Single Image Storyboard Exercise

Just the single image storyboard sequence.

Chapter 3 Summary

         The use of text, diagram and image in storyboarding is an integral part of the process, for either a film or video game project.  The text is what we use to help orient people with a list that alludes to the visual aspects of an idea.  Then of course a diagram of some kind is used to map out what kind of actions will be going on in the scene or whatnot, to see how will the scene will play out.  The image is what are the frames composition, drawn or photo-based in any way, shape, or form.  These images show the images in an intended sequence, and which way the camera will move.

Storyboard Moment Overhead Diagram

* Yellow: Camera # 1

* Green: Cam. # 2

* Pink: Path of Man A

* Blue: 2nd Path of Man A

* Red: Path of Man B

The Storyboard Moment -- Part 2

4. Cutting back to Man A’s left foot, following it as Next-to-the-ankle shot.  We see Man B standing next a corner of the fire station, waiting for Man A.

 

5. O.T.S. (Over the Shoulder) of Man A’s left shoulder looking to the left on the street.  Looking for cars.

6. O.T.S again of Man A.  Right shoulder looking for oncoming traffic.

7. Man A crosses street to Man B, walking towards him and aims to pass him by.  In that time something was exchanged but is hidden from view.

8. ECU (extreme close-up) of Man A’s right face, camera sees Man B walking into door of fire station as the two parted.

9. Top-down angled shot of Man B exiting the fire station, on station roof.  Walking away from the building.

10. VWS (very wide shot) of Man A disappearing into the distance.  Camera is still on same part of fire station roof as with the previous shot.

11. MCU of Man B now walking far away from fire station.  Unknown business between the two is now concluded.

The Storyboard Moment, Shot Listing -- Part 1

1. A very wide establishing shot of warehouse side entrance.  Fire station is in the left background.

2. Cut-In MCU (medium close-up) of Man “A” emerging from previously presented warehouse side door.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Camera cuts away to be on the other side of the road.  Looking at Man A at eyelevel as if from another person.  Man A walks around the corner to cross street.

 

A Scene Take-by-take Examination

The film I have chosen was, Kagemusha (1980) by the late Akira Kurosawa.  It is about  a petty thief who during the violent Sengoku period/Warring States era of Japan is drafted to impersonate the late lord of the Kai province, Takeda Shingen with the help of Shingen’s brother, Nobukado.  The thief is turned into a ‘kagemusha’, a shadow warrior.  The scene selected starts off at the 1:03:02 mark with a single-camera mode setup, in the late Lord Takeda’s personal quarters of his castle in Kai.

1.      Mark 1:03:02 – Continuous panning into the room, Nobukado leads kagemusha into the room to show him the main sitting place for the lord.  Then he shows him the hidden guard room which holds 3 guards day and night, all hours after the camera pans to the left.  It’s a wide shot showing everyone with the camera on floor or tatami level.  Nobukado is almost against the far wall right of the guards, kagemusha is in the foreground left to the guards as if kept at bay.

2.      Mk 1:04:34 – Nobukado walks to the corner farthest from the hidden guard room.  Opens the door the sutra room.  Kagemusha in the foreground again with Nobukado next to the sutra room doorway.  Camera is now raised and aiming slightly downwards, an over-the-shoulder camera perspective and is angled, over kagemusha’s right shoulder.  A mid-shot of the two men with a Shinto deity statue in the next room background.

3.      Mk 1:05:26 – Both men now face the living room, with two pages seated inside it.  Camera is still in the over-the-shoulder perspective behind kagemusha, and still in a mid-shot.  There has been no new camera yet but it is still a different shot.  Pages look smaller in the background, being not lords so their stations are lower than the two older men who stand tall in the foreground.

4.      Mk 1:05:39 – Nobukado now stands before the open bedroom, kagemusha stands still in the main room and barred from entering for now.  Mid-shot of the two men, but Nobukado is  fully shown.

5.      Mk 1:06:00 – Kagemusha and Nobukado stand in full body-shot as equals.  Guards obstructed by the two men.  Wide shot of two lords, tatami level.

6.      Mk 1:06:52 – All 3 guards and both 2 pages sit before their new lord Kagemusha.  Kagemusha higher than everyone else in the background, in the rise.  Nobukado sits to his right just before the rise, the 3 guards sit after Nobukado and the pages sit behind the guards in the foreground.  An over-the shoulder angle, pages and guards with backs to the camera.  Wide angle mid-shot of everyone, only guards and both lords are fully shown with pages only in mid-shot.  Reconfirming stations.

7.      Mk 1: 07:02 – Now only wide-shot of Nobukado and kagemusha. Camera angle at tatami level, kagemusha on the rise, higher than his other.  Showing feudal lord with retainer and general.

8.      Mk 1:07:18 to 1:08:53 – It is a whole series of perspective shot-swapping if you will.  The camera constantly shifts from the perspective of the guards and pages, to Kagemusha and also to sometimes face Nobukado from the end of the room opposite him and him only.  There were 20 cuts in the entire sequence.

9.      Mk 1:10:52 to 1:13:24 – This is another series or sequence of shifting perspective-shots again, shifting from the guards and pages to Kagemusha and back again.  There were 21 cuts in this sequence alone.

10.    Mk 1:13:24 – The next shot is a moving mid-shot of some vassals and horse handlers trying to calm the late lord Shingen’s horse whose gone wild.  The camera follows the horse for a while and then cuts again to another shot.

11.    Mk 1:13:28 – The only camera now is in wide-shot, showing Lord Nobukado and the other generals looking out to the courtyard.

12.    Mk 1:13:32 – Now we have a close up of the horse, still bucking around the courtyard.  This lasts a few seconds.

13.    Mk 1:13:29 – All of the generals lord Nobukado walk back into the sitting room to converse.  The camera is now in mid-shot with only some of the characters in the shot.

14.    Mk 1:13:53 – All generals and their lord are now standing in conference in the room.  Camera gives us an establishing mid-shot of all of them speaking in private, away from prying ears.

15.    Mk 1:14:42 – Camera is grounded in the outside courtyard, establishing shot of lower castle exterior.  Vassals and soldiers are closest in the foreground on the far left of the shot, changing.  Lord and generals are in their room still, father away in the background on the far right of the shot, laughing loudly.  This shows the separation in terms of stations and chain of command again during this era.

16.     Mk 1:14:56 – Lord and generals have close the outside doors.  Room wide shot of all fully shown characters.

17.     Mk 1:15:49 – Shot opens with a young boy and heir galloping on a fake horse, playing in the main courtyard of a castle.  Camera follows him around until panning over to his father, Lord Oda Nobunaga watching him.

18.     Mk 1:16:01 – Nobunaga drinks sake while observing his son playing from his sitting room in the garden courtyard.  The main wet-nurse is there, sitting with him and serving him. Camera is at tatami angle with them both sitting.

19.     Mk 1:16:22 – Nobunaga stands up, camera zooms in on him for a close mid-shot of him.

20.     Mk 1:16:26 – Shot opens with a top-do perspective atop a set of stairs, looking down to one of Kagemusha’s pages, Amari looking maybe into a room.

Plot Brainstorm