Storyboard and Animatic

• Storyboarding is a pre-production phase in animation and motion picture. It is drawn according to a preceding written script of the plot and is based on initial drawings and concept sketches done by the character designers and background artists for the movie.
• A storyboard literally determines how the film directing is going to look-like, It is a preceding stage before the animator(s) start creating the animation itself. The storyboard gives the film makers and the customers, a visual expression of the plot and the characters' appearance (that so far existed only in the film creator’s mind). The storyboarding phase includes shoots and scenes timing, duration & cutting. It also includes the camera shots plan and movements to be used in the actual movie. Actually most storyboards looks like a strip of illustrations reminiscent of a comic strip. Despite their different purposes, there are similarities between traditional Comics and storyboards as both are telling a visual story. Like in Comics; each storyboard window expresses a turning point, a change & progress of the storytelling.
• The storyboarding process begins with drawing of few pictures that depict the most significant turning points in the movie plot, e.g.: Drawing of the film’s very first establishing shot. The shot reveals the movie’s “world”. That give the viewer the first glimpse to the environment where the storyline takes place and the first impression of its atmosphere. Other such significant shots might be: major transitions between different scenes with new environments or extreme highlights of the plot. These first major storyboard drawings are the main visual keys of the entire movie. Than in-between comes the insertion of additional Key Frames drawings with smaller changes in the plot.‎
• As a rule, storyboard drawings are always depicting special target-points in the movie’s timeline. It includes the drawings required for describing scene changes and characters’ movement. It shows the character’s postures at the end of an action. (called "pose-to-pose"). The storyboard is never used to describe a character’s ongoing movement or details such as casual movements like scratching, or blinking of the eyes, as these are not considered changes that advance the plot. Any of such detailed articulations and other stylistic choices or additions which are open to the animator's interpretation are to be expressed in the later stages, when the animators take the command.
  
  


Animatic is another pre-production following stage that comes after the storyboard is completed. It is an enhancement of the latter. In the Animatic stage, the storyboard drawings are being loaded into a session in a video-editing software, where a temporary movie is being prepared. This temporary movie is in fact much like a "magic lantern" for kids in the old days or a slideshow. There it plays an alternating display of the storyboard key frames static drawings.‎




The editor treats these drawings and their placing on the timeline, like working on the complete final movie. He lays-out each static drawing as would the later real movie shot be would in its designated time slot. At this stage, the film's soundtrack is usually ready, and synchronized precisely with the drawings. Thus, an edited movie skeleton or a template is created. The completed Animatic allows the director, animators and the production staff to have a look & feel of watching a complete finished movie before it actually exists. Now, only little imagination is needed to predict how the film will look eventually.
• The Animatic also opens a window of opportunity for improvements and changes before the animators begin their work. Otherwise, changes become very costly and may dramatically exceed the deadline. Major changes and corrections in the animation phase can be technically complicated to the extent that they are deemed impossible. During the following animation phase, each completed animated scene is sent to the Animatic editor, who places it like a puzzle piece - in its place, replacing the Animatic representing drawing with the newly ready shot. And so, shot by shot, the pieces of animation are gathered and the final animation is becoming a complete movie, ready for the post-production phases.