Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Storyboard Test

Almost three years ago, trying to find work at an American studio,  I did a story test for Dreamworks Animation. I was out of work at the time so I was able to devote myself to the task and threw myself into it.  I ultimately didn't get the gig but I had fun drawing those characters!

First of all I familiarized myself with the location of the sequence- Central Park Zoo.  I went through the first 'Madagascar' on dvd, freeze-framing the key locations and making layout studies & geographical notes.


Then reading through the script I start to jot down any thoughts, ideas for business and key images that strike me.

Then I thumb-nailed out the entire sequence-fleshing out the character business and camera angles











Lastly I worked it up on the 4x3 story board pads provided-I didn't get all the way through but had the end of the sequence covered in the thumbnails above.











The sequence as it exists here is not in the finished film although there is a climactic scene involving the animals being tranquilized.  (All characters are property of Dreamworks Animation.)

14 comments:

ddd said...

Wow you did a great job on this test! Thanks for sharing. It is great to see your process.

Unknown said...

Super. Thanks for sharing this. Really interesting to me to see how you approach your storyboard and your process.

Phil Spehar said...

so cool, thanks for sharing!

joscha said...

Great post Matt! Do you still use thumbnails like this? In a youtube video of a calarts speech Mark Andrews is very much against the use of thumb's. Wonder how you feel about that?

Olivier Ladeuix said...

thanks for sharing Matt and I have the same question as Joscha just above.

Cheers

Michael Cawood said...

Wow. That's really thorough. Really nice looking work too. It's a shame you didn't get the gig at the time (hard to see how), but I guess it's worked out in the end. I'm impressed how well you adapted to the style.

Matt Jones said...

Thanks folks! I use thumbnails yes. Different directors work in different ways with their Story team. I'm working with Andrew Stanton at the moment and he insists on it. Mark Andrews is a force of nature with a camera brain! He can just draw boards straight off! That approach is essentially using thumb-nails as the finished article. With enough experience and thought you can do it . Thumbnailing helps me keep track of camera placement/scene geography so I don't get lost in the staging and cutting.

Quentin Lebegue said...

Wow this is pure gold, thank you so much for sharing !

C.Deboda said...

Ditto what everyone else has said. Great post!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this man, as always it great to peaking into the minds of another artists thought process..

Matt Jones said...

Thanks guys, you're welcome!

Will Finn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thomas von Kummant said...

great tutorial, thanks for the post!

J.L. said...

Have they ever told you why you didn't get the job?