searching for books on storyboarding for a class, I found and read a handful of them. This book was a big disappointment. For readers looking to learn about the CRAFT of storyboarding, I strongly recommend "From Word to Image" by Begleiter. However, if you like personal anecdotes, personal preferences, Hollywood history trivia, uninspiring graphics, and little teaching content, then Mr. Hart's "Art of Storyboard" will give you much of that. I am giving it two stars instead of one, because there are few books on storyboarding and because there is nonetheless some useful content (but it could have been put in 10 pages).

45 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Competent drawings of freeze-frame stills from rented movies, October 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV, and Animation (Paperback)

Most of the examples in this book are re-drawn stills from classic, famous or easily recognized movies and shows: Potemkin, T2, Stagecoach, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane. So basically it's somewhere between "drawing off TV" (aspect ratios vary) and a recapitulation of "Shot by Shot", Stephen Katz's excellent book. It's hard to get permission for the original boards I'm sure, and nobody expects Mr. Katz to simply showcase his portfolio -- but his selections neither impress with detail and virtuosity nor provide a comprehensive overview of the craft and business.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a book about storyboarding?, April 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV, and Animation (Paperback)

One of the main problems with books about storyboarding is that very few actually outline and explain how to execute it without going into too much theoretics. Like a cookbook, I would like to be instructed step-by-step on how to create storyboards: how to decide which angles best suit a written outline; differences in storytelling metric scenarios (quiet scenes, action scenes, etc.); and what would lead me to decide on how to visually set up a scene properly. All this book does is delve into the loooong history of different films, rambling on and on about significant key storyboard shots in the movie. Unfortunately, none of it is instructional. Worse yet, the examples the author uses are his own pencil sketches, which are lifted from actual scenes from an established movie. This does nothing for his credibility as a storyboard artist, especially if he didn't board the sequences himself. While it is important to explain specific key shots in a film to aspiring artists, using re-drawn sequences to fill an entire book is almost insulting to the very subject one is trying to learn from.