Cheap Storyboard
Template for Your DVX 100 Film Production
by Ted Franklin
These
days with digital filmmaking technology, you don’t even have to know how to draw to make great
storyboards. In fact, you don't even need storyboards! Just go the
route of videomatics (going through the motions with a
small camcorder and some friends or action figures for reference).
But, if that's too much trouble for your DVX100 movie production and you'd prefer storyboards, there
is software available, but they can be really costly.
Again,
your best bet is to use your resources...and do it cheap if
not free!
One
suggestion is take digital pictures using friends or action figures
to help you frame up the shot. It’s inexpensive, yet highly
effective for any small digital movie budget. Plus, anything that you're able to add to your
video production on a zero budget is a luxury.
If
it's just you and your trusty DVX 100 and you don’t have any means of taking digital stills, you can go even
lower budget and draw stick figures if you have to; just as long as
you can tell who’s who in your storyboards. Maybe you can draw one
character with a hat, so you can identify him from other characters.
I know…it may sound cheap and generic, but it’ll get the message
across to you and your crew and that's what counts.
You
can also create your own storyboards using any word processor. That’s
what I as well as my
professors did in film school for our small digital film. Just use basic squares and lines for
your storyboard. That’s all you need…just a place for the
picture and some lines to write down the shot’s info.
The
information in a storyboard should include:
-
Regular
Heading: (Title, Director, Storyboard Illustrator, Client, Date
and Page Number
-
Scene
and Shot numbers
-
Name
of location
-
Talent
dialogue and actions
-
Special
camera movements or instructions (zooms, pans, tilts, etc.)
Remember...there are no rules in film
and video production...that old school mentality is obsolete! Just do what you need
to do to get it done - especially on a DVX digital film!
Do
YOU have a cheap, low budget, do-it-yourself DVX100 tip or trick
that you'd like to contribute?
If so, just email it to us
and we'll post it up!
Thanks
for helping the grass roots grow!
